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Chapter 2187: Mutual Devouring

"Perhaps," Frostleaf said to him. "After you've been to Thousand Eyes Cave, you don't need to return. Go directly west and track down the Pillars of Punishment for me, lest they fall into the hands of Sharite Heaven."

Xi Yunhe was slightly startled. "Yes," he replied.

"Alright, you may leave."

Watching Xi Yunhe walk out and close the door, Grand Tutor Frostleaf slowly stood up and walked to the couch.

Xi Yunhe was an effective subordinate. Grand Tutor Frostleaf had kept him by his side more often over the past year or two, which attracted the attention of those with ulterior motives.

However, Xi Yunhe's background couldn't withstand close scrutiny. To avoid trouble, Frostleaf simply sent him abroad, also conveniently fulfilling the task assigned by the Heavenly God.

He opened the lid of the crystal box and observed the Surinam toad.

All the tadpoles on the toad's back were alive. Three of the largest ones had already grown legs, and their tails had shortened.

In another dozen or so hours, they would transform into small toadlets, separating from their mother. At that point, the bond between mother and offspring would be broken, and they would have to swim away quickly to avoid being eaten by their mother.

However, neither the mother nor the offspring would get that chance, because Grand Tutor Frostleaf casually picked up a small knife, plunged it into the Surinam toad's brain, and twisted it twice!

The Surinam toad immediately twitched its legs and died within a few breaths.

Grand Tutor Frostleaf turned it over, emptied it into a stone bowl, and shook it vigorously a few times.

The small tadpoles were shaken out from the pores on its back and fell into the clear water in the stone bowl.

The bottom of the stone bowl was white, allowing the state of each small tadpole to be seen clearly.

As soon as they entered the water, they swam rapidly, very lively.

But after more than ten breaths, some tadpoles stopped swimming, slowing down one after another.

Then, they began to die, one after another.

This was the "mother dies, offspring perish" phenomenon of the Surinam toad.

Frostleaf ignored the other tadpoles, focusing only on the three that had grown legs.

While their siblings stopped swimming, they remained very active.

But this favorable situation didn't last half an hour; they too became increasingly sluggish and eventually died.

"Half an hour, hmm..."

The stronger ones, or rather, the more mature tadpoles evolving towards becoming frogs, survived longer after their mother's death.

Frostleaf remained expressionless. This matched the conclusion he had drawn from many previous observations.

But it was of no use.

It seemed this batch of tadpoles was no different; they brought him no surprises.

Frostleaf picked up the stone bowl, intending to open the window and discard its contents, when suddenly, another tadpole moved inside the bowl.

"Hmm?"

This tadpole was small and scrawny.

Born of the same mother, why did the stronger siblings die first while this little weakling remained alive?

The small tadpole twitched for a while longer before finally ceasing to move, joining its mother.

Although it couldn't escape death in the end, it survived longer than its other siblings.

Frostleaf immediately picked it up with a long needle, dissected it, and examined it carefully.

Soon, he found a small amount of murky fluid in the tadpole's mouth and abdomen.

The water tank was very clean; there was nothing unusual in it. What was this murky fluid? Residue from berries or moss?

Frostleaf picked it out for further observation, then returned to the water tank to compare.

On the water surface around the Surinam toad's corpse, there was indeed a tiny bit of the same murky fluid floating, which was hard to see without careful scrutiny.

Frostleaf leaned closer and gently sniffed it.

There was a faint, unusual fishy smell.

His sense of smell was extraordinary, and he instantly recognized it:

This was the brain matter of the mother Surinam toad!

After he killed the Surinam toad, the mother's brain matter flowed into the water and was coincidentally ingested by that small tadpole.

Could its longer survival be due to this?

Frostleaf had only just observed this phenomenon now because previously, when he killed Surinam toads, he always used a long needle, creating a tiny wound from which the brain matter couldn't seep out. Today, he had casually switched to a knife, leading to a different result.

