Food Immortal found a pristine white jade plaque from the Storage Bag and checked its contents. After reading, Food Immortal lowered Food Immortal's head to look down at the oasis, a strange expression appearing on Food Immortal's face.
"What's wrong?" Mo Caihuan instructed the crew to clean up the puppet wreckage, and seeing Food Immortal lower Food Immortal's head without speaking, she couldn't help asking.
"The jade plaque records a map of the oasis, saying that a powerful cultivator was buried beneath Crescent Moon Spring. This dead ghost was nine times out of ten here to treasure-hunt, and wanted to silence us the moment they met us." As Food Immortal spoke, Food Immortal squatted down, grabbed a handful of soil, and sniffed it beneath Food Immortal's nose.
Mo Caihuan knew that after obtaining a body, Food Immortal had enhanced Food Immortal's own tongue, nose, and eyes. After spiritual Qi enhancement, she could no longer compare to the other.
"There really is a trace of corpse Qi."
"There's actually a tomb?" Mo Caihuan hadn't expected that she would be exploring for treasures too, and felt a bit expectant.
"Forget it." Food Immortal dropped the dirt instead, saying, "I reckon the mausoleum must be a thousand meters deep underground. The corpse Qi directly affects the surface soil, which shows the mausoleum wasn't buried for just anyone. If I had Late Golden Core cultivation, I'd actually want to charge in. But this new body only has the Foundation Establishment Stage, it's too risky."
"Alright." Hearing that she had no affinity for treasure hunting, Mo Caihuan was deeply disappointed.
Continuing on their journey and avoiding extreme weather, they safely arrived at the Extreme Western Lands.
This place built houses using stone because vegetation was scarce and wood was pitifully rare, so they gathered materials locally and used stone for construction.
Mo Caihuan's airplane landed and was taken for a cultivator by the locals. She didn't deny it because there were indeed cultivators in her team.
The mortals of the Extreme Western Lands were similar to the mortals of the Mo Kingdom; they knew cultivators existed, but they had never seen one.
As for the Mo Kingdom, they knew nothing about it at all, and even the local officials had never heard of it.
The Ten-Thousand-Mile Desert was far too dangerous, and mortals simply couldn't cross it. When they heard Mo Caihuan came from across the desert, every single one of them wore a look of astonishment.
After making inquiries, Mo Caihuan basically understood the situation in the Extreme Western Lands. Although there were only two countries in the Extreme Western Lands, the two countries frequently fought wars.
One was named the Cloud Kingdom, and the other was named the Thunder Kingdom. Mo Caihuan's current location was right at the border of the Cloud Kingdom.
With the guidance of the locals, she met the emperor of the Cloud Kingdom to discuss matters of trade.
The emperor raised quite a few demands: trade was acceptable, but it could only take place in a few border cities and could not enter the interior. At the same time, they also needed to be provided with some technology from the Mo Kingdom to help them master the ability to cross the desert, and the final demand was that they could not trade with the Thunder Kingdom.
It was easy to see that the relationship between the two countries was not good.
Judging by Mo Caihuan's observations along the way, the emperor did not win the people's hearts either, and it was quite possible the Cloud Kingdom would split apart.
Compared to mortals who changed with the winds, cultivators had more resolve.
Over a few hundred years, mortals could change dynasties. But cultivators might only need to experience a great tribulation once every few thousand years.
If not for the Ten-Thousand-Mile Desert being too difficult to cross, she definitely would have unified them.
Arriving at the Extreme Western Lands wasn't restricted to land routes; one could reach it just as well via sea routes. The problem was that the demon beasts in the sea were extremely numerous, making it unsafe as well.
Anyway, the Extreme Western Lands were too far away, and unification couldn't be achieved in a short time.
Mo Caihuan temporarily agreed to the conditions of the Cloud Kingdom's emperor and presented quite a few gifts.
The emperor liked them all very much, reciprocated with gifts of his own, and arranged living quarters.
Food Immortal went looking for the cultivators' market to purchase the longed-for Spirit Sheep. The trip took a full month.
Mo Caihuan hired personnel here, established a branch of the Fortune Corporation, and also purchased a plot of land on the border to begin construction on the Heavenly South Hall.
The hall would serve as an embassy and a trade hall, functioning as a multi-use facility.
"I'm back, get the pot going and prepare to cook," Food Immortal said excitedly.
Mo Caihuan said helplessly, "Senior, I am an emperor after all. If you want me to cook, you at least have to say the word 'please'."
"Please, Empress, start the fire and cook," Food Immortal said in high spirits. "If you cook well, I've brought you a gift as well."
"Even without a gift, I would still cook well. Senior, you understand me; I have always opposed food waste."
