Chapter 43 Cang Li's spirits lifted; in the tree…
Cang Li's spirits lifted, and he continued drawing a route on the tree bark. He passed through several mountain peaks, and the route was crooked and twisted. Based on the places he had passed, Cang Li drew a route that was most suitable for humans to travel.
After collecting the bark, Cang Li walked down to the beach. The sand here was snow-white, and the seawater was very blue. The sea breeze carried a salty and damp smell. The sun had set in the west, and it was getting dark. Cang Li found a spot on the shore, took out the processed bamboo and straw, built a temporary shelter, ate some rice balls, and went to sleep.
The next morning, Cang Li got up early to prepare to boil salt. She brought firewood, but there were plenty of dry branches on the coast, so there was no shortage of firewood.
Cang Li recalled that the modern method of boiling seawater for salt production has been improved by sun-drying, which is called dike-building and tide-drying. This involves digging salt fields on the coast, building dams to bring in seawater, obtaining high-concentration brine through evaporation, and then introducing the brine into crystallization pools. Salt crystals are precipitated through sun-drying or heating, and finally the finished salt is scraped out from the bottom of the pools using tools.
This method saves firewood, but takes a long time. Cang Li plans to develop the salt fields, place them here, and then use traditional methods to sun-dry and boil the water to obtain salt, thus shortening the time to obtain salt and returning sooner. In the future, he plans to teach this method to the human race, who can then come and collect the salt themselves.
Cang Li neatly tied her hair up, rolled up her sleeves, and secured them with strips of cloth. Then, using the soil-turning magic she had learned before, she dug a salt field in a location far from the sea where it wouldn't be submerged by the high tide. Next to it, she dug a small crystallization pool, and then dug ditches to draw seawater into the large pool. The salt would evaporate slowly here, so she didn't need to worry about it.
On another occasion, Cang Li dug a new salt field and introduced seawater into it. She dug dozens of large, interconnected pools and introduced seawater into them. Cang Li then took out a stone pot from her backpack that could completely cover her and set it up.
She filled the stone pot with seawater, lit the firewood on the ground with a match, and started cooking. While waiting, she didn't stop cooking, cooking as much as she could.
The seawater gradually evaporated in the pot, and a thin layer of white crystals appeared at the edge. Cang Li scraped off a little with a bamboo sliver and tasted it. It was salty and a little bitter; it was indeed salt.
Seeing the signs of success, Cang Li was even happier and increased the heat. When only a shallow layer of seawater remained in the pot, Cang Li added more seawater. He kept adding water and increasing the heat, and by nightfall, Cang Li had only obtained a bamboo tube of salt. His efficiency was indeed very low.
Cang Li wiped the sweat from her brow. Luckily, she could use magic to control the bamboo strips to stir the pot; otherwise, if she had tried to stir it by hand, her hands would have been ruined.
Therefore, it seems that Taiqing's statement about using magic to save effort is indeed very reasonable; one cannot endure hardship without suffering.
Despite three days of blazing sunshine, the seawater in the salt ponds didn't get much shallower, and Cang Li only managed to boil four jars of salt, which was far too inefficient.
Cang Li sat under the shade of a tree, feeling somewhat worried. At this rate, how long would she have to wait to go back? What if she couldn't make it back by the agreed time? If only there were some kind of giant evaporator.
Thinking of this, Cang Li slowly sat up straight. This was the sea, and there were things that couldn't be found on the mountain. She could use the materials in her backpack to build a bamboo raft, go out to sea to catch fish, and throw them to the collector in exchange for collection points. Then she could make a wish to unlock a large evaporator on the eighth page!
Cang Li thought she was indeed clever. Without saying a word, she started huffing and puffing as she built a bamboo raft, added a black awning, and wove a fishing net. She headed straight out to sea. It wasn't that Cang Li wasn't afraid of the sea suddenly getting rough, but she felt that she was now a Great Luo Golden Immortal, personally certified by Taiqing. Even though she didn't feel anything, she thought that a mere storm shouldn't kill her.
The small bamboo raft, visible against the vast ocean, sailed out to sea. Afraid of losing its way, Cang Li didn't stray too far, keeping her sight of the beach until she could finally throw her fishing net into the sea.
Without her mother's blessing buff, she doesn't know if she can catch any fish here.
Cang Li was still somewhat worried.
After the net was lowered, it couldn't be retrieved immediately. Cang Li lay in the awning and took a nap before getting up. The sun, which was originally in the east, had already moved to the west. Cang Li then went out to pull the net up.
The net is quite heavy, but we've had a good catch. Even if it's not fish, seaweed and kelp will do.
Cang Li dragged the net onto the bamboo raft, opened it, and saw that half of it was seaweed, half was scallops, and there was also an entangled octopus, with a squid hanging underneath. Cang Li was very satisfied; something was better than nothing.
After emptying the contents, Cang Li threw the net back into the sea, then swirled the seaweed in the water to remove some sand. He took ten pieces and threw them into the collector to exchange for collection points. He did the same with the scallops, and threw the octopus and squid into the collector, earning quite a few collection points in return.
Cang Li put the remaining scallops and kelp into his backpack. He planned to take them back to the cave to eat. There were no seasonings or iron pots here, so he could only boil them, which Cang Li didn't like.
Cang Li glided the bamboo raft around the sea, glanced at the smoking fire on the shore to make sure it was still burning, then looked back at the sea.
The sea was calm, and Cang Li thought about bringing his five children to come and see it sometime in the future.
