Chapter 22
Xie Juanhan didn't hold back. He pulled out another cloth bag, and together with Telingewei, gathered every last mushroom.
They wandered around underground.
Xie Juanhan was completely turned around and had lost his sense of direction.
Telingewei, however, still remembered the way.
Xie Juanhan left it to him to keep track of their route and focused on picking mushrooms.
They encountered all kinds of mushrooms underground: glowing mushrooms, mushrooms that secreted slime, foul-smelling mushrooms, mushrooms with hard skins... Most could be eaten or put to some use.
Xie Juanhan leafed through the magical mushroom guide, checking and recording each one.
Xie Juanhan took careful notes and was equally focused on searching for mushrooms.
The little ones gradually grew tired of walking and flopped down, refusing to go any farther. "Chirp, chirp."
Only then did Xie Juanhan realize how long they'd been walking. "Sorry, I've walked too long. Let's stop here for today and head back?"
The little ones readily agreed. "Chirp!"
Telingewei didn't move, though. Instead, he asked, "Are you looking for a particular mushroom?"
"How did you know?" Xie Juanhan gave him a surprised look, then quickly opened the guide to a page. "Yes, I'm looking for this kind of magical mushroom that grows in saline-alkali soil."
"The guide says they can secrete a slime that improves the soil." Xie Juanhan pointed out the small print to Telingewei. "I want to try using them to treat the silt we brought back."
==========Author's note:==========
See you tomorrow!
Thanks to Little Bear Cake Maker and Dreaming of Jiangnan's Misty Waterways for the rocket launchers; thanks to Quirky Little Girl for the grenade; and thanks to Asuka (*2), Full-Sugar Zero-Fat Herbal Tea (*2), Meaty, Don't Ask, Identifying Popular Creatures of Terra, Nana, I Love Eating Apples, Mrs. Raccoon, Sleep, Green Vine Cub, and Big Wolf Radish for the landmines.
Chapter 22: Chapter 22 [VIP]
In the dim cave.
The wind howled through the passage.
Xie Juanhan casually blocked the wind from entering the small cave, then stuck two whale-oil torches at an angle into its earthen walls.
The flames flickered gently, illuminating the whole cave.
Telingewei took out the cookware and pulled apart the nested golden pots with a clatter.
After setting up the torches, Xie Juanhan turned to help.
The little ones followed closely at his feet.
They tripped him up three times for every step he took, and he nearly stepped on their tails.
"Well, look at you." Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Xie Juanhan bent down and stroked the head of the nearest little one. "Weren't you tired? Go get some rest."
The little one looked up and licked his fingers. "Chirp, chirp."
Xie Juanhan nudged them away. "You don't need to keep me company. Go to sleep."
Xie Juanhan shooed the little ones aside to rest, then sniffed the damp air.
He drew on his Dragon Power to condense the moisture into water, sending a light shower pattering down in one corner of the cave.
Telingewei glanced up.
Xie Juanhan washed his hands in the rainwater. "The water's fairly clean. We can use it to wash the mushrooms."
Telingewei nodded.
The two divided up the work.
Telingewei washed and sliced the mushrooms.
Xie Juanhan used a whale-oil stove to dissolve the concentrated meat broth.
The aroma of food gradually rose through the cave.
The little ones huddled together amid the aroma, dozing with their eyes half closed.
Once the mushrooms were sliced, Xie Juanhan fried them in butter. When they softened, he sprinkled in crushed spices and salt, then transferred the mushrooms to the meat broth to simmer.
The mushroom and meat broth bubbled away on the whale-oil stove, its flavor growing richer as the ingredients melded together.
Before long, they were drinking the delicious, rich, steaming broth.
"Delicious." Xie Juanhan took a satisfied sip. "I originally thought there'd be nothing underground."
Telingewei said, "No. Dwarves live underground, and besides them, several kinds of fairies live here too. It's actually quite lively."
Xie Juanhan asked, "What kinds are there? Do animals live underground too?"
Telingewei nodded. "Besides animals, there are plants, mushrooms, magical creatures, and so on."
Telingewei told Xie Juanhan about the creatures underground.
Xie Juanhan listened intently.
Beside them, the Companion Beasts, who had been slurping up their broth, also listened with wide eyes and pricked ears, even forgetting to drink.
Xie Juanhan glanced at them.
Apparently, Telingewei wasn't in the habit of telling the little ones bedtime stories.
After they finished the broth, Telingewei cleaned the dishes with Dragon Flame.
They took a nap underground, then got up and continued searching for the kind of mushroom Xie Juanhan wanted, the one that could improve saline-alkali soil.
Telingewei led the way while Xie Juanhan leafed through the magical guide behind him.
They walked for a long time through the caves, whose passages branched in every direction, but found none of the mushrooms Xie Juanhan wanted.
