Chapter 341: Chapter 334 Gold Devouring Ant_1

Qin Niu hurried toward the direction of the Ant Nest.

With his cultivation at the Innate Realm and the use of Misty Rain Elusive Step, he moved through the mountains like a wisp of light smoke.

The disturbance in the Ant Nest this time was very peculiar; it didn’t seem like a cry for help due to danger.

If there were indeed a great danger, given the Ant Queen’s current abilities and intelligence, she should have been fully capable of calling out to Qin Niu for help.

It took him only about a quarter of an hour to arrive at the location of the Ant Nest.

By now it had grown dark, and the occasional sound of insects could be heard throughout the mountains.

The ground was strewn with the bodies of caterpillars.

Lately, the Termites had been brutally slaughtering caterpillars in the mountains; around the Ant Nest, all the caterpillars had been wiped out.

There were so many caterpillar bodies that they simply couldn’t eat them all.

That was the reason why so many insect corpses had been left abandoned in the forest.

Inside the Ant Nest, the colony seemed to be boiling over, as ants poured out frantically.

“Fourth, check what happened!”

Whenever Qin Niu went down the mountain, he would bring along a large number of Termites on his body for self-defense.

Leaving over ten thousand Termites in the Ant Nest to handle defense, nourishing the young ants, the Ant Queen, and the Soldier Ants was more than sufficient. Termites stored a portion of food, but unlike ants, they did not store large quantities.

Ants generally don’t eat things like tree roots and tree trunks.

Termites can eat anything.

Their winter food supply was essentially worry-free.

After Fourth entered the Ant Nest, the previously boiling colony quickly became calm.

Before long, Fourth came out carrying a tender, pink Termite on its back.

It was very small, a newly hatched young ant.

The little guy looked quite delicate and lovely.

Fourth’s treatment toward this young Termite was clearly not ordinary.

Normally, even with Demon Ants, Fourth would directly bite their bodies and carry them out.

But now, it allowed the young Termite to lie on its back, assuming a humble posture willing to act as the young ant’s protector.

Though small, the body of the young Termite was covered with intricate, dark golden patterns.

“Is this another new species?”

Qin Niu’s spirits lifted, and he quickly checked the attributes of the ant colony.

Grade Four Gold Devouring Ant 1 (extremely rare species), Lifespan 3 days, Special Abilities (Swift, Armor-Piercing, Gold Devouring, Moderate Intelligence, Possess Primary Carapace, Primary Self-Healing).

The long-anticipated top-tier ant species had finally emerged.

Its abilities were quite balanced, and it was fairly excellent in all aspects.

But it wasn’t as amazing as he had imagined.

He felt that if it fought Fourth when it was grown, it might not necessarily win.

What was even more maddening was its lifespan.

Truly, the good die young.

Its lifespan was a mere fleeting three days.

This was simply outrageous.

Wasn’t it clear that it was meant to be just a flash in the pan?

Qin Niu looked at the tender young Termite and quickly began to think about how to extend its life.

Based on his experience in rearing insects, feeding it some high-grade ‘feed’ might help extend its life.

For example, the blood of mythical beasts or the bodies of insects Grade Five and above.

“Fourth, feed it some of this blood.”

Qin Niu took out a small jar containing Elder Jiu Yin’s blood. This was the blood of a Spirit Qi Realm powerhouse, with an absolutely top-notch nourishing effect.

The little one had a tiny appetite, and after Fourth fed it a little bit, it refused to eat more.

He had Fourth take it back to the nest, then Qin Niu returned home and frowned as he pondered ways to extend the life of the Gold Devouring Ant.

It was still in the young ant phase and couldn’t feed itself.

If feeding it Elder Jiu Yin’s blood couldn’t extend its life, it was unlikely that feeding it the bodies of high-level insects would be effective either.

He spent the night consulting Insect Control Books, hoping to find a way to extend the life of the Gold Devouring Ant.

He had two large boxes of Insect Control Books, most of which were given to him by Tang Yan.

He also squeezed in some reading time normally, but most of those books hadn’t been read.

