Chapter 23

Someone possessing the Metallurgy talent was a turning point.

Since winter, everyone had only been preparing for farming, because Li Cunxin’s stored grain had run low. They needed a bountiful harvest to fill their granary before they’d have the surplus energy to consider other matters.

So even though Li Cunxin knew the location of the iron mine, first, they couldn’t spare the people for a trip given the order of priorities; second, it was too far away; third, for their current lives and the tasks at hand, the tools they had were still barely sufficient. Thus, no one was in a rush to go dig for ore.

Now they had harvested the rice and cotton, planted the wheat, and had a stretch of free time. Meanwhile, their salt supply was about to run out. At this juncture, the Metallurgy talent had lit up on their talent map, as if everything was urging them to head west.

To the west there was a salt lake and an iron mine, but only Li Cunxin knew the route.

Setting out westward was inevitable.

But this was a long journey, not like a two-day trip to the forest and back.

The round trip would take many days. With no vehicle to haul cargo and only the feeble animal power of one ox and one donkey, it was impossible to transport ore back to smelt. Salt or metal, they’d have to refine it on-site, condense it, and only then bring it back.

That would mean being away from home even longer.

But the fields needed tending, and the piles of just-harvested grain couldn’t be moved. Someone had to stay home. The beacon fire used as a signal also needed managing.

They would have to split into two groups: one to guard the home, the other to travel far and open a mine.

The team selection was easy. Li Cunxin knew the way; Liu Cuo Jin had Metallurgy—both had to go. The remaining spots went to Yu Muyang, who would need to build a furnace to assist Liu Cuo Jin; Xia Qing, for her Woodworking skills to provide tools; and Xu Yin, for protection with his fighting ability.

A party of five would go find the iron mine. Left behind to watch the homestead were Yan Baiyu, Yunxiu, and Zhao Penglai.

Before departure, Yunxiu racked her brains over the traveling rations. She altered her own outer jacket into cloth sacks and packed a bag of the rice they had hulled.

Looking at that ‘rice sack’ with its two sleeves dangling, Li Cunxin felt both sad and amused. “You gave us your clothes. What will you wear?”

Yunxiu said dismissively, “I still have an inner layer. When I need to change and wash, I’ll just make do with that animal hide. It’s not so hot anymore, anyway.”

Li Cunxin retorted, “Nonsense. The autumn tiger can still roast a person.”

Yunxiu smiled. “In any case, when you come back, I can just untie the strings and wear it again.”

Li Cunxin sighed softly, helpless. She couldn’t refuse Yunxiu’s goodwill. Rations were crucial for a long journey, since the further they went, the scarcer food resources became.

Besides that bag of rice, Yunxiu also bundled a stack of salted fish, a packet of dried meat, and that jar of osmanthus brown sugar for them.

Beyond the rations, the five also brought axes, fire tongs, and hammers. Xia Qing packed her stone tools. The water buffalo and the black donkey carried the luggage.

Early that morning, they set out westward.

Long journeys carried certain dangers. Although Yan Baiyu’s group of three didn’t say it aloud, everyone could feel their worry.

The three saw them off for a long distance, until Li Cunxin waved her hand and said, “Head back now. If you walk any further, you’ll end up coming to dig ore with us. Go on back.”

Only then did the three stop, watching their retreating figures until they vanished from sight.

The five travelers were led by Li Cunxin. At first, they were all somewhat anxious, their bodies tense, and didn’t pay much attention to the surrounding scenery. At night they rested, at dawn they set out. They only stopped at mealtimes; the rest of the time they pressed on.

Before they knew it, they realized two mountain paths had already been crossed. After the terrain climbed into difficult ground, it gradually flattened out again.

Compared to their original dwelling, the surrounding vegetation was somewhat sparser, but otherwise not very different.

By the morning of the eighth day, with their hair dancing wildly in disarray, they found the area near the salt lake.

The greenish lake water rippled with rings, reflecting dazzling light. No plants grew on its shores. Li Cunxin scanned left and right along the bank, then spotted a stone bleached white by the sun to the east.

She led everyone over. Only then did they notice that further ahead, within visible range, was another stone of similar size, with something carved on its surface, though wind erosion had made it hard to read.

These stones were markers Li Cunxin had placed.

Following the markers, they found a sparse, thin grove. Beneath the old tree where Li Cunxin had once tied the black donkey sat a clay pot with a chipped corner and a sizable rock inside.

Li Cunxin removed the rock and lifted the pot. “This is what I used every time I came to boil salt. It’s just a bit slow.”

Liu Cuo Jin asked, “Village Chief, is the iron mine still further ahead?”

The wind howled and blustered. Li Cunxin said, “We’ll have to travel another day and a half ahead.”

They unloaded the livestock, made a fire and ate, rested a while, then began gathering firewood. Building up the still-burning fire, they prepared to boil salt.

