"Hiss, hiss, hiss-"
Countless Mountain-Moving Ants hissed at Song Wen and the others throughout the valley and its surroundings.
Some even thrust hard with all six legs, launching themselves into the air and lunging at the group.
Just then, the ant queen let out a sharp, urgent cry.
"Chirp!"
All the Mountain-Moving Ants immediately fell silent. Even those in midair stopped in their tracks, turning toward the queen in bewilderment.
The ant queen showed not the slightest excitement or joy at Yan'e's appearance.
Its eyes, each the size of a millstone, looked unusually small on its enormous, bloated body as they watched Song Wen and the others warily.
Clearly, just as Yan'e had said, the queen was highly intelligent. It had already realized that its master was in a dire situation.
Yan'e was far stronger than the mid-eighth-tier ant queen, yet he had still been captured alive. Even with the entire colony behind it, the queen could not possibly stand against these people.
"Yan'e, tell the queen we mean no harm," Song Wen said.
A strange ripple of spiritual sense then emanated from Yan'e's head, which protruded from the blood cocoon.
Within moments, the wariness in the queen's eyes eased somewhat, and the hostility of the entire colony gradually subsided.
"Right, you said earlier that one of your reasons for coming here was to feed the colony. Where's the food you prepared for them?" Song Wen asked Yan'e.
"In the storage ring tucked inside my sleeve. All the spiritual materials inside were prepared for the colony," Yan'e replied.
With a thought from Song Wen, faint ripples spread across the surface of the blood cocoon.
A storage ring slowly emerged from within it. A slender tendril extending from the cocoon's surface curled around the ring and offered it to Song Wen.