Now he was cramming at the last minute.

“Master, are you not going to rest so late?”

Xiao Qing stood at the study door with an oil lamp in hand.

“I need to check some materials on insect breeding, you go to sleep!”

Qin Niu was basically not at home during the day, with Xiao Qing managing everything.

Young as she was, she handled everything both inside and out with great capability.

“Tomorrow is the day of your wedding with the two elder sisters, don’t be too busy too late. If there’s anything, you can call me at any time.”

“Go sleep!”

Qin Niu had never allowed her to wait on him by serving tea or pouring water.

He sat alone in the study reading silently, and the Qin Residence, inside and out, was brimming with festivity in the deep of night.

After tomorrow, this house would welcome two new mistresses.

This family would slowly become complete and flourish.

It seemed that cramming at the last minute was not a good thing, as he continued to search until midnight without finding a single word about the Gold Devouring Ant.

Considering tomorrow was a very important day, he had no choice but to go to bed to get enough rest.

The next morning, as soon as Qin Niu got up, he saw Aunt Hua and the village cooks coming over to get busy.

“Master Qin, the procession to welcome the brides from both directions are going to set off soon. You will go to the Wang Family to receive the bride, and I will take Xiao Qing with me to the Tang Family, to welcome the new bride back.”

All these arrangements were discussed and agreed upon with Qin Niu.

“No problem.”

Unable to be in two places at once, Qin Niu had to manage things this way.

Hopefully, nothing would go wrong on the Tang Family’s side.

As daylight broke, the courtyard gradually became lively. More and more villagers came to help.

“Today is my grand wedding day. I am deeply grateful to all the fellow villagers for your help. There’s plain wine and meals prepared; please eat and drink well. After the procession has welcomed the new brides back, I will have additional rewards for everyone.”

Organizing a wedding was easy as long as there was sufficient money and food.

“Please rest assured, Master Qin, we will surely welcome the new bride back for you, and you just wait for the bridal chamber to be lit with wedding candles!” the suona band masters responded loudly.

Laughter erupted at once.

“Haha, thanks, much appreciated!”

Qin Niu made a gesture of politeness with his hands.

Everyone was satisfied after a hearty breakfast.

Usually in the village, whenever a household held a celebration, everyone could partake in a sumptuous feast. But such abundance as the Qin Family’s was unprecedented.

In the locality, probably only the Yan Family would be willing to hold such an event.

However, the Yan Family never let outsiders interfere in their affairs, whether it was wedding or funeral ceremonies or birthday celebrations.

Because the Yan Family had a multitude of servants of their own.

Using their own servants, they were certainly more at ease.

Qin Niu was a newly emerging nobleman and could not compare to the Yan Family in every aspect of accumulation.

As the auspicious time approached, the opera troupe invited from the city also arrived.

After they greeted Qin Niu upon arrival, they began setting up on the stage outside.

They pulled in several cartloads of items with horse-drawn carriages, and there were even fierce animals in cages, attracting many village children to come and watch.

“Brother Ah Niu, congratulations! Here is a little gift from me.”

Er Dan fished out a wooden carved auspicious beast ornament from his bosom.

It was not very big, and the carving was quite crude.

“Is this a dog you’ve carved?”

Qin Niu asked.

“It’s a tiger, a fierce tiger!”

Er Dan rubbed his hands in embarrassment, his face showing an unusually sheepish expression.

“I heard about your wedding too late, so I didn’t have much time to practice, so the carving isn’t very good. This one was the most tiger-like out of the ones I carved.”

Having never learned carving, Er Dan had done quite well to carve it like this.

To draw a tiger not to scale but like a dog.

He had managed to carve a fierce tiger into a large dog.

“Haha, thank you for this generous gift! I really like it, and it’s very meaningful, symbolizing the friendship between us. I’ve noticed that since I became an Insect Master, we’ve hung out less.”

Qin Niu accepted the gift with joy.

“My father wouldn’t let me come, fearing I’d offend you.”

Er Dan spoke with some grievance.