Harvesting Alkali, Continued

People in this world may not understand the various chemical principles, but they possess a wealth of experience.

Jian Mo sighed inwardly, reminding herself once again not to underestimate others.

Jian Mo felt a surge of excitement as she thought of various alkali compounds.

Wu Jiong didn't know much about these things and treated it as a normal gathering. After greeting Jian Mo, he went to discuss it with the others.

Jian Mo remained where she was, watching the giant wolf's figure slowly disappear, her excited emotions calming down slightly.

He knew about alkalis, but wasn't very familiar with their applications; he still needed to figure out how to use them properly.

It's estimated to be a rather difficult project.

It had been a long time since we'd all gone out to collect resources together, so everyone was exceptionally present this time.

The orcs and sub-orcs no longer divided into groups; they all acted together.

The beastmen transformed back into their beast forms and lay down, while the sub-beastmen climbed onto their backs.

All the giant beasts lined up in a row, making them very conspicuous in the snow.

Qing Kuo turned around to count the number of people and check everyone's condition. After confirming that everything was alright, he reached out and patted the back of the giant wolf beneath him. "Di Ya, let's go!"

The giant white wolf let out a low growl from its throat, "Awooo--"

Then, he carried Qing Kuo on his back and dashed out.

Di Ya carried Qing Kuo at the front, while Wu Jiong carried Jian Mo at the back.

The giant wolf that Wu Jiong had transformed into was the largest of all the giant beasts. Jian Mo sat on its back and looked down from above, where he could clearly see the situation of all the orcs and sub-orcs in front of him.

He then discovered that both feline and canine beastmen ran along the paw prints left in front of them.

Moreover, their hind paws precisely stepped on the paw prints of their front paws.

After they ran past, only two lines of tracks remained on the pristine white snowfield.

If an inexperienced person came to see this, they would never guess that a group of orcs carrying sub-orcs had once run past here.

During the break, Jian Mo leaned against the giant wolf and whispered, "Why is everyone following their own footprints?"

Wu Jiong also lowered his voice. "The snow is too heavy, and we can't see what's underneath. Running around in the open fields could easily lead to twisted ankles or cuts."

When Wu Jiong uses his beast form, his voice is lower and deeper. Perhaps the sound changes slightly as it passes through his mouth.

Jian Mo looked at the giant wolf's serious expression and felt a strange itch in her heart.

He had never seen a giant wolf on Earth, but he had seen quite a few large dogs. The dogs were all incredibly mischievous, completely unlike the giant wolves.

Thinking about this, Jian Mo felt a little itchy to do it.

He tried to hold back, but he couldn't resist any longer. He grabbed the giant wolf's front paws and shook them back and forth. "So that's how it is."

Wu Jiong nodded his wolf head.

Wu Jiong was fine, but many orcs in the tribe were panting.

They were panting heavily, their mouths wide open with their tongues sticking out; they looked quite cute.

However, unlike Wu Jiong, Jian Mo turned to look at Wu Jiong and felt that while the other orcs all had a bit of an animalistic feel, Wu Jiong was particularly cool and handsome.

Jian Mo's gaze was so obvious that he didn't realize it himself, but many people around him noticed it.

Wu Jiong turned his head and asked, "What's wrong?"

Jian Mo belatedly realized that this seemed impolite, and said somewhat embarrassedly, "I was just looking."

After resting for a while, everyone continued their journey.

They ran across the snowfield again, and animals noticed the commotion and kept their distance. Even the birds circling in the air dared not get too close.

Jian Mo watched as the distant mountains drew closer, the nearby forest fading from her mind, a look of amazement on her face.

It's said that looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death, but that doesn't apply to the beastmen. They run too fast, covering a thousand miles a day, so crossing mountains and valleys is nothing to them.

After looking at it for a while, the snowy white light made Jian Mo's eyes feel uncomfortable.

He lay down, hugged the giant wolf's neck, and pressed his entire body against the wolf, closing his eyes to rest.

As he continued watching, he became a little worried that he might develop snow blindness.

There were no mirrors here, so Jian Mo didn't notice that his pupils were actually shrinking when he looked at the snowfield, though not as noticeably as those of the orcs and sub-orcs here.

He also didn't realize that occasionally, when listening to distant sounds, his ears could actually move very slightly.

The change has already occurred, yet no one has noticed its presence.

The main purpose of today's outing is to collect salt.

People would go to the salt mountain first, and after scraping away the surface snow, they could see the reddish-brown rock salt underneath.

Rock salt particles are much smaller than stones, and they are slightly sticky when rubbed, making them very easy to identify.

Experienced people simply scoop up the surface rock salt and put it into baskets lined with cloth.

Jian Mo looked at the salt covering the entire mountain and understood why people no longer went to the salt lake to collect salt.

Not only is it convenient to collect salt from the mountains, but the salt also tastes good and has no strange smell.

Although they contain more impurities, the salt in the salt lake may not necessarily contain fewer impurities.

The mountain where they extract salt is not far from the salt lake, and should be considered the edge of their tribe's territory.

Jian Mo asked curiously, "Is our tribe the only one that comes to this mountain to collect salt? Or do other tribes come too?"

Wu Jiong: "Come on, this mountain is considered unclaimed territory."

Jian Mo was shocked. "Unclaimed?! Such a fine salt mountain is unclaimed?"

Ban Ming and the other orcs were casually filling their containers with salt when they heard them talking. One of them leaned closer and said, "It wasn't ownerless from the start."

Upon hearing this, Jian Mo immediately knew there was a story behind it and pressed for details, "And then?"

Ban Ming: "It's located between our tribe, Dianxin Tribe, and Mengshui Tribe. There's no clear boundary line on the mountain. Everyone comes here to harvest salt, and they all feel that other tribes are harvesting their own salt, so they've fought several times."

Jian Mo: "Did our tribe win?"

Ban Ming shook his head. "No, we fought to a draw with the Mengshui Tribe, but the Dianxin Tribe lost. They were unwilling to accept it and kept wanting to fight a few more times. As the fighting went on, more and more people were injured, and they were unable to go out hunting and gathering."