Chapter 199 Promotes the Construction of the Bamboo Forest Saltworks
"Is this kind of bamboo easy to grow?" Nana asked cautiously.
Shu Xin answered sincerely, "They're not easy to raise."
Nanaja: "..."
Dragon Bamboo is a high-level magical plant, which has high requirements for magical environment. In addition, the bag of bamboo seeds that Xi brought back from the human wand workshop is actually used as the core material of high-level magic wands. For the cultivation of Dragon Bamboo, the humans in this world usually use the division and cutting methods, and do not use bamboo seeds for sowing.
Although it's not easy to grow, this is the best solution for now. Shu Xin also asked the Tree of Life for fertilizer specifically for giant bamboo. She turned to look at Bluehorn, who was sitting at the table, intently eating moss biscuits.
No one knows how many layers of syrup Lanjiao poured on the cookies. The moss cookies should have made a crunchy sound when you ate them, but Lanjiao ate them quietly. Shuxin felt that these were no longer cookies, but rather molten sugar cookies!
After swallowing the thick, soft, sweet biscuit in his mouth, Bluehorn was a little puzzled: "Growing bamboo requires fertilizer, what does that have to do with me?"
Shu Xin smiled and said, "That's a big deal! With you here, the giant dragon bamboo will definitely grow!"
Bluehorn tilted his head blankly: "Huh?"
On the leveled land outside the residential area, seeds of giant dragon bamboo have been sown. Flower fairies with planting magic talent fly in the air and form a circle, watching curiously as the still huge demon, even when crouching down, releases his magical aura onto the sand.
"Will it really work?" Bluehorn hesitated and withdrew her hand. She looked at the soft sand beneath her that had been carefully turned over. The land was now filled with her magical aura, but she couldn't see any changes in the soil, and the seeds buried in the ground didn't move.
The Flower Fairy explained that the Dragon Bamboo was a mutation of ordinary bamboo under the influence of a red dragon's aura, so she asked her to release her magical energy. She tried her best to mobilize the red dragon bloodline within her, but the problem was that she was only a hybrid, and her magical energy wasn't pure...
Shu Xin had already drawn her magic wand, preparing to cast time magic to accelerate the ripening process, when she heard Lan Jiao's words. She pointed her wand at the ground: "Guaranteed to work! Look—"
A soft, magical light slowly shone forth, and tender, slender bamboo shoots broke through the soil. With a soft rustling sound, they grew taller and larger, sprouting branches, unfurling leaves, and reaching for the sky. In the blink of an eye, the lustrous, jade-like red bamboo stood tall and majestic, forming a lush forest.
The legend of the human race says that the giant dragon bamboo was "mutated from ordinary bamboo after absorbing dragon blood". However, this claim has been disproven by the Tree of Life. The red dragon can only project in the material plane, so where would it get its dragon blood? The giant dragon bamboo is actually a magical plant called blood bamboo, which mutated after being infected by the magical aura emitted by the red dragon's projection.
When the skin of this magical plant is cut open, the sap that oozes out is bright red and looks very much like blood, so it is called Blood Bamboo. It is likely because of this characteristic that, in addition, the mutated Blood Bamboo grows to be exceptionally large, and it has gradually become "Giant Dragon Bamboo" which is "born by absorbing dragon blood".
Although Blue Horn is a hybrid, she is a demon from the Demon Realm and does indeed possess the bloodline of a red dragon. The magical aura she releases is a super-effective growth regulator for this mutated plant. In addition, the sandy soil and high temperatures of the Land of Sin are very suitable for the environment of the Giant Dragon Bamboo. If there is any shortcoming, it is that the water is severely insufficient and the humidity is too low.
Shu Xin couldn't be sure how long the drought would last. Housing wasn't a necessity for the flower fairies at this stage, since basements weren't uninhabitable. However, water was an extremely precious and essential resource for survival. Therefore, she didn't draw water from the underground lake to irrigate the giant dragon bamboo, but instead continued to force it to mature.
As the magic surged, one after another pointed bamboo shoots sprouted from the ground. However, as these bamboo shoots grew at a speed visible to the naked eye, their originally bright red color gradually faded and became lighter. As for the giant dragon bamboo that had been forced to grow and continued to grow taller and thicker, it also began to fade.
