Chapter 432 - 412 Thousand-Layer Fruit: Forest Symbiont (5K Please Subscribe)_3

Dragon Cypress: "..."

Dragon Cypress was speechless.

What use is that? In the wild jungle, isn’t it easy to find food just about anywhere?

Every insect fell silent.

Isn’t this Jade Thousand Layers just "Night Fragrance No.2"?

Natsumi continued at an unhurried pace, speaking casually: "The Jade Thousand-Layer’s blossom-fruit cycle is 15 years, with only six fruits produced per batch. A single fruit sells for 3 million Source Stones. Even the Aconite Spider King only got trade rights to one Thousand-Layer Fruit. Because our Flame Spider Roving Merchant Life Seed has a similar effect, the Aconite Spider King himself never brought himself to eat one."

Three million?!

Usually, Divine-Grade Fruits that grant Elemental Abilities top out at three million at the very most.

The price reflects the quality of the item directly.

The insects looked grave.

Areca asked, "Natsumi, does the Thousand-Layer Fruit’s granted ability have any other effects?"

Natsumi: "No."

Natsumi: "As far as I know, it’s mainly those old Insect Kings planning to leave the Origin Force Star Realm who are competing to buy them."

Natsumi: "Does the Outworld also have the protection of Natural Gods? Is it, like the Natural Star Realm, with fertile soil, suitable climate, dense jungles, abundant goods and plentiful food? What if it’s a harsh, barren wasteland? With the Forest Symbiont special ability, at the very least, you won’t go hungry."

"!!!"

The insects suddenly realized.

Red Peach and Silvergrass despaired.

There’s no way they’ll win the last Jinhe Fruit share against the Aconite Spider King.

Dragon Cypress decided sharply: "I want two of the Thousand-Layer Fruits... no, the more the better!"

Natsumi: "That won’t do. Dragon Cypress Ant King, there are lots of Insect Kings lining up. I can only sell you two at most."

Dragon Cypress: "Three! I’ll reserve one for Huagi Mountain. I need one urgently, while Ink Orchid and Huagi Mountain’s two can wait, let’s talk again after a few decades or a hundred years."

Natsumi: "...Let me ask for you."

Dragon Cypress: "The Aconite Spider King will agree."

Dragon Cypress: "Natsumi, does the Aconite Spider King have any other Divine-Grade Fruits that grant Wood Element Ability? Could you introduce them all?"

Natsumi: "There aren’t any for now."

Natsumi: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, getting the Thousand-Layer Fruit has already made things very difficult for the Aconite Spider King."

Dragon Cypress: "All right."

Dragon Cypress: "Let’s finish the regular trades first, and then you go back and ask the Aconite Spider King in detail."

...

Red Moonseed followed Natsumi and left.

Red Peach took out two extra-large metal cans from the stone-slab wheelcart, one hexagonal, one egg-shaped.

Silvergrass pulled out a thick stack of stone slabs from the cart, which recorded the Source Stone pre-orders for Origin Force Honey, and handed them over.

Silvergrass: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, last year’s total pre-sale of Origin Force Honey was 11.2 million Source Stones."

Red Peach: "Crimson Moss Beetle King from Yuezuo Mountain ordered 5 million Source Stones’ worth in one go. But it likes them big — the bigger the can, the more satisfying. It requested that each can should contain 30,000 or 50,000 Source Stones’ worth of Origin Force Honey."

"If the cans are made bigger, they don’t look as delicate or classy. These two cans are the result of dozens of trials, our carefully designed shapes — beautiful and practical."

As Red Peach spoke, she brought the two metal cans to the fissure, tried them, but they didn’t fit through.

Dragon Cypress offered, "That’s not a problem. I can arrange for small-sized Blue Ants to bring over refined Origin Force Ant Honey."

Silvergrass: "That’s what we thought too."

Red Peach: "Let’s make two sample cans for Crimson Moss Beetle King to try first. If it’s satisfied, all the Origin Force Honey sent to Yuezuo Mountain from now on will be in large cans. That will save a lot of Bee King Jelly and transportation effort."

Silvergrass: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, you’ll earn more too!"

This year’s Origin Force Honey trade will net Dragon Cypress over 600,000 Source Stones.

The profit brought by the Blue Ants refining Ant Honey has already exceeded expectations by far.