"'Mother dies, offspring perish; mother and offspring devour each other,'" Frostleaf finally broke into a smile. "Interesting, truly interesting."

His research had finally made a small breakthrough.

Frostleaf walked to the window and took a deep breath.

Outside the window, an old maple tree in its late autumn glory had an elegant posture, its leaves a vibrant, blood-red. Frostleaf gazed at the azure sky through the gaps in the red leaves.

Occasionally, birds flew past, unfettered.

That evening, someone delivered new Surinam toads to him.

Time flew by.

More than half a year had passed since Emperor Jiuyou's troops aided Bailie and seized the holy land of Ya Nation.

In the past half year, the Emperor's Vitality Dew had frequently appeared, and Cangyan had reaped almost all the benefits of the world's spiritual energy revival. As He Lingchuan had predicted, as long as Cangyan endured the extreme hardship of its first three to five months after founding, and two rounds of harvests were completed in various regions, the situation would significantly improve.

In its early days, Cangyan's domestic economy was still struggling. But the Flashgold people had endured natural disasters and wars in the past; their vitality was more tenacious than wild grass in rock crevices or poplars in the desert. They could withstand any suffering from epidemics, illnesses, or famine. The peace and stability brought by the establishment of Cangyan made them feel reborn.

There were no mountain bandits or roving brigands pillaging towns and villages. No corrupt officials brazenly perverted justice. Few villainous gentry and powerful bullies oppressed men and women. Instead, fallow fields of many years were covered in tender yellow shoots again, and clear streams flowed freely once more. Those traversing the countryside and mountains were no longer mountain bandits and brigands, but government-organized reclamation teams, herb gatherers venturing into the mountains for spiritual herbs, patrol groups guarding the peace of towns and villages, as well as merchant caravans and barefoot doctors traveling to and fro across the land.

Various regions vigorously reclaimed wasteland and promoted planting, while also ensuring the protection of existing fields and their yields.

The Flashgold people displayed an unprecedented and astonishing enthusiasm for farming.

Their efforts were quickly rewarded. The frequent visits of the Emperor's Vitality Dew, coupled with the protection of the Black Serpent totem, caused the spiritual energy concentration in the Flashgold Plains to reach its highest level in almost seven hundred years. Delicate seedlings that previously required good soil, rich fertilizer, careful tending, and would die if overwatered, could now survive even if casually tossed into the ground. Farmlands generally yielded two harvests in 140 days, and some areas could even achieve three harvests.

On the two nights when the Emperor's Vitality Dew greatly surged, crops in some areas even ripened early.

Without waiting for autumn, the Flashgold people could experience the joy of harvest. Just considering the agricultural output in the suburbs of the capital, Ju City, the yield over these five months was more than four times that of the entire year before the great surge of Emperor's Vitality Dew!

Ju City was still considered an important town within the former Situ family's territory. Its farmland conservation rate was relatively good, but its urbanized area was quite large. In contrast, in vast agriculturally undeveloped regions, such as Shizhoutou City, where Emperor Jiuyou and the Black Armored Army first appeared a few years ago—where people had starved so much in lean years that they resorted to eating soil and tree bark—Cangyan's local officials took the lead in diligent reclamation and planting, and assigned personnel to guard the farmlands. The entire city nurtured the crops in their fields as if they were their ancestors.

Their hard work was rewarded: the grain yield over the past five months was more than six or seven times their previous annual average!

For the first time, Shizhoutou's granaries were full. Excess grain that couldn't be stored was temporarily moved to commercial warehouses within the city and farms outside.

Along the dirt roads where grain carts had passed, countless sparrows descended to the ground, pecking at the scattered wheat.

Many people, seeing such a sight for the first time in their lives, burst into tears on the spot.

Happy Festival!

What kind of zongzi do you eat for the Dragon Boat Festival? Sweet or savory?

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