noffsinger Chapter 20 Do termites even deserve to be called ants?
Chapter 20 Do termites even deserve to be called ants?
into the night.
After returning to his room on Qixia Peak from the forest farm, Liu He felt uneasy and found it difficult to clear his mind and enter a meditative state for a while.
"calm!"
"Those who want to harm me are trying to influence my spiritual practice; I cannot let them succeed."
"It's just three spirit stones. You'll learn from your mistakes."
He suppressed his chaotic thoughts, closed his eyes and concentrated. After a moment, he completely relaxed and began to practice his cultivation technique.
Three hours later, he opened his eyes.
"shuttle!"
A thought entered the anthill.
He first refined the three-zhang-tall Earth Element Pearl, and then rode an ant to the ground outside the ant nest.
"Practice lightness techniques."
After a month on the path of cultivation, he absorbed a small amount of spiritual energy into his dantian and began practicing basic spells.
The spiritual energy flowed through his meridians along specific routes, surging into his legs and feet, making him feel as light as a feather, as if he were walking on clouds.
With a light leap, he covered a distance of three zhang (approximately 10 meters).
It was unstable when it landed and almost fell over.
Beside him, ants came and went, carrying their prey—insects and plant seeds—back to their nests.
"Wait a minute~~"
Liu He suddenly had a flash of inspiration and came up with a peculiar idea.
"Termite colonies are difficult to deal with for humans. Are ants any more difficult to deal with?"
"I have 15,000 ant soldiers, which are red forest ants that are much stronger than termites, as well as specialized soldier ants."
Termites gnaw on trees, posing a significant threat to both trees and buildings, making them abhorrent to many.
However, termites, being herbivores, are not very strong fighters for ant colonies.
Termites are relatively small; even the soldier termites are only about the same size as the worker termites of the red forest ant.
Termites are called "ants," but they are not actually ants.
Termites and ants are social insects that exhibit convergent evolution.
In terms of lineage, termites are close relatives of cockroaches.
"Termites are plump, juicy proteins, super nutritious! Go for it!"
Liu He, who had been feeling down, became excited, and his depressed mood vanished.
Termites that can get into anything?
Ants are equally adept at getting into any crevice.
With their keen sense of smell, ants can wipe out a termite colony completely, leaving no survivors.
"I always thought about helping the ant colony get rid of its enemies, but I overlooked the fact that the ant colony can also solve the problems that leave me helpless."
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
Early morning, Waishan Forest Farm.
At the changing of the guard time, Wu Shao would gather all his men together.
"Just yesterday, Liu He, Li Liangtian, Zhao Cai, and Wang Yarong discovered more than a dozen century-old trees in their forest area that had been infested with termites. Senior Brother Liang punished them by deducting one month's salary."
Wang Yarong will be fined one spirit stone at the discretion of the authorities…
You must take this as a warning and never be lazy…
"Once you return, immediately conduct a thorough investigation of the forest area's trees. If you find termites, report it immediately."
In the crowd, Feng Zhe lowered his head, unable to suppress the upward curve of his lips.
His methods of retaliating against Liu He and Li Liangtian were effective.
He also took the opportunity to get revenge on Wang Yarong, who had caused him to lose face.
"Ha, what kind of genius cultivator is he? He's just a foul-mouthed jerk... He deserves to lose a spirit stone."
He was secretly pleased.
He didn't notice that Liu He was glancing at him out of the corner of his eye from the side.
"It really was him, Feng Zhe!"
Liu He noticed Feng Zhe's sly smile.
When he felt something was amiss, he immediately thought of Feng Zhe.
He had been in the sect for less than half a year, and the only person he could be said to have "offended" was Feng Zhe.
"Don't let me get any evidence against you."
Although Liu He was 99% certain that it was Feng Zheqian, he couldn't produce any evidence.