As the magical fluctuations subsided and the magical radiance completely dissipated, the tall bamboo forest that appeared before them was a stark white, showing no trace of its original crimson, blood-red, and jade-like beauty.
Shu Xin wasn't surprised by this. She had asked the Tree of Life; stimulated by the magical energy released by Bluehorn, these dragon bamboos would sprout and grow even in severe water shortages, provided there was sufficient magical energy. Of course, there would be side effects; their pure white color was merely an appearance.
In reality, these albino dragon bamboos, which were forcibly accelerated by time magic, have very low hardness in their branches, leaves, and stems, and they can no longer continue to grow. They will only slowly weaken until they die completely. Even if they receive enough water in the future, they will at most die a little slower.
...If they don't get enough water, they'll die even faster.
However, Shu Xin felt it wasn't a big problem. The Land of Sin didn't need to use the Dragon Bamboo as a magical material. On the contrary, if the Dragon Bamboo had truly retained its original hardness and sharpness, Shu Xin would have been troubled by how to break the bamboo and how to protect the flower fairy.
Putting away her magic wand, Shu Xin approached the bamboo forest ahead and gently tapped the snow-white bamboo stalks of the giant dragon bamboo twice with her fingers.
The crisp tapping sound and the solid feel under her knuckles reassured Shu Xin slightly. She had actually prepared herself for the giant bamboo to be as brittle as paper, but the situation was much better than she had imagined. Even though she used a little more force, she couldn't break the bamboo directly. It felt like it was as hard as ordinary bamboo.
If the flower fairies move into the bamboo tubes and live a normal life, the giant dragon bamboo should not be easily destroyed. In addition, the flower fairies with planting magic can also maintain this bamboo forest. The newly built residential area should be able to last until the drought ends.
After thinking for a moment, Shu Xin turned around and called over Lan Jiao, who was nervously clutching his right hand with his left.
Bluehorn looked guilty: "The magical energy of these plants is so weak... Are you sure it's okay... I already told you I'm a hybrid..."
When Shu Xin pointed out a spot on the bamboo and asked her to try to break it open, Lan Jiao carefully reached out her hand, not daring to use any force. However, when she found that the bamboo cracked as soon as she poked it, she looked like she was about to crack as well.
Shu Xin couldn't help but laugh: "It seems that after this residential area is built, the demons will have to be careful when they come over."
Then Shu Xin called Nana Jia over and pointed to a spot on the bamboo, instructing the flower fairy to try and break it open.
Bluehorn looked at the large, jagged crack that had appeared on the bamboo with just a light poke of his fingertip, then at the narrow, tiny opening that had only been created by the flower fairy after she had smashed and kicked it hard. He was speechless for a moment.
“It’s great. This giant bamboo perfectly meets our needs,” the flower fairy said with satisfaction. “Then the construction will be left to you, Nanaja.” She then turned to Blue Corner. “Let’s go see the salt field that has been built.”
Blue Horn came to find Shu Xin because the salt field was built at a very fast pace with the help of the demons. As a result, the demons, who were freed from their work, started fighting again.
Because the dungeon was filled with a large number of flower fairies and the space was relatively enclosed, the magic was naturally very active and the concentration of magic was relatively high. The demons did not return to the dungeon, but chose to fight on the surface. Although they deliberately ran a little further away, the earth-shaking rumbling noise still scared the newly arrived flower fairies quite a bit.
“They originally wanted to go to the snowfield,” Bluehorn rolled his eyes, “Wouldn’t that be embarrassing, making a fool of themselves right under the Snow Clan’s nose!”
Xi then proceeded to beat up all the demons who were fighting, and the Land of Sin remained quiet for a while until they woke up from their coma.
Shu Xin was also considering how to settle the demons when Nana Jia came to deliver refined "Liuhuaqing" gas fertilizer. Thinking of the giant dragon bamboo seeds she had recently discovered, Shu Xin first asked Lan Jiao to help promote the growth of the giant dragon bamboo—after all, this problem was easier to solve.
With the simple problem solved, the thorny one came next. When Shu Xin arrived at the salt field that had been built and put into use, she saw not only large areas of brine being dried in the sun in one evaporation pool after another, but also large piles of demons haphazardly stacked on the open ground.
Perhaps in order to fight freely and unrestrainedly, many demons have revealed parts of their original forms. How to put it, whether it's the shimmering brine or the bizarrely shaped demons, they are quite spectacular in some ways.