"That's the part of you that's most like me." Food Immortal knew that Mo Caihuan emphasized that "the people take food as their heaven," attached great importance to food security, practiced thrift from one's own end, and opposed waste.
The two got busy and cooked the blue-wooled Spirit Sheep into a table full of mutton dishes.
Food Immortal's belly was bloated and round.
"Aside from tasting delicious, the Spirit Sheep can also produce fertilizer to nourish medicinal herbs. Medicinal herbs are very scarce in the Extreme Western Lands, and the few herbs that exist are extremely precious and treated like treasures, nurtured using all sorts of methods," Food Immortal said. "Thinking of this, I suddenly remembered there's something in the Extreme Western Lands that's extremely suited to you."
"What is it?"
"The Sun Firefly," Food Immortal said.
"I don't understand," Mo Caihuan said.
"Just like the Spirit Sheep, it's an animal that nourishes medicinal herbs. Some medicinal herbs require sufficient sunlight; when night falls, cultivators use Sun Fireflies to replace sunlight to illuminate the medicinal herbs and prevent them from withering."
"What's the benefit for me?"
"Sun Fireflies can absorb Stellar Power and transform it into sunlight. If you can raise Sun Fireflies well, the Stellar Power attracted by the fireflies can also assist your cultivation," Food Immortal said.
Mo Caihuan thought to herself that because it was a cultivation world, solar power and Stellar Power were different. Logically speaking, the sun was also a star, so solar power ought to count as a type of Stellar Power.
Yet the cultivation world wasn't categorized that way. The sun and the stars were two separate things and could not be lumped together.
Sun Fireflies absorbed Stellar Power and converted it into solar power, but the Stellar Power they attracted couldn't be entirely converted, and the leaked portion could assist in cultivation. Moreover, she could also observe the bugs' ability to absorb Stellar Power-other mountains' stones could still polish jade.
"So this is Senior's gift?"
"That's right." Food Immortal took out a small black wooden box and said, "Here you are."
Mo Caihuan opened the wooden box. Inside was warm sunlight, and looking closely, it was a firefly the size of a pinky fingernail, belonging to a demon beast, radiating sunlight.
"What does it eat?" Mo Caihuan asked.
"Spirit stones for sure, and things containing Stellar Power too. You can try feeding it with your own fresh blood first to let it get familiar with your aura," Food Immortal said.
Mo Caihuan nodded, squeezing a drop of blood from her left index finger, which contained a trace of Stellar Power.
Sensing the food, the firefly immediately drank it up. Its belly grew large, yet it kept drinking, looking just like a mosquito.
"Raise it well," Food Immortal said. "Right, lend me thirty thousand spirit stones."
"What for?"
"I've already scouted out the last two materials for the Leftover Cauldron. The Extreme Western Lands truly are rich in metallic materials, and the prices aren't expensive either. Once I refine the Leftover Cauldron, I'll pay you back."
Mo Caihuan trusted Food Immortal, but she still cautioned: "Don't flaunt your wealth; Senior, be a bit careful."
" Lass, do you take me for a fledgling? You don't need to worry about this kind of thing." Food Immortal rolled Mo Caihuan's eyes.
Food Immortal left again, returning with a beaming smile three days later; it seemed everything had gone smoothly.
Since things had reached this point, it was time to head back.
A batch of sixteen personnel was left behind. Before leaving, Mo Caihuan had a chat with them, telling them that if there were any issues that needed resolving, they could speak up directly, and she would certainly help if she could resolve them.
"Your Majesty, before coming I knew this garrison would be a long-term one, three years at the absolute minimum. Rest assured, I'm mentally prepared. I already arranged my family matters before coming."
Everyone was very enlightened and willing to dedicate their youth to pioneering the borders. Even living in the inconvenient Extreme Western Lands and parting from family, they were still willing.
"Remember to abide by local laws and regulations, and don't do things that bring disgrace. What you represent is not just yourselves, but the Mo Kingdom as well," Mo Caihuan said.
"We will engrave your teachings in our hearts."
Mo Caihuan offered a few more words of comfort, saying, "Work hard, everyone. I figure in a few years we'll be stringing cables across the desert, and by then even the Ten-Thousand-Mile Desert won't be able to block communication between us and our families."
Everyone believed that the Empress would keep her word, because many places in the Mo Kingdom were already connected by telephone.
If a cable were strung through the desert, it could pull the Extreme Western Lands into the Mo Kingdom's communication network-though the cost would certainly be very high.
Having finished everything, Mo Caihuan bid farewell to the garrisoned envoys and left the Extreme Western Lands.
On the airplane, Mo Caihuan continued to feed the Sun Firefly. After a period of feeding, it had already recognized its master, knowing that following Mo Caihuan meant getting to eat its fill.