Firing Pottery, Fire Drilling, and Merit Descending from Heaven

It took Wu Chu a full "two days" to dig a cave over two meters high and more than ten meters deep. Then he moved some deadwood into the cave, lit it, and roasted food over it.

Afterward, he scattered the charcoal ash throughout the cave to keep out dampness.

Next, he carried several huge logs inside to reinforce it, then had Yueling help split several flat wooden boards to serve as meat racks for the dehydrated octopus and shrimp meat. Finally, he used a piece of Purple Jade Spiritwood to seal the cave entrance.

He would have to survive the coming "four months" of darkness on this dried meat.

After dealing with the dried meat, Wu Chu began making pottery.

Without any machinery to help, he could only shape it by hand.

A Qiu, the Little Wolf Cub, wagged his tail nearby, curiously stretching his little head forward, only to be waved away by Wu Chu. Yueling came to help as well. She figured that since she could use her magical power to control the moisture in the clay and shape it, it should not be difficult.

Half an hour later, Wu Chu silently set down his abstract artwork. Looking at the standardized product taking shape in Little Moon Spirit's hands, as though it had come straight off an assembly line, he nodded. "It lacks a bit of artistic flair, but it's not bad! Little Moon Spirit is quite talented! This is called making a pottery blank. Once the blank has air-dried, it can be fired."

Little Moon Spirit looked at the clay basin in her hands, then at the lump of clay Wu Chu had slapped into mud with one palm. Blinking her big eyes, she asked, "Brother A Chu, what is artistic flair?"

"Artistic flair? That's a very profound and complicated subject. It can't be explained in just a few words." Wu Chu shook his head and stopped bragging about something he did not know much about, lest he talked himself dry in the end.

Yibao could not help wanting to mock him, but Little Moon Spirit nodded as though she understood something profound. "Brother A Chu, do you need me to draw the moisture from these pottery blanks?"

Wu Chu thought for a moment and nodded. "You can draw out some, but don't dry them completely. If they're completely dry, they'll crumble quickly, and they'll definitely crack when fired."

Little Moon Spirit nodded slightly, then waved her little hands and got to work.

Sure enough, with Little Moon Spirit, this little water-controlling expert, there was no need for the air-drying step.

Wu Chu immediately began digging a pit, preparing to fire pottery basins and other ceramic items.

He dug a large pit, spread dry grass across the bottom, then placed the pottery blanks—which Little Moon Spirit had drained of some moisture and which looked as though they had already air-dried—on top of the grass.

Next, he piled fragments of Purple Jade Spiritwood around the pottery blanks and lit them.

Once the fire was burning, Wu Chu continued adding Purple Jade Spiritwood shavings until the firewood filled the entire pit.

This was an extremely primitive method of firing pottery, and it was all Wu Chu knew.

As for whether it would succeed, he could only leave it to fate.

The fire burned for about "a day" before a golden light descended from the heavens and fell into the fire pit. A small portion also went to Wu Chu and Yueling.

"A-again... Merit is descending from heaven!"

Little Moon Spirit's mouth hung open, but the disbelief on her face quickly faded. This did not seem all that strange anymore! After all, it was something Senior A Chu had made.

Wu Chu, who had experience with this and had even anticipated it, remained utterly calm—just routine stuff, no need to make a fuss.

After all, these were the first batch of pottery in the Primordial World!

Even toilets could receive Merit Power. If pottery could not receive Merit, would that not make it inferior to toilets? That clearly made no sense!

Yibao's eyes shone as she watched the Merit Golden Light, but she could only stare helplessly. Who told her not to have helped at all, only thinking about how to mock her master?

"Brother A Chu, did we... did we make something incredible?"

Wu Chu gave a light cough. "Perhaps."

Seeing Wu Chu's calm expression, Little Moon Spirit once again looked at him with worship in her eyes. Her face practically said: Brother A Chu is amazing!

Wu Chu turned toward the pile of firewood and found a little stick...