He was just a newly promoted handyman disciple and didn't have any means to deal with Feng Zhe, unless he retaliated with the same despicable method as releasing termites.
However, if Feng Zhe catches him, he will be at a disadvantage and suffer a loss.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
After everyone dispersed, Liu He went to his own forest area.
"The idea I had last night can now be put into practice."
There was no one around; Liu He was all alone in the empty forest.
He came to the ant nest.
"My ant soldiers, leave a small contingent to protect the queen, the rest of you come with me, let's go to war!"
Under his pheromone command, the entire ant army of the ant nest almost swarmed out.
From the tunnel entrances on the anthill, swarms of ants surged out.
Worker ants of all sizes and enormous specialized soldier ants, densely packed and stretching endlessly.
Liu He cannot stray too far from the queen ant in the ant nest; he must guide the ants in reality to lead them to their destination.
He walked ahead, with the army of ants behind him forming a winding brown torrent.
Although ants are small in size, when there are many of them gathered together, they create a spectacular sight.
More than 10,000 ants stretched out into a black snake several meters long, writhing and crawling rapidly.
Before long, Liu He walked to a century-old pine tree dozens of meters away from the ant nest.
The straight and tall pine trees are as thick as two people can hug, and tiny holes are scattered on the trunk.
Its canopy was malnourished due to termite infestation, and the leaves began to wither.
"superior!"
"Kill all the termites, leave no one alive!"
An army of ants climbed up the trunk of the camphor pine tree from all directions.
The straight tree trunk is like flat ground for ants, offering no obstacles whatsoever.
The ants had already smelled the scent of their prey and were crawling into the holes that the termites had eaten away.
The tunnels inside the tree trunk provided an easy path for the ants to enter.
The plump termites hiding inside discovered the intruding "enemy" and fought back.
The termite soldiers open and close their mouthparts, fighting with the redwood ant colony.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
Liu He watched the ant war with great interest from the side.
There were hardly any termites on the camphor pine trunk just now.
After Liu He's ant army arrived, the termites swarmed out of the holes like madmen.
The trunks of the Scots pine trees instantly transformed into a battlefield for the two armies.
Liu He saw a specialized soldier ant easily bite several termite soldiers in half.
"Well done."
The dead termites fell from the tree trunk like rain, scattering across the ground at the base of the tree.
Of course, the termites were not entirely defenseless; their numbers were greater, causing some casualties among the redwood ants.
The battle lasted for more than an hour.
Seeing that his ant soldiers were hungry and tired, Liu He immediately began to devour the plump termites.
The war continues.
After a while, the red forest ants crawled into the hole and wiped out the termite larvae and worker termites that were almost powerless and hiding in the tree trunk.
"What a fat queen ant."
Liu He saw a specialized soldier ant leading more than a dozen worker ants to "capture" the termite queen, as if showing off its accomplishment.
The termite queen's leg was as thick as a finger and she was still struggling and wriggling.
Liu He picked it up with one hand, threw it under his foot, and crushed it into mincemeat with his other foot.
"That's it? Termites don't even deserve to be called ants?"
Compared to his red forest ants, the termite colony's fighting power is not even in the same league.
The war continues.
Liu He's order was to completely exterminate the entire termite colony, preventing it from ever reproducing again.
All larvae and reproductive ants were killed.
Even if a few termite worker ants survive, they won't live more than a few days without the colony.
"You've all worked hard, now it's time to go back."
Liu He felt tired after just watching the game for half a day.
His ant soldiers, however, worked tirelessly without complaint, marching a long and impressive distance of several dozen meters before returning to their nest.
"Let's fight again tomorrow."
Liu He originally wanted the ant colony to clear out the termite colony on another tree that night, but then he thought that the ant soldiers had worked hard all day and deserved a good rest.
Ants also experience fatigue.
The lifespan of ordinary worker ants is much shorter than that of the queen ant. The most important reason is that worker ants eat poorly, rest little, and are constantly working.