Chapter 135 Underground Lake Fish Frenzy: Fish balls, fish slices, fish noodles...
Shu Xin immediately went to the underground city.
Stepping out of the teleportation array, Shu Xin first went to check out the underground tunnel. She was very pleased to see that the collapsed sections of the underground tunnel had been completely filled in and repaired by the demons. As for the caves that still existed behind the repaired tunnel walls, Shu Xin pretended not to notice them.
Shu Xin's good mood didn't last long. When she entered the planting area, the brief dizziness from the teleportation hadn't dissipated yet, and before Shu Xin could even see the scene in front of her clearly, a pungent fishy smell hit her.
Once her vision cleared, Shu Xin could see from afar that the fish of all sizes were piled up into small mountains on the stove, and every now and then a few fish would jump down from the mountains. Looking around, the ground was full of jumping live fish—she roughly knew why Peng Peng An had come to the underground city.
The moss in the planting area still looked wilted, but the water that had spilled all over the ground had been cleaned up. The delicious mushrooms were still alive, but they looked even more mutated. The snow-white mushroom caps were either scorched yellow in large patches or turned completely blackish-blue, looking like they were highly poisonous. Coupled with the strong fishy smell in the air, the smile that had been on Shu Xin's face at the beginning completely disappeared.
With a blank expression, Shu Xin waved her staff, casting a protective shield that isolated her from smells, before flying towards the underground lake.
The underground lake looked very calm, and there wasn't a soul in sight on the shore. Shu Xin stood with her arms crossed, hovering by the water's edge, coldly watching the surface. She hadn't waited long when she heard a splash, and Xi emerged with a big fish in her arms, beaming with joy.
Meeting the Flower Fairy's icy gaze, Xi's smile froze instantly. Before he could even utter a few words in his defense, the demons emerged one after another amidst the rushing water, each one gleefully grabbing, hugging, carrying, or biting one large fish after another.
The last female demon to emerge from the water, as Shu Xin remembered, was called Xiao Shui. She had a delicate and charming appearance, and even without making any expression, she looked pitiful. She didn't catch any fish, but instead held a large water sphere. Inside that flowing, transparent water sphere, a red-haired flower fairy dressed in a tax official's uniform sat listlessly.
Shu Xin glanced at the dejected Peng Peng An inside the water sphere, then forced a smile and said, "Xi, explain yourself to me?"
Hearing Shu Xin's voice, Peng Peng An immediately pounced on the water sphere wall. Even though the sound was somewhat muffled by the water, Shu Xin still clearly heard what he was saying:
"Your Highness! You're back! These demons have discovered the fish swarm! But they've caught too many fish! I can't stop them!"
Xi quickly chimed in, "That's right, that's right, I couldn't stop them either! I wasn't there at the time! When I came back, they were already fishing!"
Shu Xin chuckled: "So you simply joined them and started fishing too."
Holding a fish taller than a person in her arms, Xi guiltily looked away: "...It's just...so much fun..."
"Stop fishing!" Shu Xin raised her voice and shouted, "Everyone, come out!"
Shu Xin wasn't quite sure what the underground water system of the magical world was like, but this freshwater lake was clearly connected to other water systems, which explained the "fish tide" that Peng Peng An had mentioned. After driving all the demons out of the water and rescuing Peng Peng An from the water sphere, Shu Xin checked on Peng Peng An's condition and, confirming he was alright, instructed him to go to the surface to find the cook, Mei Mei Lin, and to take her to the Tree of Life to get the recipes before coming back to the underground city together.
Watching Peng Peng'an's figure disappear into the teleportation array, Shu Xin turned around and glared murderously at the demons who were still grinning foolishly.
Lelingxi led the demons to clean up the fish scattered on the ground. After watching them put the fish in one place, Shuxin asked them to freeze all the fish to preserve them. She then took advantage of this time to start ripening the moss.
Once the demons had frozen all the fish, Shu Xin had also collected a large number of moss spores. Then she began to arrange work for the demons: some demons were responsible for separating the poisonous fish from the non-poisonous fish, some demons went to turn over the soil, dig ditches, and the rest all went to plant moss.
