Chapter 281: They Also Felt Their Hearts Stir

When she received the three envoy groups sent from the continent, they opened with a request to buy melons; Lin Manzhi truly hadn't expected that.

It is now the ripening season for watermelons and Hami melons; in reality, unlike in her space where each vine can bear two high‑quality fruits, each vine here yields at least one, sometimes two. She estimates the harvest will be within two months, with a yield of about 1,000 melons per mu, and the watermelon seeds cover 1,500 mu, amounting to roughly 1.5 million watermelons.

Even though the watermelon count is large, it still isn't enough to meet the current cooperation with Cangqiong and their allies.

Continuing to expand the Planting Base, the sandy land is naturally suited for watermelons, so wasting such a huge business opportunity would be a pity!

Lin Manzhi summoned the three envoy groups together, regrettably declined cooperation, and then said, "If your lords are interested, perhaps wait three months before discussing the purchase of watermelons."

The three factions exchanged glances; facing Mo Lie above, they dared not force a purchase and reluctantly left with the news.

One of the Xing Yuan City envoys kept a watchful eye, turned back immediately, and then boasted wildly about the Kuangsha City lord and Lord's Wife, adding, "These two medicinal plants are so tasty and so useful; our Xing Yuan City lord says we're willing to buy them at 4 gold coins each, and we'll keep it confidential."

Good fellow, that price is instantly double what she offered Cangqiong and the Wushen Temple.

Lin Manzhi took a deep breath and decided on the spot to pull a batch from the Cangqiong‑Wushen Temple deal; after all, the two sides hadn't signed a specific watermelon quantity, right!

All are cooperating merchants, so of course we look for the highest‑bidding partner.

Thus, the three territories' envoy groups—others received a cooperation queue number, while the Beastfolk from Xing Yuan City brought back eighty thousand watermelons to report.

……

Cangqiong's spies are the most agile; when Xing Yuan City suddenly listed a watermelon at 10 gold coins, the Luo Lai Caravan sent over Xing Yuan's trade ledger, and seeing the watermelon sales slower than before, he realized Xing Yuan City had directly struck a medicinal‑plant deal with Kuangsha City.

However, he understood he had no standing to question Kuangsha City, since the original agreement wasn't exclusive, and he lacked the strength to suppress Kuangsha City.

Consequently, he could only grit his teeth in silence and drop the watermelon price in Xing Yuan City directly to 10 gold coins.

And then, promptly, with foresight, he headed to Kuangsha City.

After a competitor appeared, Cangqiong directly pre‑ordered the next two kinds of melons from Lin Manzhi, and she naturally agreed.

The watermelon Planting Base added another 2,000 mu, now totaling 3,500 mu; there will be no shortage, and large sums can be received early. Lin Manzhi sent off the wealthy patron Cangqiong with a beaming smile.

If anyone was happy besides Lin Manzhi over the bumper harvest, it was Xiong Kui, the happiest in the Planting Base.

Through his relentless effort and performance, after Xiang Sa suddenly left the Planting Base earlier, Xiong Kui finally became the lead bear among the planters.

Now, Xiong Kui shakes his robust muscles, strides proudly behind Lin Manzhi, inspecting the nearby fields of melons he planted for the Lord's Wife.

Xiong Kui feels unbearably proud inside, thinking, "I had the foresight to switch allegiance early; otherwise I'd still be crouching in that den eating dirt!"

The Planting Base yields more than just two melons; fruits like Holy Maiden Fruit and other vegetables are also ripe, and their cultivation scale hasn't expanded, so they're sold as before.

Also, the grape vines Lin Manzhi planted beside the Agave have entered the ripening stage.

Since making Agave doesn't require that many grapes, the leftover bunches were abundant; the wine yield was too small and she found it troublesome, so she simply had the whole bunch harvested, hung on a rope to dry into raisins, a handy snack.

The grapes weren't many; two people finished picking in an hour, then had them taken to dry.

After finishing this harvest period, more than two months later, Hua Zheng, who oversees medicinal herb cultivation, also returned with good news that the medicinal plants were thriving.

Lin Manzhi transferred the crops and herbs from her space to the Beast World's soil, and the current planting development is proceeding smoothly.

……

On the other side, the Mountain Classic Beast Temple.

After deciding to first test Cuan Qiong, Su Li took out Cuan Qiong; regarding the handling of the medicinal plants, she didn't use Lin Manzhi's crude method of slicing and feeding them raw to the females, but instead extracted the Cuan Qiong Essence according to the Shamaness's custom.

There were forty‑eight Cuan Qiong plants in total; she took them all out, and each Cuan Qiong yields two doses of liquid, so the Wushen Temple now possesses 96 portions of Cuan Qiong Essence.

Su Li is decisive; once all the liquid was extracted, she announced the Cuan Qiong trial results to all the Shamanesses of the Wushen Temple.

In an instant, countless Shamanesses present scrambled to apply for the Cuan Qiong trial, and Su Li selected 96 Shamanesses who were about to enter their passion period.

During this year's passion period, they will seek male beasts and first drink the Cuan Qiong Essence extracted from Cuan Qiong.

On the Witch God Island, all Shamanesses watch the females who have taken the Cuan Qiong liquid.

During the Shamanesses' passion period, Su Li even wishes to use her own Pheromone daily to check their reproductive chambers for any tiny sign of new life.

However, even if pregnant, it cannot be detected in the first month.

At such times, the more she anticipates, the greater Su Li's fear of disappointment, leaving her anxious and sleepless each day.

The Shamanesses, all females with Pheromones, were chosen for this test as those with a Pregnancy Value around 5.

And the ones selected to share the passion period must be of powerful bloodlines, akin to modern lions, tigers and other large beasts.

For such beast species, ordinary females rarely conceive the counterpart's offspring; even with a Pregnancy Value of 5, the chance is low, usually requiring many (over ten) passion periods to bear one.

This time, after taking the Cuan Qiong liquid beneficial for gestation, they felt an indescribable premonition and hope.

Amid all the Shamanesses' anticipation and anxious attention, within a little over a month after their passion period ended, Su Li sequentially observed signs of pregnancy in the trial Shamanesses.

At that time, Su Li restrained her excitement, fearing a situation similar to the Ho Mother elixir.

Yet in the following month, not only did those first‑detected pregnant Shamanesses experience no miscarriage, but an additional sixteen pregnant Shamanesses were discovered, all without miscarriage.

Under everyone's careful care, despite the gestation period differing from the male beasts' species, some females have already given birth to healthy, beautiful male beast cubs.

Even without all females giving birth, this alone proves the efficacy of Cuan Qiong.