As evening fell, Cang Li pulled up her fishing net and caught starfish, sea urchins, abalone, a bunch of sea grapes, and a large king crab. Cang Li was overjoyed; she had made a profit! She loved king crabs! She wouldn't give this one to the collector; she would keep it for herself and give it to the collector next time she caught one.
By the time Cang Li rowed the bamboo raft back to shore, it was completely dark. After packing up the raft, Cang Li held the Hongmeng Holy Sword in her hand. It was always dangerous to be in an unfamiliar place after dark. Even though there was no one around, wild beasts were still a threat. Cang Li walked over and saw that the stone pot had burned dry. She used a small spell to set up several bamboo tubes that were filled with water floating above the pot, but they were now empty of seawater. If Cang Li had come back any later, the pot would have been ruined.
After scraping out the salt, Cang Li added seawater to the pot and continued to boil it. After adding water three times, Cang Li turned down the fire and went into the shed to sleep. The Hongmeng Holy Sword floated outside the shed to protect its master.
The next day, Cang Li wove an even larger fishing net and went out to sea, knowing that a larger net could catch more fish.
Having gained experience once, Cang Li skillfully cast the net into the sea and took out bamboo strips to weave a frame, as it was easier to work with a frame.
When it was time to pull in the fishing net, Cang Li felt that the net was particularly heavy this time, and it was quite difficult to pull. Cang Li was overjoyed, knowing that he must have caught a lot of fish!
Cang Li pulled the net up with great enthusiasm, and even heard the sound of the net breaking. Cang Li didn't care, since she knew how to weave fishing nets anyway. With one last effort, she pulled the entire net onto the bamboo raft, which was almost too big to fit. She opened the net and peeled back the seaweed, sea grapes, and seagrass. There were quite a few abalone and sea snails, but was that huge white thing a clam?
The clams are nationally protected animals. Cang Li thought he couldn't break the law, so he decided to throw the clams back. Before throwing them away, Cang Li suddenly realized that this was the prehistoric world. Clams! Maybe they could be exchanged for hundreds of gathering points!
Cang Li stopped fishing and happily rowed back to shore. She wanted to go ashore to process the clams. She would open the clams, as there might be large pearls inside. She would give the clam shells separately to the collectors, not wanting them to get a good deal. She wanted to sell each clam multiple times.
As Cang Li happily drifted along in her boat, she didn't notice that the large cart that could fit her whole body was trembling, radiating an aura of fear.
Once they reached the shore, Cang Li dragged the bamboo raft ashore, tossed the rest of the items to the collector, put the rest into his backpack, and then took the Hongmeng Holy Sword to prepare to deal with the Chequ.
As the Primordial Holy Sword approached the edge of the clam shell, the clam shell suddenly opened up and cried out:
"Immortal, spare my life!"
Cang Li was so frightened that he took three steps back! Che Qu can talk!
The goat transformed into human form, its shell on its back, and knelt before Cang Li, tears streaming down its face.
"Immortal, spare my life! This lowly demon has not had an easy time cultivating, please let me go."
Cang Li composed herself. Right, this is the prehistoric world, it's not surprising to have monsters, it's just that she had never seen one before, no need to make a fuss, no need to make a fuss. But Cang Li still couldn't help but scrutinize the first... oh, strictly speaking, not the first monster she had ever seen, but the first monster whose cultivation was not up to par and was not entirely humanoid.
That shell on its back is really beautiful. Is the back still connected to the shell, or is it just something it carries on its back?
And this clam shell is so white, is it because it lives on the seabed for years and has never been exposed to the sun?
Her hair was also white, and her face had sparkly glitter. Are those just natural round glitter?
It had a string of beautiful pearls on its head, and a huge pearl hanging on its chest, making its whole body sparkle.
Cang Li found it fascinating; the pearl was also very beautiful. One of the Cang Li people stared at the pearl.
Seeing that Cang Li was staring at her pearl without speaking, the clam spirit Fu Qu immediately took the pearl off her neck, held it above her head with both hands, bent down and offered it to him, saying tremblingly:
"Immortal Master! This is a pearl that I, a mere demon, have condensed over a thousand years of cultivation. I am willing to offer it to you, Immortal Master! I only beg you to spare my life!"
Cang Li snapped out of her daze, blinking her eyes. This chacha demon... mistook her for a robber?!
Seeing that Cang Li remained unmoved, Fu Qu panicked even more and lay flat on the ground. Her cultivation was not high, and any aquatic creature in the sea could defeat her. Fortunately, she had latched onto the dragon clan's coattails, which prevented her pearl from being stolen. However, once she was pulled ashore, she didn't know that the dragon clan's coattails she had latched onto were terrifying. The immortal in front of her, whose cultivation was unfathomable, was truly terrifying. She was doomed!
Cang Li struggled to pull her gaze away from the large pearl. She had never seen such a beautiful pearl before, with a faint purple hue that truly shone in the sunlight. It was the size of an egg, and she really liked it. However, Cang Li wasn't the kind of person to take advantage of someone's misfortune. Cang Li shifted her gaze and pulled Fu Qu up... Her skin was so smooth.
"Don't lie there. I don't want your pearls. I just accidentally caught you while fishing. Go back now, and don't go into my net next time you see it."
Fuqu looked at Cangli with a puzzled expression. She could tell that there was no malice in the immortal's tone. On the contrary, he was genuinely advising her to be careful. Apart from her dragon clan backer, this was the first time Fuqu had felt goodwill from someone with a higher cultivation level than her.
Perhaps for this reason, Fuqu blinked but did not leave. Instead, she held up the pearl and asked, "Immortal, please spare me. Here, take the pearl."
Cang Li: ...This is practically forcing her to accept a bribe!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