Shu Xin distributed the moss spores to the demons, instructing them to plant them on the top of the underground tunnel. They were to come to her for more spores once they ran out. Once the tunnel top was completely covered with moss, the job would be finished—she would then assign them new tasks.
Shu Xin sternly warned the demons that if anyone dared to slack off while working, the delicious soup and rice cooked by the flower fairies would not be given to them. If anyone not only slacked off but also dared to steal or snatch food, then Xi would directly send that person back to the Demon Realm.
The demons had no desire to return to the Demon Realm. The demons sorting fish were all focused on identifying them, the demons digging irrigation ditches were also very diligent, and the demons going to the underground tunnels carefully took the tiny spores from the flower fairies and obediently went to plant moss.
As for Xi, Shu Xin directly pulled him to draw a magic circle with her.
With a pained expression, Xi had no choice but to draw the magic-sealing circle with the flower fairy. After the circle was finished, he wanted to experience its effects firsthand; the feeling of having his magic power imprisoned was unpleasant!
Under Shu Xin's very unfriendly gaze, Xi flexibly indicated that this level of magic-blocking array was not enough. Many of his demons could break free briefly, and even if the time they broke free was very short, it would be enough for them to destroy this magic-blocking array.
Shu Xin sneered: "Isn't this perfect? Whoever destroys the magic-sealing array will be banished back to the Demon Realm!"
Xi dared not speak.
"I'm only drawing this one magic array near the stove to protect against demons, and I'll limit its effective range to this area," Shu Xin warned. "Keep a close eye on your subordinates, Xi. I will strive to be fair and equal, and in return, you must fulfill your obligations. My tolerance has its limits! Peng Peng'an is relaying my orders! In this situation, the demons not only ignored my advice but even imprisoned Peng Peng'an. I will not allow a second time like this!"
“We won’t hurt the flower fairy…” Xi whispered, “It’s not really as serious as imprisonment…”
“We’re lucky we got back in time,” Shu Xin countered. “What if we had stayed with the Snow Clan for a few more days? The Demon Clan’s magic is poisonous. The water sphere where Peng Peng’an stayed was non-toxic for a short time, but what if it had been longer? Do you think the Flower Fairy’s constitution could withstand the Demon Clan’s toxins? Xi, if I returned to the Land of Sin from the Snow Clan and found Peng Peng’an’s corpse, how do you think I would feel?”
Shu Xin stated very frankly, "If the Snow Clan hadn't appeared, even if I were to try my best to treat all demons equally for the sake of their fighting strength, I would still have drawn a magic-blocking array throughout the entire dungeon! If the Snow Clan could provide me with assistance, as long as it could slightly resist the attacks from the outer continent's magical beasts, I would immediately isolate the demons from the flower fairies and the Land of Sin!"
First, Nonoli fell into a deep sleep after eating snow dragon fruit, and then Pengpengan was stuck in a giant water ball and couldn't get away. These two incidents happened one after the other in such a short period of time, which was really hard for Shuxin to bear. Since she came to this other world, Nonoli and Pengpengan had always been by her side. They could be said to be both family and friends. Whether it was the steady and reliable Nonoli or the loyal Pengpengan, Shuxin found it hard to imagine them leaving, especially leaving because of her mistake—even just thinking about it made her heart clench.
"Ultimately, it was my oversight..." Shu Xin sighed, somewhat apologetically. "It's not the demons' fault, Xi. Don't take it to heart. Lilia and the others are all fine. I know the demons don't have any bad intentions. I'm not angry with you; I'm angry with myself. If I had been more thoughtful, this wouldn't have happened—"
“This isn’t your fault, Shuxin,” Xi suddenly interrupted her.
The blond boy's form shifted, reverting to his black hair and golden eyes. The next moment, a tall demon with long, coiled horns on his head stretched out his arm and pulled the flower fairy into his embrace. He gently patted her back and whispered, "You've done very well. Don't be too hard on yourself. The worst didn't happen, did it?"
A strong, firm chest was on the side of her face, and a deep, magnetic voice was in her ear. Shu Xin was stunned when she was suddenly hugged tightly. The familiar magical scent was still lingering in her nose, which made her speechless. Did Xi think that she was too short because of her blond-haired boy appearance?