And there’s still more to be made!

Dragon Cypress avidly tapped his tentacle in agreement and said, "With all sorts of Divine-Given Seeds maturing here in Cloud Trace Continent, the Ant King Jelly I brew from the annual honey harvest has become considerable. I have surplus and I’ll provide them to you for free."

After saying this, Dragon Cypress changed the subject and asked, "How did the negotiation go over at Cloud Crown Mountain?"

Red Peach: "It’s settled. Two Night Fragrance Fruits for one Spotted Thicket Fruit — equal value exchange."

Liar!

Dragon Cypress: "Isn’t that a huge loss? What’s the actual price? Shouldn’t Cloud Crown Mountain at least compensate with some Source Stones?"

Red Peach: "No direct Source Stone compensation. We used this opportunity to gain the right to trade at Cloud Crown Mountain."

Silvergrass immediately took out her own clearance Wood Plaque issued by Cloud Crown Mountain and showed it to Dragon Cypress.

Red Peach: "As for the specific prices, Night Fragrance Fruit is 1 million Source Stones each, Spotted Thicket Fruit is 2 million per."

Lies! Still lies!

Under Soul-Setting Ability’s perception, not a single word Red Peach said was true.

Dragon Cypress understood — that sly mantis must have figured out a way to mess with the Soul-Setting Ability’s lie detection.

Every sentence was mixed with lies, truth and falsehood entangled, making it hard to tell at a glance.

Dragon Cypress fell silent.

Red Peach and Silvergrass remained tight-lipped too.

White Rice on the side hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping.

This was the bargaining stage — nobody wanted to be the first to speak.

Areca looked left and right, waited a while without seeing progress, and cautiously suggested, "Dragon Cypress Ant King, shouldn’t the price of Night Fragrance Fruit go up?"

Red Peach immediately said, "Dragon Cypress Ant King promised — Night Fragrance Fruit won’t go up in price!"

Dragon Cypress: "Promised?"

"Promised!"

Red Peach and Silvergrass answered together.

Dragon Cypress: "What I said back then was that there would be no price hike for now, for now."

Dragon Cypress: "I am an ant who keeps my promises. The ’temporary period’ can last until the Night Fragrance God-Given Seed migrates to Purple Tung Insect Nation. In other words, for the next batch, Night Fragrance Fruit will still be sold to you at 500,000 Source Stones each."

Dragon Cypress: "After the Night Fragrance God-Given Seed migrates to Purple Tung Insect Nation and resumes its normal blossom-fruit cycle — flowering once every 15 years with 7 fruits per batch — it will return to its proper price."

White Ivy’s group had long guessed that as soon as Dragon Cypress learned the use of Night Fragrance Fruit, the price would definitely go up. They had discussed it carefully before coming.

Red Peach: "600,000 each."

Silvergrass: "We work so hard running around, we need to earn a little food money too."

Dragon Cypress: "1 million."

Dragon Cypress: "If you combine Night Fragrance Fruit, Spotted Thicket Fruit, and Kunlun Seed — three Divine Grades together — some insects would be happy to pay 10 million."

That really was White Ivy’s plan~ Silvergrass stomped at this, exclaiming: "10 million?! There aren’t even a few insects continent-wide who can scrape together that many Source Stones."

Red Peach kept her cool: "With three Divine-Grade Fruits together, at most it would sell for 8 million Source Stones. Only those towering old Insect Kings in the Great Tribes could afford it."

Silvergrass: "Most Insect Clan Warriors are poor, and the bigger the tribe, the more clan warriors it has to look after, the heavier the burden..."

Red Peach: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, let’s both take a step back—700,000 each. We’ll just earn a little bit less."

Dragon Cypress replied coldly: "1 million."

Red Peach: "800,000. Not a single stone more. Roving Merchants need to grow and evolve too — traveling mountains and rivers, braving wind and sun. Hard work deserves its pay."

—Did you really trade the Night Fragrance Fruit for 1 million each?

Dragon Cypress was suspicious, hesitated, and after a long silence, said: "Fine. Then 800,000 each. You get to take advantage this once."

...

Natsumi and Red Moonseed came running back.

Natsumi: "Dragon Cypress Ant King, the Aconite Spider King has agreed to your trade request. The first Divine-Grade Thousand-Layer Fruit will be delivered in 12 years."