Chapter 143 New Uses for Feeding Little Snow Lambs
As the Tree of Life grew taller, the Sun Spring, with its rising steam, could now be seen at a glance. Shu Xin looked out along the newly opened irrigation canal and, through the shimmering white steam, could see vast fields of blue bitter wheat and green crisp wheat.
Scattered among the swirling mist were large trees. Hidden among the branches and leaves were treehouses where towering demons and tiny flower fairies chatted and laughed. The scene was fantastical and beautiful, like an illustration from a fairy tale.
Actually, after Sun Spring was completely restored, Shu Xin was worried about the irrigation of the fields and the drinking water for the flower fairies—Sun Spring was a hot spring after its restoration.
A large portion of the hot spring water in Shu Xin's original world is undrinkable. As for whether it can be used to irrigate fields, it depends on the specific water quality and temperature. Considering that the Sun Spring in this other world is a magical spring, Shu Xin carefully observed it for two days. After discovering that the crops in the fields with irrigation ditches were growing more luxuriantly, she felt relieved.
The drinking water channels that were specially dug according to the distribution of civilian settlements were not used much by the flower fairies after the treehouses grew up, because the Tree of Life created a miniature sun spring in each treehouse.
When Shu Xin saw the small sun fountain in her treehouse, the magical cat was bending down and licking the water.
A small sun fountain appeared directly on the terrace, filling a hollow in the wooden floor. The shimmering, pale golden water reflected the lush green leaves, the azure sky through the gaps in the foliage, and naturally, a small black cat earnestly drinking water by the water's edge.
To be honest, it really does look like a small puddle of water that has accumulated on a bumpy surface after a rain...
After the magical cat finished drinking the water, Shu Xin curiously used a teleportation spell to transfer all the water from the Sun Spring on the terrace to the nearest canal. Then she saw the pale golden spring water gushing out of thin air and quickly filling the depression again.
Shu Xin thought this should be considered a magical version of tap water, but with such a spring, the flower fairies' drinking water was indeed much more convenient than before.
As for the former commoners' settlement where all the houses had been relocated, Shu Xin arranged for the flower fairies to plant the remaining golden honey wheat. Since golden honey wheat has high irrigation requirements, the dense irrigation ditches in the former commoners' settlement could still be put to use.
Turning her gaze away, Shu Xin let out a soft breath, feeling much calmer.
Now that the development of the Land of Sin is on track, she doesn't need to worry too much. Even if there are human mages spying in the shadows, the River Elves will not repeat the same mistakes. Even if the human mages launch another attack, the River Elves now have two allies by their side: the Demon Clan and the Snow Clan.
Pushing open the conference room door, Shu Xin smiled and said, "I'm back."
After returning, the Grey Feather Caravan met with the Golden Cloak Caravan and learned the whole story. They also remembered seeing a flock of grey birds nearby, but the grey birds didn't seem to be behaving strangely; they timidly ran away and hid.
Besides the seemingly normal gray birds, the flower fairies of the gray feather caravan also provided another piece of information: the location where the golden cloak caravan collapsed was the only way to the Wind Market.
"A market in the wind?" Shu Xin realized something. "So, there are a lot of outsiders here now, right?"
The two subordinates sitting at the conference table both nodded.
After the harvest month ended, preparations began for the Wind Market. By now, the market platform should be almost ready, which means that foreign merchants invited to the Wind Market are gradually entering the Kingdom of Ganar.
The Kingdom of Ganar refuses entry to humans, but among the numerous foreign merchants, there must be some who are on good terms with humans. Those strange gray birds are very likely to have been smuggled in.
"I understand. Let's leave it at that for now," Shu Xin said.
Shu Xin couldn't and wouldn't be able to stop the Wind Market. All she could do was give instructions to the caravans to be more vigilant about the gray birds they encountered in the wild.
At the same time, Shu Xin also arranged for the wand workshop to start producing customized magic wands, striving to equip all the flower fairies who went out with a tailor-made magic wand. To this end, she went to the Tree of Life and obtained new magic workshop blueprints, and made some modifications to the wand workshop to ensure that every customized magic wand had attack runes and defense runes.
As for whether or not to attend the Wind Market in the Land of Sin, Shu Xin was still hesitant.
If the flower fairy hadn't been attacked, she probably would have prepared her goods and gone to the Wind Market to see if she could buy some seeds suitable for the Land of Sin. However, after discovering that the human mage was still up to his old tricks, she didn't really want the flower fairy of the Land of Sin to be exposed to the human mage's sight.
So far, the Golden Cloak Caravan is the only caravan that has been attacked without warning. The Golden Cloak Caravan is indeed special. After Pepper returned to Flower Castle to continue working as a servant, Ananka is the only flower fairy who is still a merchant without any talent for mental magic. Ananka is also the first flower fairy to be restored from slavery to commoner status. Thinking about it this way, Ananka is also the only flower fairy among all the merchants who was born a slave.
Shu Xin suspected that the human mage had discovered something unusual about An Anka, which was why he launched a sneaky attack.
Now that many flower fairies in the Land of Sin have regained their normal elven forms, Shu Xin felt it would be better to wait until all the flower fairies had recovered before letting the human mages receive the news.
Anyway, the Wind Market will last for two whole months. If I really want to go, I can make preparations and make it in time. With that in mind, Shu Xin put the matter aside for the time being.
The more urgent issue now is how to raise the snow sheep.
The story begins a few days ago. Because it was a lovely day off, Shu Xin indulged herself in a long, lazy sleep, not getting out of bed until noon. After enjoying the delicious meal prepared the day before by Mei Meilin and the new cook, Lilylian, Shu Xin prepared to go to her treehouse to play with the magical cat. However, as soon as she flew out of the Flower Castle, she saw Xi excitedly flying towards the Flower Castle, carrying a little lamb.