The lingering unease in her heart gradually dissipated, and Shu Xin simply raised her hand to hug Xi back, burying her face in his chest muscles. It has to be said that Xi's current physique does indeed make people feel very safe.
"Thank you, Xi," Shu Xin said sullenly.
"Did we come at the wrong time?" Memeline whispered to Pompon.
Peng Peng An replied softly, "It seems so. Shall we come back later?"
Shu Xin: "...I heard everything."
Meimeilin brought down the recipes from the Tree of Life. Shuxin took a look and found that the Tree of Life was as thoughtful and meticulous as ever. It not only provided specific recipes for fish balls, fish slices, and fish noodles, but also gave extra instructions on how to make fertilizer from fish bones, fish scales, and fish offal. It even had specific recipes for making canned fish. It can be said that it made use of the fish that the demons caught in every aspect.
Shu Xin immediately summoned some of the demons who were growing moss in the underground tunnel back and handed over the task of processing the fish to them—scaling, gutting, cleaning, bleeding, removing bones and thorns, and that was the completion of the preliminary preparations.
Slice the fish meat and then coat it evenly with salt, sugar and magic powder. Knead it repeatedly until all the seasoning powder is absorbed into the fish meat. Then place it in a vacuum environment to marinate until the surface is moist. Heat it and then freeze it. The fish slices that are easy to store and eat are now ready.
Fish meat is processed into fish powder using freezing and crushing magic. Salt powder and magic powder are added to the fish powder and mixed evenly. Then, it is pounded into a paste and scooped into balls with a round spoon to make fish balls. These can also be frozen for storage. When eating, they can be cooked directly in boiling water, just like fish slices.
The method for making fish noodles is to process fish meat into fish powder, then add salt powder, sugar powder, magic powder, acorn powder and acorn wine, mix well, knead into dough and cut into thin strips, and that is fish noodles.
The production process wasn't too complicated, so Shu Xin took Xi and set up a fish processing area in the planting area. She called over all the demons who had finished sorting the fish and clearing the land, and together with the flower fairies, she taught them how to make the fish products.
The poisonous fish products were given to the demons to eat themselves, while the non-poisonous fish products were eaten together by the demons and flower fairies, which was quite harmonious.
Whether it's the fresh and slightly crisp fish slices, the smooth and elastic fish balls, or the chewy and smooth fish noodles, they are all highly praised. Shuxin is also pleasantly surprised by the long shelf life of fish products. As long as they are frozen and stored at low temperature, they can last for more than a year. In this world, a year is 18 months!
What surprised Shuxin even more were the fertilizer and canned fish.
According to the description given by the Tree of Life, this otherworldly version of fertilizer is comparable to speed-up magic, but it takes a long time to make. However, Shu Xin doesn't think it's a big problem. There are still more than four months until the next harvest month, which is enough time to make the fertilizer and test its effects.
Fertilizer made from fish bones is the quickest to make, requiring only about 12 to 18 days. The fish bones are cleaned thoroughly and boiled in water two to three times until a noticeable magical aura emerges. This process takes about 2 to 3 days. Afterward, the bones are processed into powder using crushing magic, mixed with magic powder, and placed in direct sunlight to dry until the floating magical aura completely subsides. This process takes about 10 to 15 days. Only then is the fish bone fertilizer considered complete.
Making fertilizer from fish scales and fish offal takes longer. The process for processing fish scales is the same as for fish bones, but it takes longer, about 20 to 25 days, for the excessively volatile magical aura to completely subside and disappear. Of course, the fertilizer will also be more effective.
As for the fish offal, it's actually simpler to process. Just crush it, add a small amount of magic powder and a lot of water, mix it evenly, and put it in a sealed but transparent container. Place it in direct sunlight and expose it to the sun for about 45 to 65 days until the liquid in the container turns silvery-white. That's it. This fertilizer takes the longest to make, but it's also the most effective.
Shu Xin has already arranged for the demons and flower fairies to make the fish bone and fish scale fertilizer. The production of the fish offal fertilizer is stuck on the "sealed but transparent container". The Tree of Life has naturally provided a solution, which is written directly in the production process of fish meat canning.
Shu Xin went to the underground warehouse and took out some fruits of the ground grass. These bright red, round fruits contained the raw materials that could be used to make "sealed but transparent containers".
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com