Chapter 237: Inquiries Before Departure

Listening to the two Beast Husbands praising her, Yun Li couldn't help but laugh.

"Since you put it that way, holding this hundred‑treasure pouch would make me feel at ease."

In any case, being able to obtain such a fine thing she had never even witnessed in her past life.

Yun Li was still very pleased.

But once she got the item, she couldn't immediately play with the hundred‑treasure pouch; instead she had to take Moluo and Luosai to learn the arts of salt making and pottery.

Salt making was easy to explain; their Tribe used salt mines to produce refined salt.

Just take them to the Tribe's dedicated salt‑making site, where someone will naturally teach them how to turn salt ore into coarse salt and how to purify coarse salt into refined salt.

"I recall you said you wanted to know how to turn coarse salt into refined salt, right? Actually we have several kinds of raw material for salt making, and I suggest you watch the entire salt‑making process."

Also, there's one point I need to explain beforehand: you may look, but some questions you ask that have no answer are things the Tribe doesn't wish to tell you.

For example, the source of the materials and how the purification tools are made; of course, you can observe the tools, but whether you can reproduce them afterward is up to you.

And also…

Before Yun Li could finish, Luosai hurriedly interrupted, "Wait, if we can't get clear answers to these, how will we know how to make refined salt?"

"That's why I'm taking you there to see the process with your own eyes."

Facing Luosai's doubt, Yun Li calmly smiled and explained, "Moreover, not letting you ask about material sources is to prevent you from unintentionally telling other Beastfolk where we obtain them; the Tribe has only just begun to develop, so many matters require caution.

I know this protective stance may seem petty, but it's necessary for the Tribe's benefit, and I hope you can understand."

As for the tools, when purifying coarse salt into refined salt, the tools used are actually highly interchangeable.

And my forbidding you from asking what the tools are made of is because those tools relate to other Tribal interests; there's simply no way around it. Later, I'll have the workshop craftsmen remake a few tools for you to reference.

When that time comes, you may take them if you wish—how does that sound?

Yun Li had said all that, so Luosai had no further objections. He looked toward his tribal chief, while Moluo said little, merely giving Luosai a slight nod and saying, "Now we just follow her."

If any issues arise later, we'll discuss them with her properly.

Since the tribal chief said so, Luosai naturally refrained from further doubts during the subsequent itinerary, though whenever he encountered something unclear, he still couldn't help but ask.

Yun Li answered Luosai's inquisitive questions when she could; if she couldn't, she either gave a vague answer or shifted directly to the next topic.

The day flew by amid negotiations and instruction.

Moluo didn't appear before Yun Li for several days afterward, and Luosai, while learning arithmetic with Yun Li, also had to study salt making and pottery with the tribal chief; the Beastfolk was so busy that in less than five days fatigue was already evident.

Yun Li laughed at him and asked, "How about we skip arithmetic for now and have you first master those two crafts with Moluo? After all, arithmetic doesn't require a Crystal Core, but those two crafts are things you exchanged good items for."

She wasn't saying that out of pity for Luosai's scattered efforts; he simply wasn't good at arithmetic—addition and subtraction under fifty he kept learning and forgetting. Given that his study time was only four or five days, it was better for him to focus on the crucial salt making and pottery rather than wear himself out.

After all, they never explained what benefits those two crafts would bring them, yet knowing the Tribe possessed more than just those, they only chose these two, likely because they were urgently needed and practical.

Of course, Yun Li also inferred from the two nomadic Tribes' lack of strong reaction to the Tribe's existing items—things like clothing and sugar have obvious substitutes outside—that they saw no need to acquire those crafts, as they seemed unlikely to yield sufficient benefit to sway them.

"No."

Who would have thought Yun Li's well‑meaning suggestion would be flatly rejected by Luosai: "If I don't learn, then the tribal chief will have to learn it.

The tribal chief said Yun Li Adult's arithmetic is very useful to us; if the chief hadn't promised a friend that he must meet him before the cold season, the chief would even hope to stay in the Tribe longer."

That guy!

Yun Li didn't know whether to call him big‑hearted or simply refreshingly candid, since it concerned her tribal chief.

Why would he explain it so clearly to her, an outsider?

Yet, thinking that way, Yun Li didn't point it out; instead she went along with his words and asked, "Now the cold season is just over a month away; can you make it out of Heiyan Shanmai in time?"

Luosai didn't realize she was subtly probing their exit route; hearing the question, he replied casually, "Sure, getting out of Heiyan Shanmai won't take long—about half a month."

If it's fast, ten days would suffice.

But Luosai didn't actually say that, not because the tribal chief had warned him not to disclose it, but because the chief's tone when mentioning the time was uncertain.

He didn't want to deceive the tribal chief's valued Beastfolk, so he omitted the uncertain timeframe.

"Half a month, that's fine then."

The question is which direction they should head when leaving; the transport out of the Tribe goes south, and after the Tribe sent trackers for a while they were shaken off, leaving the exit route temporarily uncharted.

So Yun Li, looking at Luosai, gently probed, "Come to think of it, I still don't know how you entered here. Isn't this your first time in Heiyan Shanmai? If you leave, can you find the way back in?"

Beastfolk of Heiyan Shanmai have their own method of navigating, but it's limited to the mountains; as for determining where south leads or where north leads, that's another matter.

Even the returning Priest and the Lesser Priest admitted they couldn't explain it well; one relied on luck to stumble out and back in, the other dealt with Beastfolk coming from outside.

The Lesser Priest, however, was better than the Priest in that he had recorded his own routes in and out of Heiyan Shanmai.

The Priest's own routes are very vague, so he would have to send Tribe members to explore bit by bit, making the path extremely risky.

"Indeed, both we and the tribal chief are entering Heiyan Shanmai for the first time, but exiting is usually just a matter of looking at a map. I recall, Yun Li Adult, you have a map in your hand, don't you?"

At that moment, Luosai suddenly seemed to remember something, his face curious as he looked at Yun Li.