Following Xi, among the vast horde of demons, many were also holding a bleating lamb in their arms.
It turned out that Xi had taken the demons hunting on the Twin Moon Snowfield again on her day off. This time they encountered a flock of snow sheep. After capturing all the adult snow sheep, Xi led the demons to capture the lambs and take them back to the Land of Sin.
"Darling~ You've even raised those gray birds, so I figured if we had snow sheep, you'd raise them too, so I brought all these little lambs back!" Xi said to the Flower Fairy with great pride, then swallowed hard. "I want to eat snow sheep meat!"
The demons killed all the adult snow sheep they encountered, so there was plenty of snow sheep meat to eat. In the past two days, whether it was the cooks Memeline and Lillian from the Flower Castle, or the cooks Lilia and Ananna from the dungeon, they were all trying different ways to cook mutton. The air in the Land of Sin was filled with the rich aroma of mutton soup.
The problem is that the demons killed too many adult snow sheep, and most of the lambs they brought back to the Land of Sin were still nursing!
After obtaining the otherworld version of the sheepfold construction blueprint from the Tree of Life, Shu Xin hurriedly built the sheep pen, sheep beds, and fences. She also had to draw a large freezing magic circle in the sheepfold to cool it down, since the snow sheep lived on the Twin Moon Snow Plains all year round and were not adapted to the excessively high temperature of the Sinful Land. While Shu Xin was building the sheepfold with the flower fairies and demons, several lambs showed serious symptoms of discomfort.
After putting all the listless lambs into the newly built sheep pen, the next step is to consider how to feed the snow sheep.
Thanks to the all-powerful Tree of Life, Shu Xin successfully found suitable green fodder for the snow sheep in the Land of Sin, which was the reed grass that had stubbornly sprouted tender shoots from the straw-woven triangular house.
Shu Xin was very fortunate at this time. Fortunately, when it was time to start farming after the harvest month, she wanted to use reeds as a substitute for white clay, so she planted more of them.
With the treehouses growing from the Tree of Life, the Sinful Lands will not have much demand for building materials for a long time to come. Shu Xin had even considered trying to sell the Reed Grass, but now that's great, she doesn't need to think about selling it anymore; she can produce and sell it herself.
Weaned lambs can be fed chopped tender leaves of reed grass directly, but feeding lambs that are not yet weaned is much more troublesome.
The Tree of Life does provide a recipe for a slurry that can replace goat milk, but the process is very complicated. First, fresh gray bird eggs must be stirred evenly into an egg liquid. Then, magic powder, salt powder, and vegetable oil must be added to the egg liquid. Next, crushed reed shoots must be added. Finally, the magical spring water of the Sun Spring must be added to dilute it. Stir it evenly again until the dark green, thick paste turns into a light green and white clear slurry, which can then be fed to the little snow sheep.
Making a goat milk substitute is only the initial step. Later, a special person will be needed to feed the lambs. According to the instructions given by the Tree of Life, newborn snow lambs need to be fed at least 12 times a day in order to survive. In the end, Shu Xin selected people from the flower fairies and demons to take care of these snow lambs.
Underage flower fairies usually don't participate in very strenuous work, but this time, apart from a few members of the Golden Cloak Caravan, all the flower fairies chosen to take care of Little Snow Sheep are underage.
Shu Xin was truly at her wit's end. Snow sheep, living on the Twin Moon Snowfield, were naturally extremely skilled in wind and ice magic. Even newborn snow sheep could unleash freezing magic, and after a few more days of growth, they could summon a vast array of incredibly sharp wind blades. The demons were all thick-skinned and tough; this level of attack couldn't even scratch their oily hides, but the flower fairies couldn't withstand it!
After seeking help from the Tree of Life, the Tree of Life gave Shu Xin a long list. Then the problem arose: all the flower fairies on the list were merchants.
Ninety-nine percent of the flower fairy merchants are out doing business. Now, the only ones in the Land of Sin are the Golden Cloak caravans, whose normal elf forms make it inconvenient for them to go out. Even the Gray Feather caravan has gone out again after resting for two days.
Knowing that the flower fairy merchants all possessed mental magic talents, Shu Xin called over the flower fairies from the Golden Cloak Caravan and asked them to try to take care of Little Snow Sheep. As Shu Xin expected, except for An Anka, the members of the Golden Cloak Caravan all successfully approached Little Snow Sheep.
Clearly, only flower fairies with spiritual magic talents could approach the little snow sheep without harm, but Shu Xin couldn't just call back a few of the caravans that were working outside and ask them to abandon their jobs to raise sheep. In the end, she crumpled up her conscience and threw it into a corner, turning her gaze to the underage flower fairies in the land of sin.
Among the flower fairies of the Land of Sin, there are quite a few with spiritual magic talents. Shu Xin communicated with the parents of each child and led these children, who usually only helped their families with odd jobs, to the sheepfold—the important task of feeding the little snow sheep was entrusted to them.
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Author's Note: ...Friends, I need your help! This is a genre I've never written about before, so I'm easily getting writer's block. Plus, I'm a slow writer to begin with, and I often get hungry while writing, so I just [crossed out] go eat, eat, eat! I need to eat before writing to replenish my energy, during writing to replenish my brainpower, and after writing to relax. Since I started writing in June, I've gained 20 pounds...I went from 80 pounds to 100 pounds in one go! So, are there any foods that can satisfy my cravings without making me gain weight?
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