Chapter 68 - 63 Free Entry and Exit i
Fourth possessed great wisdom, and it must have rushed in because it saw that the termites that had entered were not coming out.
It might have even sensed their cries for help from inside.
By the time Qin Niu called it back, it was already too late.
Its body was becoming blurry bit by bit, and it was oblivious to Qin Niu’s commands.
Once it reached the edge of the area covered by the Ancient Banyan Tree, as its body began to blur, it seemed to be cut off from sensing the outside world.
Watching Fourth charge in, Qin Niu’s eyes also became increasingly fierce.
Fourth had saved his life before and was extremely important to the entire ant colony; he would not just stand by and watch it die inside.
He believed that he could make it out a second time since he had the first time.
Back then, the ant colony was so weak and yet it managed to rescue him.
Now being a hundred times stronger, there was no reason they couldn’t escape the Ancient Banyan Tree’s entrapment.
He sped up making the rope.
As time passed, the termites that had entered and Fourth, who went in last, had not come out.
Qin Niu’s heart had already sunk to the bottom; he harbored no more wishful thinking.
At that moment, he urgently created a vine rope nearly two hundred meters long.
It was crude, but also very sturdy.
He tied one end to a pine tree, then called out two Swift Ants from the temporary ant nest and took them with him.
“Ant Queen, I am now going to break into that terrifying area to rescue the other termites. Do not come out of the temporary nest,” he said.
“Understood.”
Her reply was simple and straightforward.
Qin Niu no longer hesitated; while it was still early, he quickly went in.
Shouldering the basket, with Treasured Sword close at hand, he walked forward, laying out the rope as he went.
Later, he would be able to pull himself out by the rope.
As he approached the edge of the Ancient Banyan Tree area, he felt nothing amiss. But he knew very well that by this position, his body should have already begun to blur.
He looked back outside, and sure enough, as expected, the pine tree was now faint and indistinct.
“Fourth!”
The fear Qin Niu felt entering the Ancient Banyan Tree’s area for the second time was much less than the first time.
The Ancient Banyan Tree still stood quietly in front of him just like last time.
The thick trunk supported a vast canopy that overshadowed the area like a grand umbrella.
He forged ahead while searching for the termites that had entered.
Soon, he found one of the termites.
It was the one that had ventured in first.
At this moment, it was circling around a fern.
If Qin Niu hadn’t come in, it probably would have kept circling until it died.
Qin Niu bent down and picked it up.
He placed it together with the two Swift Ants he had brought with him.
“Thank you, master.”
It excitedly expressed its gratitude to Qin Niu.
Having suddenly appeared in their despair to rescue them, Qin Niu had brought it immense joy.
“Do you know where the other termites are?” he asked.
“I can sense their presence, but somehow I can’t reach their location no matter what.”
Qin Niu had guessed as much.
He began using a faint sense to search for the termites that had lost contact after entering.
This Ancient Banyan Tree was very strange; from the outside, one could not sense anything inside.
But once inside, the interference was much weaker.
“Master! I’m here! I can hear your call,” came a message from Fourth.
Qin Niu searched in that direction.
On his way, he saved three more termites that had been trapped.
It seemed that relying on them to guide the way inside was not very reliable.
Why hadn’t they lost their way the first time?
When Qin Niu found Fourth, seven termites were following it.
This indicated that Fourth had a relatively clear sense of direction inside.
“Fourth, do you get lost in here?” he asked.
“A little! As long as I stay away from these small trees, I’m fine.”
Fourth was pointing to a small tree with an ink-green hue all over.
I didn’t know its name, it looked a bit like the leaves of konjac, and there were strange grayish-white spots on the trunk.
They looked like grayish-white eyes.
It wasn’t tall, only about a meter in height.
Termites just had to run under its tree and they would become disoriented.
Within the range shrouded by the Ancient Banyan Tree, it was basically a small world under the control of the tree itself. The trees and grass inside seemed to have a symbiotic relationship with it.
Qin Niu cut down the small tree with a single slash of his blade.
A pale green liquid immediately started oozing out from the cut end of the trunk.
Qin Niu suddenly had an idea, if Banyan Tree Blood could help termites evolve, what would happen if they drank the blood of this symbiotic plant?
This time he had come prepared.
He immediately took out a small jar and began collecting the blood of the bizarre plant.
After collecting it, he searched for his next target.
As long as he saw this type of small tree, he cut it down without hesitation.
Ordinary termites could be trapped by any grass or small tree, but only this kind of small tree with grayish-white eyeballs on its trunk could confine Fourth.
Qin Niu soon collected nearly half a jar of blood from this type of tree.
He managed to locate all the termites that had come inside as well.
He glanced at the trunk of the Ancient Banyan Tree behind him, licking his lips with covetous eyes.
Banyan Tree Blood was a treasure.
It was a pity that the rope he had woven wasn’t long enough.
Before finding a way to freely come and go, it was better to remain cautious.
He started to head back the way he came.
Simply pulling the rope and moving forward.
As he walked out, he kept gathering the rope.
In theory, there should have been no problem, but something strange happened again very soon.
The rope did not break but seemed to be able to extend indefinitely.
The more he collected, the more there seemed to be, never coming to an end.
In less than half an hour, he had a huge bunch of vine rope in his hands.
He was certain that just the amount he held in his hands was more than two hundred meters long. There was still some tied around the pine tree outside, probably forty to fifty meters of it.
He had woven the rope himself, so how could it possibly extend infinitely?
“Fourth, can you feel the Ant Queen’s position?” Qin Niu asked.
“I can! But it’s very weak,” Fourth replied.
“Lead the way!” Qin Niu ordered.
Fourth walked, stopped, and kept adjusting its direction.
Whenever they encountered a tree that could trap Fourth, Qin Niu solved it without mercy with a single slash.
With Fourth leading the way, Qin Niu made it out of there successfully.
Looking at the vine rope in his hand, it was incredible.
It was like wood that had dried out for years; it fell apart with just a touch.
Once out, Qin Niu felt secretly elated.
It appeared that as long as Fourth and the Ant Queen stayed out of trouble, even if he went in, his safety was assured.
Had he known how powerful Fourth was, he wouldn’t have worried about collecting Banyan Tree Blood.
But given another chance, he guessed he would still be as cautious as before.
He didn’t dare to recklessly risk Fourth’s well-being.
He simply discarded the vine rope in his hand.
It wasn’t that the entire rope was rotten. The rope outside was fine; it was only the part that had been taken inside that had completely deteriorated.
Nor was there an obvious boundary; it had decayed gradually.
It was like there was a buffer zone.
Qin Niu estimated that this buffer zone was about twelve meters long.
“Fourth, let’s go in and try again,” he suggested.
Having successfully exited twice, Qin Niu grew bolder.
He took Fourth and broke in again.
It was still early, and dusk was a long way off.
This time, he did not skulk around but headed straight for the trunk of the Ancient Banyan Tree.
Without several jars of Banyan Tree Blood, the repeated risks would have been for nothing..