The mold for the straight pipes is ready!
"It’s very well-made. You few can receive extra food and clothing this month. You’ve earned it."
An Jin nodded in satisfaction. Under the grateful gazes of the Beastn, she continued, "Using the dinsions of this cross-section, make a curved stone mold with the sa opening. It will be used to connect the straight pipes."
Although the Beastn didn’t fully understand what An Jin was trying to do, they followed her instructions and began production with fiery enthusiasm.
The next morning, the second mold was also completed. The Beastn moved both molds near the ironworks, and An Jin and Ling Hong followed.
The commotion attracted many Beastn from the tribe.
Large and small, old and young, female and male... any Beastman who was idle at ho scrambled over to watch.
"Can they really succeed in making those water pipes the Clan Leader ntioned? How could water from a river so far away possibly co here on its own?"
"Only the Beast God has that kind of power. How could water run here by itself? It doesn’t have legs. We have to carry stone vats over to fetch it..."
The crowd whispered among themselves, their voices filled with varying degrees of doubt. Still, they stared at the ironworks without blinking, afraid of missing a single detail.
Thick gray smoke billowed from the ironworks. Everyone held their breath in anticipation, watching this unprecedented spectacle unfold.
"Quick! Pour it in!" A dozen or so burly Beastn, their muscles slick with sweat, lifted half-man-high stone vats and swiftly poured the molten iron inside into the molds.
The mont the bright, reddish-gold molten iron entered the mold, a Beastman quickly doused it with cold river water.
As the water absorbed the intense heat, a violent SIZZLE erupted, and a massive cloud of white steam billowed into the air, obscuring everyone’s vision.
When the white steam dissipated, the bright, reddish-gold molten iron had transford into a solid, silvery-white tal, shaped by the mold into a hollow cylinder.
Following An Jin’s orders, the Beastn had put so casting sand in the molds beforehand. Thus, the solidified iron pipe was easily pried out with their sharp claws and tossed onto a patch of soft turf.
They then repeated the process, producing over 200 of these two-ter-long straight iron pipes and more than 50 curved ones.
"You Beastn standing around over there, co here. There’s work for you to do." An Jin didn’t even need to turn her head to feel the hundreds of scorching, astonished gazes on her back.
Sure enough, a flurry of chaotic footsteps sounded from behind her before quickly coming to a halt.
"We were drawn over by all the commotion. We were just so curious, we had to co see..."
Caught watching, they scratched their heads in embarrassnt, looking a bit simple and honest. "What do you need us to do, Clan Leader?"
An Jin said, "Follow the others and carry all these iron pipes to the Great Soup River. We need to dig trenches there to bury them in the ground."
"Yes!"
The massive undertaking unknowingly took up the better part of the day. The once-scorching sun, now gradually cooling, slipped toward the west, dyeing the sky with the afterglow of dusk.
Seeing that it was about to get dark, the Beastn hurried. Each one shouldered several heavy iron pipes, each weighing hundreds of pounds. At An Jin’s command, they ran nimbly toward the river, like ants carrying food.
From a distance, all one could see were hundreds of sprinting iron pipes and countless pairs of long, rapidly churning legs.
"Get on, I’ll carry you." Ling Hong had also tied seven or eight iron pipes together with wooden vines and was carrying them on his back. He had originally planned to toss An Jin on top and carry her along, but the thought of the pipes digging into her rear made him simply reach out, pull her into his arms, and run to the river.
The whistling wind whipped against her face, making her hair flap wildly. Her lush, seaweed-black hair all blew across Ling Hong’s resolute and handso face, leaving behind a lingering fragrance.
His wrist twitched, and the hand on her waist tightened slightly. What would have been a half-hour walk for An Jin was shortened to just seven or eight minutes by Ling Hong.
She couldn’t believe he was carrying over a thousand pounds of iron pipes and holding her with one arm, all while running so effortlessly that not a single drop of sweat appeared on his face.
’His stamina is really... incredible.’
An Jin was extrely envious.
By the ti they reached the river, many Beastn had already thrown the iron pipes from their backs onto the riverbank. So of the less-fit ones were on the ground, panting heavily.
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