Chapter 173: Chapter 129: Discovery of a Salt Mine; Update Content
Cheng Zongyang took the empty basket off his back and filled it halfway with soil before heading back.
By the ti he returned to the Inner Mountain Pass, the sun was nearly set. Ignoring the questions from the crowd, he imdiately retrieved the filtration materials and various tools he had prepared over the past few days from the warehouse.
Then, by the water pool and under the watchful eyes of many, he began to set up his contraption.
Although these people knew that salt could be found in ore and certain types of soil, none of them knew how to extract actual salt. At most, they would let the water settle until it was a bit clearer and assu it was drinkable.
But now, seeing Cheng Zongyang’s preparations—fine sand, gauze, charcoal, and charcoal powder—they were all a little bewildered.
Cheng Zongyang paid them no mind. He poured the soil into a bucket, added water, and stirred continuously until it was completely dissolved. After that, he filtered the muddy water multiple tis to obtain a highly saline and relatively clear concentrate.
The next step was to boil it down and let it evaporate.
Less than half an hour later, he had obtained nearly half a bowl of slightly yellowish salt crystals.
"It’s real! It really worked! It’s so white!" one of the Outsiders exclaid in surprise.
"Hahaha, the quality is excellent!"
Cheng Zongyang stood up, grinning happily. Although the filtration wasn’t perfect, the salt was still a bit whiter than what was sold on the market. More importantly, this process proved just how high the salt content was!
In the future, they could add a few more filtration steps to make the salt even purer.
With this, the salt problem was solved!
Afterward, Cheng Zongyang had everyone get back to their tasks while he went to the ancestral hall to discuss the salt extraction with a few of the elders.
After coming to an agreent with the others, Cheng Zongyang began selecting people to go to the site and produce salt. The round trip was too far; it was impossible to transport all the soil back.
Therefore, their only option was to set up a Salt Workshop there. Once the salt was boiled down, it could be packed into burlap sacks and transported back.
But the mountain path was difficult to travel, so they would need to clear a direct trail. That would take ti, but the tools and workers could go ahead to start building the workshop.
Once the salt was produced, they could store it there without worrying about anyone taking it. They just had to make sure it was protected from moisture.
Charcoal wasn’t a concern. Cheng Zongyang had already built a charcoal kiln and taught a few people how to specialize in making it.
’Before, we didn’t have the strength, so many things were difficult to accomplish. Now, that’s not a worry anymore!’
With the plan set, all that was left was for Cheng Guanghai to announce it to everyone the next day.
That night, after his usual dicinal bath, Cheng Zongyang used the excuse of going for a walk to enter the Wilderness World.
Today was the day the Marketplace Cottage’s update was scheduled to finish. He had been busy all day and only now had free ti in the evening.
Sure enough, the mont he appeared in the Marketplace Cottage, an updated information panel materialized before him, and he also noticed a change in the cottage itself!
The cottage’s area was unchanged, but the layout had been altered slightly. In the area where the quest board used to be, sothing new had appeared—a staircase leading upward.
"Did they add a Second Level?"
Puzzled, he turned his attention to the update panel that had appeared before him:
[Marketplace Cottage update complete. Current Level: Lv2. The following has been updated:
1. The transaction fee for the Purchase Requests tab has been reduced to 18%. All others remain unchanged.
2. A Second Level Cultivation Room has been added to the Marketplace Cottage. You can spend Points (10 Points/minute) to simulate training needs, such as sparring partners, environnts, and other set conditions. Cultivation in the Cultivation Room grants double proficiency.
3. The refresh tir for the Item Shop and Acquisition tabs has been modified. Regardless of whether a purchase is made or an acquisition target is t, they will now refresh once every three days.
4. Due to low usage efficiency, the Quest Board function has been removed. The character quest list and all active quests have been canceled.]
Cheng Zongyang stared at these four new rules, dumbfounded. For a mont, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
He had rushed into the Wilderness World precisely to see the results of today’s update.
And the result was a mixed bag!
The first two changes could be considered extrely beneficial updates for him.
But the last two were completely detrintal. It wasn’t even a mixed bag; the bad far outweighed the good!
Rule number three, in particular, was a killer.
’Does the Marketplace Cottage have a problem with what I’m doing?’ His main source of daily Points was from grinding fish.
It had changed the refresh tir after completion from once a day to once every three days!
Moreover, the change to the Item Shop’s refresh rate would drastically slow down his acquisition of new items.
"Hey, Stone Ring, what are you trying to pull? Can you just not update? Is a version rollback possible?"
Cheng Zongyang shouted helplessly into the cottage.