To increase the temperature and efficiency, Yu Muyang plastered together a mud stove. Wanting to save time, they used every available vessel to hold brine for boiling.

A pot of water boiled from morning until dark, leaving only a thin layer of precipitated salt at the bottom. They added more water and kept boiling, taking turns throughout the night to watch the fire.

Only after collecting a full large jar of coarse salt did they continue onward to search for the iron mine.

The mountain where, Li Cunxin said, the open-pit iron mine was looked no different on the surface. Clumps of arborvitae grew on the slopes. Most of the greenery came from wild ramie, its serrated leaves sprouting yellow flowers, with occasional foxtail weeds poking up among them.

Everyone looked around curiously. Li Cunxin seemed to have forgotten the way a bit, wandering for most of the day.

Xia Qing couldn’t help asking, “Village Chief, are we at the mine mountain?”

Li Cunxin said, “This is it.”

Xia Qing asked, “Then how do we mine?” Xia Qing didn’t quite understand what ‘open-pit’ meant. In her mind, mining meant digging a shaft, boring through dozens of meters of rock.

Li Cunxin said, “We clear the surface vegetation and soil. The iron ore is underneath.”

Yu Muyang said, “Then what are we looking for?”

Li Cunxin stopped in her tracks and stood silent for a long while. Then she pointed at an exposed section on the slope ahead. “For that.”

The hillside looked like a patch of flesh where skin had been torn away. No vegetation covered the surface. Under the soil, the rock layer was red.

They walked over to examine it. There were signs of prior excavation.

Yu Muyang clicked his tongue. “Village Chief, did you dig out this huge area yourself? You’re like old man Yu moving mountains.”

Li Cunxin smiled, not seeming to want to elaborate. She simply said, “Figure out how to dig up the ore and start smelting. Muyang, go dig clay and build a blast furnace. Xia Qing, gather firewood and prepare charcoal. Little Liu and Uncle Xu, help me mine the ore. Xia Qing, give us a few of your stone chisels.”

As Li Cunxin turned around to take the stone chisels from Xia Qing, Xu Yin’s hand slapped Yu Muyang on the back of the head. Yu Muyang was bewildered, clutching his head.

Xu Yin signaled with his eyes toward Li Cunxin. Yu Muyang mouthed, “Why’d you hit me?”

Xu Yin made a shushing gesture. Belatedly, Yu Muyang understood and fell silent.

The ore they dug out was dark red. Xu Yin smashed it to pieces with a hammer. Yu Muyang mixed mud with dry grass to build the furnace. Xia Qing felled trees with her axe; when she came back, she called out, “Hey, there’s a walnut tree over there!”

The tree was laden with walnuts, looking like large green jujubes.

“We’ll bring some back as a local specialty for them,” Xia Qing said upon returning, announcing it before going back into the grove.

That night, after dinner, they began smelting. They loaded the furnace with ore, limestone, and charcoal, then sealed the opening. The flames blazed fiercely, illuminating their faces even more brilliantly than the sunset clouds.

The fire burned from day to night and through to the next day. A magma-like liquid flowed down. Xu Yin used the fire tongs to part the stream and pulled out a solid mass—black on the outside, fiery red within. This was the smelted sponge iron.

While it was still hot, Xu Yin began hammering it, reheating it, then hammering it repeatedly until it formed a regular shape.

Li Cunxin still hazily remembered the steps for refining iron. If it were just that, they could figure it out with enough brainpower. But what they had produced was pig iron, too high in carbon, too brittle.

To make good farming tools and good implements, they would need wrought iron, and to extract steel from iron.

These tasks could only be done by someone with innate knowledge in this area, or someone with the Metallurgy talent.

The five spent half a month in that place. Apart from eating and sleeping, they extracted iron from ore. They didn’t need to search far for water; a stream flowed not far from the smelting site.

They smelted ten large blocks of pig iron, until their rations were nearly exhausted. Only then did they pack up their luggage and start the journey back.

On the way home, they were utterly drained. Five people, ten dark circles under their eyes. Xu Yin’s beard had grown out again. Li Cunxin’s hair now covered her eyes. None of them had changed clothes in more than a month, and they were covered head to toe in grime.

All they wanted was to collapse into bed the moment they got home. Yet as they drew near, their hearts surged with emotion. Their flagging spirits rose again with excitement.

On the final stretch, Yu Muyang burst with energy and sprinted ahead at full speed, running all the way to the main house and charging through the door like a victorious general returning home. “We’re back!”

There was no response from inside. When he looked carefully, two strangers were sitting at the table.

Yu Muyang rubbed his eyes and stumbled backward in horror.

Had he gone into the wrong house?!

But that couldn’t be!

Yunxiu ran out of the kitchen. Her eyes immediately reddened. She called toward the vegetable garden out back, “Baiyu! Penglai! They’re back!”