After thinking about it, he replaced it with a small, round, lustrous Purple Jade Spiritwood Heart. Then he had Little Moon Spirit use the Spirit Prime Sword to carve the wood into a slim, handy little round stick.

Looking at the little stick, two chi long, with purple wood grain and a jade-like translucent sheen, Wu Chu nodded in satisfaction. He then took the stick, casually found two pieces of Ordinary firewood, cut a notch into one of them, and began drilling wood.

As he resumed the fire-making endeavor that had failed countless times before, Wu Chu pondered inwardly. Firing pottery brought Merit—would Fire Drilling not bring even greater Merit?

But why had he received no Merit when he used fire to roast food before?

Could it be that someone had already known how to roast food over fire?

Though puzzled, his hands did not slow in the slightest.

Perhaps because his strength had increased, Wu Chu succeeded before long this time.

The moment he successfully obtained a spark through Fire Drilling, a stream of Merit truly descended from heaven, falling onto him and the purple wooden stick in his hand.

However, there was not much Merit this time, which left Wu Chu somewhat baffled.

Was it because the Human Clan had not yet appeared, so Fire Drilling could not spread widely or benefit countless living beings, and therefore...

Wu Chu pinched his chin in thought. If that was truly the case, then... once the Human Clan appeared in the future and he passed this method on to them, would the Heavenly Dao compensate him?

Then... did that mean even the Heavenly Dao itself did not actually know that the Human Clan would become the main race of this Primordial Land in the future?

As for taking the Merit of the Human Clan's ancient sage, Sui Ren, for himself, Wu Chu could only silently apologize to him in his heart.

If he had the chance in the future, he would repay this karmic debt to the Human Clan.

Of course, this karmic debt referred to the guilt in his heart, not karmic causality under the Heavenly Dao.

The Human Clan did not even exist yet, so how could there be any karmic causality under the Heavenly Dao? Unless every matter in the Primordial World had already been calculated into the workings of the Heavenly Dao.

But from the look of things now, that did not seem to be the case.

At this moment, that little stick, only two chi long, had become a Merit Spiritual Treasure. Though it was merely the lowest-grade Spirit Treasure, it was still a Spirit Treasure!

Purple Jade Spiritwood had never been an ordinary material to begin with, much less its heartwood. With the additional blessing of Merit Power, this little stick became even more extraordinary.

Within its purple grain, faint golden lines could be seen. Its crystal-clear surface appeared even more smooth and lustrous.

Though it was not particularly useful, it could certainly serve as a Firewood Stick.

While Wu Chu was lost in thought, Little Moon Spirit beside him was once again dumbfounded.

Her silly, adorable appearance made Wu Chu instinctively reach out and pinch her soft, tender cheeks. "Snap out of it. Don't look like you've never seen the world before."

"Brother A Chu, th-this..."

Little Moon Spirit did not react much to Wu Chu taking advantage of her.

"This is called Fire Drilling. It works on the principle that friction generates heat. It's very simple. Rub your hands together quickly and see whether your palms start to feel hot."

Little Moon Spirit actually tried it. Though the principle seemed simple, she still looked utterly worshipful: Senior A Chu really was incredible!

No wonder the aura of Merit around Senior A Chu was so rich!

Meanwhile, Yibao was thinking about what else could allow her master to gain heaven-bestowed Merit at this stage, while also letting her benefit a little from it.

Only after the fire naturally went out did Wu Chu rake the charcoal ash aside and dig several pottery pieces glowing with a reddish-golden light from the pale gray ashes.

He had put in five. Three had cracked, leaving two: a pottery basin for boiling and stir-frying food, and a large-bellied pottery pot with a lid for making soup and boiling water.

Yet these two pottery items now already resembled porcelain. Their surfaces were smooth with a lustrous, jade-like sheen, and both had become Merit Spiritual Treasures. Several golden lines ran across them, making the pottery basin and pot, which should have looked rather rustic, much more beautiful.

However, in terms of grade, they were still extremely low-level.