Battle Using Ants
Fang Yuan and Tai Qin both enslave the emerging ants at full strength. Green Ant Ascetic created these ants, and his contest obviously tests ant manipulation. Fang Yuan controls thirty-eight worker ants and six soldier ants and attacks with all of them. Tai Qin has more than thirty worker ants and five soldier ants and has the workers build a nest under the soldiers’ guard. His troops hold a little advantage and he attacks very aggressively, drawing gasps from the youngsters watching. Flustered, Tai Qin pulls the workers out of the nest and leaves the soldiers to defend it, and an intense battle begins. ch. 1830
Fang Yuan wins the early clash, and Tai Qin retreats into the unfinished nest with only twelve ants left, though his edge stays slight. The onlookers call the missing nest on his side a huge risk, then judge that she performs normally while Wu Shuai exceeds his usual standards. She stations troops at the crucial routes and enslaves more ants outside. Unsure of the nest’s design, Fang Yuan does not attack. He guards the entrances, encircles the nest and enslaves the ants outside with killer moves. ch. 1830
Arrow ants emerge, weakening after three spikes but letting a small number defeat a larger army. Both sides compete for them, and Fang Yuan still leads, though the battle area’s Gu formation favors nearer ants and he enslaves distant ones. Fresh, and born as the main body’s split soul, his soul has a much deeper foundation than ordinary people’s, and soul foundation directly affects enslavement path. Tai Qin loses the arrow ant battle, and every arrow ant she enslaved is wiped out. Her troops are split in two, though the nest’s tunnels blunt the arrow ants. The human youngsters accept that a dragonman will win and sigh that Green Ant Ascetic’s enslavement path inheritance goes to him. ch. 1830
Tai Qin, determined not to lose, thinks losing to a dragonman would be no better than having lost to Zhang Shuang earlier. Acid rain then falls from green clouds on the battle area. Her ants sit inside the nest while his are exposed, so he pulls back and builds a nest. Armor ants appear afterwards, but he has lost the best opportunity, and she escapes her complete disadvantage. ch. 1830
His deep soul foundation later lets him force her into a corner. Then an ant queen appears in the middle of her forces. He cannot break her last defensive lines, and she subdues it with methods that carry backlash. The injured queen lets her ants move faster, defend better and attack more fiercely, so her strength greatly increases. He retreats, leaving some troops to stall her. More queens appear and both sides capture them, and as more nests rise the troops fight intensely in deadlock. ch. 1830
With rich experience he gradually gains the upper hand. Just as he is about to strike the decisive blow, an earthquake destroys most of his nests and fewer of hers. They are evenly matched again. The onlookers note that a change has helped Tai Qin three times and suspect cheating, though Green Ant Ascetic set up the area personally. ch. 1830
Fang Yuan calls this trouble, since by his luck he should not be this unlucky even cut off from the main body. He judges it most likely that this dream realm requires him to lose, with a change striking whenever victory is near. Holding back to lose is how he would normally probe. The clone has only one chance, and a wrong guess gives up the test and traps him in the dream realm. The main body would then fight the Four Dragon Generals, lose control, and watch Dragon Palace fly away. Fang Yuan’s plan would be fruitless, and he asks what to do. ch. 1830
