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Jian Mo listened intently. "And then?"

Wu Jiong continued, "Later, at the Hunting Gathering, everyone agreed that each of the three tribes would give up a small piece of land, making this mountain and the nearby salt lake unclaimed territory, where each tribe could come and harvest salt."

Ban Ming: "Yes, yes, it's because we've all ceded territory that when we mediated between the True Scarlet Tribe and Mengshui Tribe later, we got them to cede the disputed territories, and that's why they didn't object."

Jian Mo remembered. "It's that unclaimed land where we picked Flour Fruit, right?"

Ban Ming clicked his tongue. "You guessed right!"

Salt was everywhere on the ground, so it was quick to collect.

They finished harvesting the salt while they were chatting.

Qing Kuo walked over. "Shall we go over to the salt lake now?"

Jian Mo nodded. "Let's go see if we can get any alkali."

No one had any objections; the salt lake was nearby anyway, so a trip there wouldn't take much time.

They packed their things and set off again, soon arriving at the salt lake.

Although it's called a salt lake, it looks more like a murky pond. The water is very shallow, probably not even up to a person's thigh, and the bottom is full of sand and gravel.

Jian Mo reached into the water and touched it.

The water was alright; apart from being cold, it wasn't too irritating. However, when I took my hands out of the water, they felt sticky and itchy, which wasn't very comfortable.

Jian Mo shook her hand in the wind and then licked the back of her hand.

A salty taste spread out, just the ordinary taste of salt, and there didn't seem to be any other strange smells.

Everyone was watching him, waiting for his instructions.

He felt around underwater again and finally found small, yellowish-brown crystals.

Jian Mo: "This should be alkali."

Ban Ming and his group of young orcs also bent down and felt around, finding small, yellowish-brown crystals. They held them up and asked, "How do you know it's alkali and not something else?"

Jian Mo was truly stumped by the question; his existing knowledge base couldn't support him in conducting an experiment to verify it.

Jian Mo: "Want to try some?"

Upon hearing this, Ban Ming, that carefree guy, immediately popped it into his mouth. "Try it—Ugh, ugh, ugh, ugh!!!"

Jian Mo: "... You can just lick it, you don't have to swallow it whole."

The others laughed.

Ban Ming cast a resentful glance at him. "It's bitter, why didn't you say so sooner?"

Jian Mo innocently, "I didn't expect you to be so quick. The bitter part must be the alkali."

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Even if the sediment that settles in the salt lake during winter isn't soda ash, it should still contain alkaline components. Let's scoop it up first and take it back to make soap. If we succeed, it means the alkali content is quite high."

Soap is a good thing, and after being reminded, everyone's enthusiasm increased considerably.

Everyone reached in and felt around, and soon they had scooped up quite a bit of alkali.

The weather was extremely cold. Although the salt lake was not frozen, the water temperature was very low, much lower than normal. After fishing for a while, even the orcs and sub-orcs couldn't stand the cold and quickly wrapped themselves in animal skin robes or transformed back into their animal forms before heading back to the tribe.

The salt water felt sticky and uncomfortable, even after wiping it dry.

As soon as everyone returned to the village, they grabbed soap and said they were going to take a bath.

Seeing that everything outside was frozen, and that they still had to take cold showers, Jian Mo felt a chill run down her spine and asked, "Isn't everyone going to boil water for a bath?"

Qing Kuo: "I'm used to it. I just find a sheltered spot, rub myself in the water, and I'm done washing in no time. Then I put it in the sun to dry, and I warm up quickly."

Jian Mo still felt cold. "Boiling water won't take long."

Qing Kuo: "But it wastes firewood."

Jian Mo was taken aback. He had never worried about firewood before; Wu Jiong always chopped it for him, and the place where firewood was stored by the side of the house was never empty.

Qing Kuo laughed and said, "Besides, washing with hot water is too slow and not satisfying enough. It's better to endure the cold and wash it off in the hot water."

After saying that, Qing Kuo considerately added, "You're different from us. You should stay home and shower, so you don't catch a cold."

Qing Kuo, the boisterous sub-orc, exchanged a few pleasantries and left, leaving Jian Mo standing there in a daze.

Not only did Jian Mo frequently bathe in that small shed enclosed by animal hides, but he also had Wu Jiong bathe with him at home, and Wu Jiong never said anything about it.

Before Jian Mo could finish his daze, Wu Jiong had already boiled water and called him from inside the house to take a bath.

He didn't have time to collect his thoughts; he quickly went upstairs to get clean clothes and went to the back of the house to take a shower.

The salt water was too sticky; it stuck to my skin, and now I feel sticky and itchy.

Jian Mo took a bath towel and scrubbed herself thoroughly.

After everyone had showered, they sat together in the open space to sunbathe, drying their hair and warming themselves up as quickly as possible.

The young orcs and sub-orcs, unable to sit still, brought out some animal oil and asked Jian Mo, "Jian Mo, can we make soap now? How do you make soap with lye?"

Jian Mo walked over and said, "Just like making lye soap, first dissolve the alkali in water, heat it, and then pour it into heated animal fat."

Everyone immediately gathered stones and built a makeshift fire pit on the spot, and brought tools to prepare for heating oil and water.

Jian Mo personally oversaw the process. "We don't need to add too much lye, otherwise it might splatter when we pour the lye solution into the animal oil. Let's add a little first and test it."

Young people crowded around him, following his instructions.

After heating the water and oil, Jian Mo put on animal skin gloves and slowly poured the lye water into the oil.

The alkaline water emulsified immediately upon contact with the oil, preventing it from frying.

Jian Mo quickly stirred it.

Ban Ming took the jar from his hand. "I'm strong, I'll do it."

Jian Mo didn't stand on ceremony. "Go ahead, I'll watch."

There was also animal fat on the side. Jian Mo heated it up, poured in lye water, and told the young people to go and stir it.

Although the soap is not yet ready, everyone can see that the quality of lye soap is better than that of grey water soap.

Qing Kuo took some soap solution, rubbed his hands together, and after washing them clean, said excitedly, "This alkaline soap is better than greywater soap."