"Could there be none here?" Xie Juanhan muttered. "The guide says they're found in this region."
Telingewei came over to look with him.
The little ones crowded around, pawing at Xie Juanhan's legs, wanting to see too. "Chirp, chirp."
Xie Juanhan crouched so the little ones could see as well. "Have you ever seen Alf Mushrooms?"
Alf Mushrooms were the kind that grew in saline-alkali soil, absorbed the salts and alkali, and secreted slime to improve the soil.
The little ones shook their fluffy heads to say no. "Chirp, chirp."
Everyone looked at Telingewei.
Telingewei said, "I haven't paid much attention to them before."
Xie Juanhan thought for a moment. "How about we try a different approach and look directly for areas of saline-alkali soil in the caves?"
"Do you know where there's saline-alkali soil? The kind with a white alkaline crust on the surface and a somewhat compacted texture."
Telingewei nodded and was about to answer.
But the little ones, who had looked thoughtful, had already remembered.
They pawed at Xie Juanhan's trousers and gave an affirmative answer before Telingewei could. "Chirp!"
The little ones ran a few steps ahead, then looked back at Xie Juanhan, motioning for him to follow.
Xie Juanhan hurried after them.
Telingewei had no choice but to follow too.
This time they knew what they were looking for, and after finding several piles of saline-alkali soil, they did indeed find Alf Mushrooms.
Not only did they find them, but this patch of Alf Mushrooms was also growing exceptionally well.
Their stems were thick and sturdy, and their caps plump and tender. They looked like the very picture of mushrooms.
"We really found them!" Xie Juanhan looked at the mushrooms and opened the mushroom guide to compare them.
The color, shape, and smell all matched.
These were Alf Mushrooms!
Xie Juanhan crouched down and reached out to pick them.
Suddenly, he heard a sound.
He turned to look.
Several potatoes popped out of the dim passage with a "pew, pew."
The potatoes had feet.
Wait, they didn't seem to be potatoes!
They were goblins!
Xie Juanhan abruptly realized that these creatures were the goblins Telingewei had just told him about.
He hadn't expected to see them here.
Xie Juanhan was just about to greet them.
The goblins landed on the ground, picked up clods of earth, and threw them at the group. "Squeak, squeak!"
Xie Juanhan understood.
The goblins were cursing them as mushroom thieves.
"Wait." Xie Juanhan held out a hand to stop them. "We didn't mean to steal the mushrooms. We just didn't know they were yours."
The goblins kept throwing clods of earth. "Squeak, squeak! Squeak, squeak, squeak!"
Xie Juanhan looked down and indeed spotted a tiny fence made of piled-up earth around the mound.
It wasn't conspicuous.
It was probably easier to spot from the goblins' height.
Xie Juanhan took a step back, moved in front of Telingewei, and gestured. "We're dragons from the surface. We often pick mushrooms in the forest, so we have no need to steal them."
It had been better before he identified them. Once he did, the goblins' curses grew even fouler.
Worst of all, ordinary people couldn't understand the goblins' curses and would only hear them squeaking.
Xie Juanhan and Telingewei's mental powers were so strong that they heard every detail clearly instead.
Where did the goblins even learn so many curses?
The curses came flying along with the clods of earth, and Xie Juanhan felt as though they were caught in a downpour.
The curses were like rain falling from the sky. Standing in it, there was nowhere to hide.
Xie Juanhan stood there and picked out a little information from the torrent of curses.
At last, he understood why the goblins were so hostile to Telingewei.
Telingewei didn't allow adventurers or other intelligent beings into the Magic Forest.
The goblins had originally lived in human gardens, making a living by stealing roots and tubers from them.
Now that the humans had been driven away, they could no longer live off the gardens and could only grow and gather their own food underground.
Xie Juanhan tried to cut in. "Telingewei doesn't hate humans. Humans are active at the edge of the Magic Forest all year round; they just don't live in the forest."
"Squeak, squeak!"
"Telingewei is also doing this to protect the Magic Forest. Human adventurers are too powerful. If they weren't restricted, a great many creatures would be killed or taken away."
"Squeak, squeak, squeak!"
"He never forbade you from leaving. You depend on the Magic Forest's magical elements and don't want to leave, so how is that his fault?!"
The goblins' curses were too filthy.
Xie Juanhan stood there arguing with them, but he was no match for them.
Xie Juanhan stared at the goblins opposite him, cold energy held in his palm, itching to turn them into frostbitten potatoes.
Telingewei had been standing between Xie Juanhan and the goblins, keeping the two sides apart.
Seeing that Xie Juanhan was about to deal with the goblins, Telingewei immediately caught hold of him and gently patted his back, signaling him not to get angry.