"Banbu, you're too greedy. Our journey has been delayed because of your greediness," Flame-clustered Banmao severely underestimated Banbu's intelligence, speaking nonsense, directly shifting the blame for the past few days' stagnation onto Banbu's shoulders, then continued:

"Banbu, we should visit the Iron Knife Mountain Master now, but we need to stop by Pu Tao on the way. It's the elder who has the most potential to become the second mountain master after Iron Knife."

"Pu Tao is very wealthy and generous. It will give you many gifts. Understand?"

As Banbu expected, after finishing the side-cypress seeds, Flame-clustered Banmao led him on the road to visit the next tribal elder.

...

After a few days of interaction and simple communication, Banbu understood one thing: in the cockroach tribe, occupying a hill theoretically meant being the "mountain master."

To grow to the level of "mountain master" would grant an official title. For example, the upcoming visit to "Pu Tao," if it ascends to mountain master, would be referred to as "Pu Tao Mountain Master."

Banbu gained a deeper understanding of cockroach growth. Those capable of becoming mountain masters were few and far between.

The growth of cockroaches relied heavily on seedlings.

Junior warriors, with the care of tribal elders, could easily become intermediate warriors within a year, possessing the ability to survive alone in the jungle.

Intermediate warriors needed around 2 to 4 months for each growth stage, roughly two to three years in total to become senior warriors.

Senior warriors had a sudden increase in demand for primal force. The growth rate depended entirely on the type and development of the seedlings, with significant differences in growth among individuals. Some could advance in just six months, while others took over a year or even several years.

The lifespan of senior warriors in the cockroach tribe was only 40 to 50 years.

Most senior warriors, due to improper seedling selection and poor self-management, grew slowly, missing the vigorous youth period, leading to bodily aging, unable to continue evolving, and remaining as senior warriors for life.

Pu Tao's territory was located on a slightly inconspicuous hill in the mountain range, with its nest opened on the mountainside.

Flying in the air, all seedlings were clearly visible.

A cluster of raspberry fruits.A sun fruit tree.To Banbu's surprise, there were seven side-cypress trees, each flourishing, much larger than the ordinary side-cypress trees on the mountain, with branches emitting a reddish-brown halo, dazzling and spectacular.

Pu Tao's selection of seedlings was relatively monotonous but well arranged. Seven side-cypress trees formed a circle, interspersed with ordinary side-cypress trees, with a Pu Tao tree planted in the center of the circle.

Five equally flourishing Pu Tao trees.

On the east side of the circle were five sun-loving iron knife trees, of varying heights, likely planted in recent years.

Standing alone on the top of the hill was a sun-loving, drought-resistant Chinese tallow tree. The Chinese tallow tree was the emblematic plant of the Flying Firefly tribe, a deciduous tree. Now in late autumn, the broad leaves had fallen, leaving only bare brown twisted branches.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

In front of the nest on the mountain, there was a flat ground, similar to the arrangement of Flame-clustered Banmao and Wind chime, surrounded by a large number of dead branches, carefully guarding a young sapling of the Chinese sumac tree.

Pu Tao's territory had a total of 21 seedlings planted, indicating that it was at least an L5 senior warrior.

With reasonable distribution of seedlings, each one thriving, it meant that its growth would be smooth and successful.

"Flame-clustered Banmao, I have to say, you're really a lucky guy."

"Is this the little warrior born in your territory?"

"Oh... black! Why is it black?"

As Flame-clustered Banmao described, Pu Tao was hospitable. However, its huge size, exceeding 600 in length, strong primal force aura fluctuations, vigorous vitality, truly brought pressure to Banbu.

Even Flame-clustered Banmao, also a senior warrior, seemed somewhat constrained in front of Pu Tao.

"I don't know why it's black. It showed its uniqueness at a very young age."

Pu Tao immediately asked, "Oh? At a very young age?"

Flame-clustered Banmao replied, "Yes, even before becoming a warrior, it could withstand the cold, be active in winter, enjoy basking in the sun, energetic, and love to climb around."

Pu Tao exclaimed, "Indeed unique! Have you found other black members in your tribe? I think our Firefly tribe will spawn a whole new branch in your tribe."

"Cockroach" or "roach" were general terms, referring to a species. In the insect world, each species had many branches. "Flying Firefly" was one of the mainstream large tribes, and the Red Roach tribe was a branch of the Flying Firefly tribe.

Banbu understood that this was a common phenomenon of species evolution caused by long-term reproduction under geographical differences.

But in the cockroach consciousness, they believed that the emergence of new branches in the tribe symbolized prosperity and strength.

"I have checked carefully and haven't found other black members. Banbu survived alone in the jungle for nearly a year. It's a special case, favored by the true gods of nature."

Flame-clustered Banmao said with some frustration, "Wind chime said black is too ugly. It doesn't like Banbu."

Pu Tao said, "Wind chime is too fixated on superficial things, actually choosing wind chime as a seedling. It will regret it in the future."

Flame-clustered Banmao reluctantly agreed, "Yes, Wind chime is stupid."

Pu Tao asked, "Didn't you stupidly choose to nurture Flame-clustered Banmao seeds as seedlings?"

Flame-clustered Banmao quickly denied, "No, I'm not as stupid as Wind chime."

Pu Tao said, "Flame-clustered Banmao, you don't get along well with Wind chime."

"Wind chime is a miser. It only gave Banbu one side-cypress seed as a gift. It's not worthy of being Banbu's elder."

"Now Wind chime, like you, hasn't been a senior warrior for long. Most seedlings haven't grown yet, living very frugally. Flame-clustered Banmao, you should learn to understand."

Pu Tao was still a good person. After comforting Flame-clustered Banmao, he turned and walked into his nest, then quickly came out dragging a colorful gourd-shaped silk bag.

Banbu, who had been obediently lying next to Flame-clustered Banmao, watched with wide eyes.

There was a primal force aura emanating from the bag, which could be considered a simple primal force equipment.

The swollen mouth of the bag also had exquisite adhesive craftsmanship, with a "crackle" sound, the mouth of the bag opened.

Pu Tao tilted the bag and poured out a small pile of side-cypress seeds in front of Flame-clustered Banmao.

"Flame-clustered Banmao, as you ascend to senior warrior, you need primal force food. This is my gift to

you."

Pu Tao then tilted the bag towards Banbu, pouring out a small pile of side-cypress seeds in front of Banbu.

"And you, little one, become an intermediate warrior quickly. Iron Knife Mountain Range needs more warriors to protect it."

"Thank you!"

Banbu politely thanked.

Compared to the calm and polite Banbu, Flame-clustered Banmao seemed a bit out of control, dancing with joy, antennae flailing, still somewhat unsatisfied, greedily staring at Pu Tao's bag, not hiding his envy.

Envy filled an entire bag of side-cypress seeds.

Even more envious of the colorful silk bag that could store seeds.

Banbu felt strange, slowly walked up to Pu Tao, and touched the bag with his antennae, releasing information to convey his doubts.

Pu Tao understood Banbu's doubts and explained, "This is a silk bag woven by the Mirage Flame Spider tribe. It can better preserve primal force food."

The answer confirmed Banbu's speculation that the bag was woven by spiders using innate abilities rather than technological means.