Immortality: Raising an Ant Queen to Cultivate by increasing stat point - Chapter 388:
Chapter 388: Chapter 380: Obtaining the Demon Feather_1
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His last deployment of over three hundred termites to the highest peak had dwindled to just over twenty.
Despite such heavy losses, he still did not recall them.
Instead, he issued them a long-term command.
To stay hidden within that mountain peak, waiting for an opportunity to search for demon bird feathers.
The Phoenix Feather, worth ten thousand Silver Money a piece, was extremely tempting.
As long as he could obtain one, all losses could be recouped a hundredfold.
There were definitely demon birds on that mountain, and that was an indisputable fact. Moreover, one could breathe fire.
As for whether it was a Fire Phoenix, nobody could be certain.
Perhaps Elder Mei, who had already died, had seen what that demon bird looked like.
Qin Niu didn’t have the courage to face that terrifying demon bird directly.
So, he could only dare to send termites to scout the situation.
On that highest peak, the termites were almost all eaten by birds.
The mountain was home to tens of thousands of various species of birds.
Apart from hunting insects on trees, they would also go down to the ground to forage for insects. Some birds even lived on the ground.
Such as wild chickens, Black Charcoal Birds, and so on.
Magpies also liked to search for insects and fruits on the ground to eat.
The twenty-four surviving termites were each elite. They had accumulated a wealth of survival experience and had stronger survival instincts and cleverness than other termites.
They knew how to avoid predation by birds.
Qin Niu hoped they could get a clear grasp of the demon bird’s habits to provide intelligence for his future peak exploration.
He was even considering, when only a few of these over twenty termites remained, to deploy another batch to the mountain peak.
After all, the Ant Queen’s production was now very stable, with a thousand ant eggs hatching daily.
Hurrying to the Ant Nest, he checked on the ant colony.
Nothing was out of the ordinary.
War Demon Ants, Gold Devouring Ants, none had reappeared.
Instead, Demon Ants, Healing Ants, Elephantic Ants had accumulated quite a number.
Zombie Ants were even more numerous.
Every kind of termite had its use.
He could now mass-cultivate Grade Four termites, with stronger Demon Ants, special ants, even reaching above Grade Five.
These were things Qin Niu wouldn’t have dared to dream of before.
The Ant Queen was currently Grade Six, but promoting it to Grade Seven was extremely difficult.
Qin Niu would devise ways every day to feed it some high-level food, but after eating it, there was no sign of promotion to Grade Seven.
Just like human Cultivators, once insects reached Grade Six, the difficulty of advancing further increased exponentially.
As he was inspecting the Ant Nest, his mind slightly stirred.
Just now, his soul had a sensation, as a termite lurking within the highest peak sent information that it might have found the demon bird’s leading feather.
This was major good news.
Qin Niu’s spirits were lifted, and he immediately took a large number of termites and rushed over.
Even though it was dusk and the sun had set, he was not afraid.
He had more or less figured out most of the area of this mountain range.
So far, only the highest peak had a fire-breathing demon bird.
And the potential demon beast was the Python living in that pool.
It took Qin Niu almost half an Hour to finally arrive at the foot of the highest peak.
By now, the sky was fairly dark, but not completely night yet.
Birdsong fluttered from the mountain, extremely noisy.
This was not usually heard.
At dusk, as the weary birds returned to their nests, they too, like humans, returned home to rest.
The returning birds would greet each other with calls or exchange information.
Qin Niu couldn’t understand the birds’ language; to him, the bird calls from the mountain were just noise.
“Go, you all climb the mountain and help that termite transport the discovered demon feather down the mountain,”
This time, he directly released four hundred termites.
And he tried releasing fifty Zombie Ants.
It was a special ant species, which he would have been somewhat reluctant to use before.
Now, for every hundred termites the Ant Queen produced, two were Zombie Ants.
“`
On average, twenty or so zombie ants could be produced per day.
Zombie ants above Grade Four possessed a special ability called Night Demon.
When this ability was activated at night or in places with heavy yin energy, not only would their combat power double, but their self-healing ability would become exceptionally terrifying.
It might fall short of true immortality, but it essentially allowed for limb regeneration and swift recovery from injuries.
After releasing four hundred termites into the peak, Qin Niu watched as they vanished below the summit.
These newly released termites were clearly lacking in experience.
Suddenly, over thirty were eaten by birds.
No one really knew how many birds there were on this mountain peak.
Qin Niu believed the number of birds was at least over one hundred thousand.
The mountain was teeming with a variety of wild fruits and lush trees; it was simply a paradise for birds.
“Croak! Croak!”
A particularly large black crow flew out from the mountain peak, its spine-chilling cawing filling the air.
What was it trying to signal?
Qin Niu soon understood what it was trying to communicate. Wherever it flew, the previously chirping birds all fell silent.
In just a moment, all the birds in the mountain collectively fell mute.
The crow with a wingspan of over two feet could have been seen as a ‘night watchman’.
It was reminding all the birds that night had fallen, and it was time to rest.
The birds actually took it seriously and started to enter ‘night mode’.
Watching all this from below the mountain, Qin Niu couldn’t help but marvel.
The natural world was indeed full of wonders.
With the birds at rest, the rate at which his released termites died slowed down considerably.
“I hope you can successfully bring down that demon feather from the mountain,” he thought.
After watching for a while, the sky was darkening quickly.
He also prepared to head home.
Just then, atop the mountain, a beautiful fiery-red giant bird spread its wings and soared into the high sky.
“Screech!”
It let out a piercing cry, as if to tear through the heavens.
Because it was several thousand meters away, Qin Niu couldn’t make out the details.
From a distance, it didn’t look bigger than a washbasin.
But he was very aware that this was because it was at least more than two thousand meters away.
The size of that bird was very likely over ten times the size of a washbasin.
Such a colossal demon bird, there was no doubt about it.
Only its cry could be so domineering.
Qin Niu watched it from below the peak, not daring to move an inch.
After all, such a creature could instantaneously kill even those in the Spirit Qi Realm, and if it noticed Qin Niu, he would be easily dispatched.
“It must be the Fire Phoenix without a doubt!”
Qin Niu’s gaze was fixed unwaveringly on its fiery-red plumage and its long tail feathers.
This bird was likely the legendary Fire Phoenix.
The phoenix feather Qin Niu had seen in the black market that day was also red.
The color was like burning flames.
“Screech!”
The demon bird cried out loudly again, then flames burst into being around its body.
It circled the summit, flying.
Dancing in the sky.
The whole mountain, even the Qifeng Mountain Range, fell utterly silent.
Perhaps other creatures had been intimidated by the demon bird’s cry and dared not make a sound.
In the natural world, the hierarchy was especially clear.
The weak, when faced with the strong, could only grovel and show submission.
“Damn it, if one day I could subjugate that demon bird and make it my mount, I’d be no different from a real Immortal Master. I could soar through the heavens and roam freely across the four seas,” he thought.
Qin Niu looked at the demon bird above the summit and actually contemplated taming it.
If the demon bird knew what he was thinking, it would immediately fly over and snuff him out.
