Chapter 132: Chapter 132: Wei Mountain

“When the chief gets back, let me know. Tell him I want to discuss something important,” Chang Xia said seriously.

Jade artifacts are of great importance.

Whether they could trade for the bird tribe’s Ice Crystal Grass depended entirely on the jade ornaments carved from emerald jade. If they could find another batch of jade at the rocky shoals—even if it wasn’t the highest quality “glass type,” but just the most ordinary “bean type”—Changxia still wanted to carve a few pieces to display in her cave-dwelling home. Just looking at them would make the place feel elegant and refined.

*Cough, cough—*

Even after living two lifetimes, Changxia still couldn’t escape some worldly desires.

Just like her insistence on making furniture from rosewood.

It was simply because she wanted to.

“All right, I’ll remember that,” Nan Feng replied.

It was clear that Changxia was planning something big with the jade.

Everyone was curious, but didn’t press further. They understood that if it was something she could share, Changxia wouldn’t keep it to herself. Since she hadn’t said more, it probably wasn’t the right time yet.

After chatting about these trivial matters, everyone headed into the kitchen one by one.

But this time, Nan Feng pushed Changxia out of the kitchen, telling her to look after the young beasts and sparrows in the cave courtyard. Nan Feng’s cooking was average, but with Warm Spring and Maple Leaf helping, and Chen Rong giving pointers, lunch turned out just fine.

Changxia had Yadong take the sparrows and the others to play, while she went to find Shankun and Kongshan.

“Shankun, do you know what the situation is upstream of White Lake?” Changxia asked, her gaze lingering thoughtfully on the pond in the center of the cave courtyard.

For once, she didn’t have to help in the kitchen, so she sat on a wooden bench in the corridor.

She started chatting with Shankun and Kongshan. Kongshan stood by the window in the corridor, occasionally sneaking glances at Maple Leaf bustling around the kitchen, a lovesick expression unconsciously appearing on his face, which made both Changxia and Shankun roll their eyes at him.

“Upstream of White Lake—”

“Changxia, what exactly do you want to know?”

Both Shankun and Kongshan looked over at her.

The twin cubs were with Luyou and Yadong, playing and laughing all around the courtyard, their clear, cheerful voices echoing far into the distance.

“What do you think of the pond in the courtyard?” Changxia asked, pointing at it.

Kongshan replied, “It’s great! The only pity is there’s no running water feeding into it.”

They discussed that after lunch, they could fetch water from White Lake with wooden buckets to fill the pond, then line it with the pebbles they’d collected from the rocky shoals. As for fish, maybe they could catch a few beautiful ones from White Lake to put in.

Ordinary carp or crucian carp would do, but they were a bit too plain.

“I want to divert water, to bring running water into the cave. That way, we won’t have to fetch water from White Lake all the time,” Changxia explained. “But since my cave is at a higher elevation, to bring in lake water, we’d need to build a waterwheel and dig a channel. So I was wondering if there might be a mountain spring upstream from White Lake…”

The spring would need to be at a higher elevation than the cave.

That way, gravity would do the work.

And they wouldn’t need a waterwheel—just dig a channel or make a simple pipe to bring the spring water into the cave.

If they could do that, they’d never have to haul water from White Lake again.

Fetching water was hard work, and it wasn’t easy to keep all the big stone jars at Changxia’s home filled every day.

“Changxia, is there anything you don’t dare to imagine?” Kongshan exclaimed in admiration.

Shankun said nothing, but silently gave Changxia a thumbs-up.

Daring to think of things others wouldn’t even consider—that was Changxia. No wonder both the shamans and the elders of the tribe valued her so highly, even though she was physically weak and always needed protection and care.

For hundreds of years, the Heluo tribe had lived and thrived here.

They knew how to use beast claws to shape stone, bone, and wood tools.

They could even fire pottery.

But they’d never dreamed of bringing running water into the tribe or their dens.

“I just want to be lazy, that’s all,” Changxia said, embarrassed. The way Kongshan and Shankun looked at her was a bit like how they looked at the shaman, which made her feel awkward.

She didn’t think she was doing anything special.

But to her tribespeople, these little ideas always seemed so unexpected.

Maybe it was just that their living environment had limited their imagination.

Changxia had lived in an age of information explosion in her previous life, even surviving the apocalypse. In terms of knowledge and experience, she was far ahead of this world in the Twilight Forest.

Shankun’s expression grew serious. “Bringing running water into the cave is a great idea, but actually making it happen won’t be easy.”

“Changxia, you left those inlets and outlets on the pond on purpose, didn’t you? You were planning to bring in running water from the start,” Kongshan said, catching on quickly.

He looked at the two notches on the pond.

When they built the pond, Yadong had asked Chen Rong about them, but Chen Rong only said they were useful, without explaining further. Now that Changxia mentioned diverting water, Kongshan immediately understood.

He couldn’t help but give Changxia a thumbs-up, just like Shankun.

“The cave is much bigger than a beast den, so it’ll need more water every day. Right now it’s the warm season, so fetching water is easy, but once the cold season comes, it’ll be a lot harder,” Changxia said.

She made no secret of her desire to avoid hardship.

After all, the root of human progress is the desire for a better life.

“Upstream of White Lake is Wei Mountain. There’s a lot of miasma there. Other than regular hunts to clear out wild beasts, no one from the tribe usually goes there. There should be mountain springs, but whether the water is safe needs to be checked.”

Wei Mountain lay upstream of White Lake.

You could see its range from White Lake, shrouded in mist that never seemed to clear. Unlike ordinary mountain fog, this mist was laced with miasma.

The Heluo tribe had plenty of other forests for hunting and gathering.

Once they’d confirmed there were no dangerous beasts in Wei Mountain, they hadn’t explored further.

The miasma didn’t bother the beastfolk much, but after a while it could still make you dizzy and unwell. Totem warriors could resist it for a while, but ordinary people would faint after just half a day.

Over time, the Heluo tribe simply stopped going into Wei Mountain.

At those words, Chang Xia was taken aback.

Clearly, she hadn’t realized there was a mountain range so close to Li Bai Lake.

“Shankun, is Wei Mountain a marshland?” Chang Xia asked.

Generally speaking, marshes are prone to mist and miasma in the forests, and staying there too long can lead to poisoning.

Shankun shook his head and replied firmly, “Wei Mountain isn’t a marsh, aside from the miasma. It’s just a perfectly ordinary mountain range, but it’s rich in medicinal herbs. Two-thirds of the herbs we send to the Kanar Sacred Mountain’s Shaman Hall come from Wei Mountain.”

“The shaman has been to Wei Mountain. She said it’s a treasure trove,” Kongshan added.

“She hasn’t gone deep into Wei Mountain?” Chang Xia asked curiously. Since Su Ye called Wei Mountain a treasure trove, there must be something special about it.

Kongshan shook his head and replied, “She wanted to, but the beast tribes wouldn’t let her.”

Baiqing isn’t of age yet, so nothing can be allowed to happen to the shaman.

Besides, no matter how extraordinary Wei Mountain is, at the end of the day it’s just a place with old medicinal herbs. There are countless such mountains in the Twilight Forest; there’s no need to risk one’s life.

At this, Chang Xia understood what Kongshan meant.

It was obvious.

The beast tribes of Twilight Forest didn’t want the shaman risking herself in Wei Mountain.

No matter how much of a treasure trove it was, it was off-limits.