But the cottage didn’t respond at all.
The change to the Item Shop’s refresh ti didn’t affect him too much, but the impact on the Points from farming fish was massive.
His stable daily inco of 300 to 500 Points had been changed to once every three days.
This was forcing him to find another way to get Points!
In the Wilderness World, you could get Points by hunting, killing Exotic Beasts, or gathering and selling precious dicinal Materials. But the only way to get Points quickly was by farming fish.
"Damn ga dev!!"
Cheng Zongyang cursed again. The update had added a major Point-sink while simultaneously restricting his Point inco!
He imdiately summoned his Attribute Panel.
——
Na: Cheng Zongyang
Age: 15
Realm: Eighth Grade (Muscle Strengthening)
Points: 1,598
Skills: Archery (116,429/20,000, Specialization); dicine Recognition (32/1,000, Beginner Level)
Cultivation Techniques:
Body Refining Skill (2,609/3,000, Eighth Grade)
Martial Arts:
Basic Saber Technique (568/3,000, Entering the Hall and Chamber)
Wind-Stepping Step (82/1,000, Beginner’s Practice)
——
"Almost sixteen hundred Points..." Cheng Zongyang murmured.
These Points were what Ma San and the others had earned from hunting every day recently.
Over the past few days, the four of them had practically combed through the entire territory, dealing with every beast and bird they saw.
They had captured many to raise, but on the whole, they had killed far more. The number of snakes they’d dealt with was especially countless.
"Now that I can’t farm fish for requests, is it forcing
to kill them instead?"
You could get Points for killing fish, too—as much as 1 Point, or as little as 0.1.
But he had tried it before. You had to kill them yourself, not just toss them on the shore and let them die from lack of water.
Although he didn’t know what the difference was, he hadn’t been interested in doing it that way before.
First, he could get a stable inco of several hundred Points just by scooping up fish every day. There was no need to kill them one by one.
Second, after killing so many fish, it would be a hassle to deal with them.
The Marketplace Cottage didn’t buy fish directly, there was nowhere to sell them outside, and the cottage couldn’t possibly store that many. So, dealing with the dead fish was a problem.
But now, a problem had arisen.
The ti limit for farming Points from fish requests was now once every three days. If an important item appeared in the Item Shop and he didn’t have enough Points, the loss would be huge.
Because of this, he had no choice but to reconsider the idea of killing fish.
’I need to rethink how to assign work for Ma San and the other three.’
With that, he finally looked at the Item Shop. At this point, he was afraid of not seeing good items, but also afraid of seeing them.
——
[Great Strength Vajra Palm]
Description: A Palm Technique Martial Art from a certain Martial Arts Realm.
Grade: White
Quantity: 1
Points: 600
Note: Grade can be upgraded.
——
[Wilderness Oil Beans]
Description: A herbaceous plant from the Dusk Forest. It can be used to press for oil, with an oil yield of approximately 65%. It is one of the favorite foods of many animals in the Wilderness World.
Quantity: 1 (kg)
Points: 2
——
[Plant Growth Liquid Formula]
Description: A formula for a dicinal liquid that allows plants to quickly adapt to their environnt and rapidly take root and sprout.
Quantity: 1 (copy)
Points: 1,000
——
[Soul Gathering Stele]
Description: A Wordless Yin Stele from the Valley of the Dead that automatically absorbs wandering Souls or Soul fragnts from the world. The Soul Gathering Stele will affect the environnt within a one-li radius, making the Yin Qi dense and causing those who enter to easily lose their way and run into trouble.
Quantity: 1 (piece)
Points: 1,000
——
Cheng Zongyang: "..."
At this mont, he desperately wanted to curse! But he held it in.
’This is all good stuff!’
’A Martial Art, an oil-producing product, a formula for cultivating crops, and a special item!’
He couldn’t afford to miss out on any of them! Although he wasn’t sure how to use the Soul Gathering Stele yet, he could buy it just to protect the area around the Marketplace Cottage!
"2,602 Points! I’m still short 1,000 Points!" Cheng Zongyang glanced at his Points and imdiately opened the Acquisition tab to see how many fish were being requested this ti.
——
Schizothorax: 1 Point/fish (200 fish)
Black Bass: 1 Point/fish (200 fish)
Barracuda: 1 Point/fish (200 fish)
——
Seeing the demand for these three types of fish, Cheng Zongyang breathed a sigh of relief.
He could get at least 600 Points! This was also the largest request he had ever seen.
As for the remaining 400-Point deficit...
’No other choice. Ti to kill so fish.’
Reviews
All reviews (0)