The layout of the salt field in the otherworld version provided by the Tree of Life is very simple. Since the lake with extremely high salinity is located underground, it can be directly transferred to the surface using transfer magic. Therefore, you only need to build evaporation pools and crystallization pools on the surface to start salt production.
The structure of the evaporation pool and crystallization pool is not complicated. After leveling and compacting the ground, a dike of a certain height is built. Then, the salt mud and magic powder from the original underground lake are mixed and evenly applied to the four walls and bottom of the working pool and air-dried. That completes the process.
However, the flower fairies were too small, and the salt fields required a large area, so it would take a long time to build if only the flower fairies were used for construction. But after the demons joined the construction team, it was completed in no time.
"Once they wake up, let's unleash the strongest wave." Shu Xin flew over the empty crystal pool and hovered above the mountain of demons. The heavy smell of blood hit her nose. Anyone who didn't know better would think they had stumbled into a mass grave!
Shu Xin glanced at the pitted ground corroded by the demon's venomous blood and looked away, saying, "Before you leave, remember to clean up the ground for me. As for the remaining demons, some will be assigned to build the salt lake area, and the rest will be assigned to work at the surface salt fields. You're not afraid of the sun anyway."
Blue Corner had no objection to this.
The underground cave containing the newly discovered saltwater lake was directly named the Salt Lake District by Shu Xin. This type of extremely saline water also existed in Shu Xin's original world, such as the famous "Dead Sea." Naturally, she wanted to try it out and see if she could float directly on the surface. However, Shu Xin had just reached the lake's edge and hadn't even entered the water when the Tree of Life urgently stopped her—
This extremely salty water is poisonous to the river spirits!
Shu Xin stubbornly dipped her right hand into the saltwater lake. Although she quickly pulled her hand back, her entire right palm was still burning and swollen.
This made Shu Xin understand why all the flower fairies had a sweet tooth; it turned out that for flower fairies, too much salt was harmful to their health!
Although the flower fairies are not plants, Shu Xin couldn't help but make this connection—sprinkling sugar on flowers and plants would make them grow better, but sprinkling salt on them would most likely only burn the seedlings.
Afterwards, Shu Xin asked the demons to try going into the water. As expected, the salt lake water had no effect on the thick-skinned demons. In fact, none of the demons could float in the water. All the demons who went into the water sank to the bottom like weights and could not even thrash around.
Shu Xin had originally thought that if flower fairies or demons could float in saltwater lakes, she would carve out a section of the lake as a scenic area for recreation. However, after the experiment, she gave up on that idea and decided to just turn them into salt instead!
It can only be said that, as expected, both demons and river elves have physiques that are completely different from those of humans. It was only after realizing that salt was not a necessity for the flower fairies that Shu Xin found that she didn't seem to need to arrange extra manpower, and finally built such a large salt field.
Now that the salt fields have been built, Shu Xin can only console herself that this not only quickly empties the salt lake, but is also a good way to deplete the demons' energy. She can also consider selling the salt to other races later, and she can finally achieve the freedom to eat salt—her salt powder jar is now empty.
...Although eating salt is not good for the health of the river fairy, Shu Xin felt that as a flower fairy, it shouldn't be a problem for her to eat a little salt every day. After she got the salt powder, she added salt to almost every meal, and she is still fine now.
Shu Xin decided to pickle the gray bird eggs once the salt had dried. She had been wanting to eat salted egg yolks for a long time, and once she had them, she could make salted egg yolk noodles and egg yolk pastries.
If she absolutely had to have dessert, Shuxin wanted something sweet and savory!
When tiny, snow-white salt crystals condense in the crystallization pools of the salt field, the bamboo tube building constructed from the bamboo stalks of the giant dragon bamboo begins to take shape. Shu Xin even obtained the recipe for salted eggs from the Tree of Life early on, preparing to start construction once the lake salt is harvested.
But even before the savory, oily salted egg yolk arrived came a devastating piece of news:
A highly contagious fever has emerged.
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Author's Note: I'll post the first 4,000 words. I've revised the rest many times and I'm not entirely satisfied. I'll work on it as soon as possible! [The anxious and frustrated Pigeon Ball, whose lips are cracked, grins ingratiatingly.]
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