Chapter 324

Chapter 324

“Wow… that lake is beautiful. It’s red!”

As the sun neared the western horizon, it became a huge disk standing at the far end of the lake.

Its light dyed the entire lake a beautiful red.

Many animals surrounded the lake, mostly herbivores such as goats, deer, and horses.

“What are they eating?”

There was clearly no grass nearby.

Indeed, no plants grew around such a vast lake. It looked utterly barren.

The beautiful lake seemed devoid of life.

Jiang Yunsui crouched curiously and discovered tiny pale-pink crystals on the ground.

Could this be… salt?

She blinked, dabbed a little onto her finger, and put it in her mouth.

Salty!

“What are you eating?”

Ji Lu swept her into his arms.

“You put everything in your mouth. What if it makes you sick?”

Jiang Yunsui’s eyes sparkled.

“Salt. This is salt.”

Ji Si and Ji Lu both froze.

“What? What did you say this was?”

Jiang Yunsui pointed at the lake. The sun had fully set, and by the last faint light, everyone finally realized the sunset had not turned the lake red.

The lake itself was red.

It merely looked less vivid without the sunlight.

“Why does this lake look so eerie?”

The red grew especially vivid near the shore, as if the water had been stained with blood.

But salt?

“This salt is pink. It’s so pretty!”

“No wonder so many herbivores are here.”

Herbivores needed salt. The animals were licking salt crystals from the ground.

Ji Si and Ji Lu crouched and copied Jiang Yunsui, tasting a little of the fine pink crystals.

“It really is salt!”

The two men became excited too.

In this era, salt was a highly valuable commodity.

It was strictly controlled by the authorities.

Their salt came from the south.

But war now raged there, driving up the prices of grain, salt, and other goods.

More crucially, if the Imperial Court discovered Ji Yan’an’s situation and the state of the north, it would certainly cut off their access to salt and iron.

Obtaining southern salt in the north would grow even harder.

In fact, it was already extremely difficult.

The Imperial Court and the Prince of Nanyang were fighting, both sides competing for salt supplies. Salt merchants had also raised prices, throwing the market into chaos.

Ji Yan’an could still acquire some amid the confusion, but it cost far more and, more importantly, the quantity had sharply declined.

Yet demand here was enormous.

“We’ll have to find somewhere to stay here tonight.”

Without tents, Ji Si and Ji Lu fashioned a simple shelter from branches and dry grass.

Fortunately, Heaven cooperated and it did not rain that night.

With the animals standing guard, they did not need to worry much about safety.

Jiang Yunsui lay on the snow leopard’s soft belly and watched the moon as her body automatically absorbed Moonlight Essence.

The nearby animals soon felt wonderfully comfortable, their tails wagging happily.

While they slept peacefully, Ji Yan’an received the message Pearl, the gyrfalcon, had carried back and set out with men to find them.

Early the next morning,

Jiang Yunsui awoke to melodious birdsong.

Ji Si and Ji Lu were already awake, standing outside and staring blankly toward the lake.

Jiang Yunsui yawned and walked over.
“What is it?”

She followed their gazes and saw a flock of birds.

Huohuo flew at the very front, its body seeming to glow beneath the rising sun.

Its flight looked more like a dance.

Behind Huohuo flew Milk Tea and the birds Jiang Yunsui had raised.

Countless other birds followed farther back, tracing Huohuo’s flight path.

It resembled a magnificent dance performance.

“So a Phoenix-Mimic Bird truly can draw a multitude of birds to follow it.”

How was that any different from a phoenix?

Even if it was not the divine phoenix of legend, the Phoenix-Mimic Bird unquestionably deserved to be called an auspicious creature.

After flying its fill, Huohuo returned to Jiang Yunsui.

The other birds dispersed but did not leave, each finding somewhere to perch.

Jiang Yunsui hugged Huohuo and rubbed her cheek against it.

“Huohuo, you’re amazing and so beautiful!”

The grown Huohuo was no longer a little menace. It was extremely elegant.

It loved grooming its feathers and receiving praise.

It especially loved compliments about its beautiful plumage.

It was a vain little bird.

In daylight, everyone could see the lake more clearly.

It truly was red.

“What an extraordinary lake.”

Ji Lu nudged Ji Si with an elbow. “Do you think the lake is red because it’s stained with blood?”

Ji Si looked at him as though he were an idiot.

“No.”

It was not as if they had never seen blood.

Enough blood to dye the lake would have produced an unbearable stench.

There was no bloody odor here.

So it was not blood.

“It’s a salt lake.”

They had admittedly never seen salt like this.

Salt lakes existed on the grasslands, though they yielded less salt than coastal regions.

Extracting salt required boiling water until it evaporated.

But the grasslands did not have that much firewood.

So extracting salt was difficult.

They had never seen such a vast salt lake, much less red salt.

Ji Si and Ji Lu did not know whether it was edible.

While they debated collecting some, Milk Tea reported that Ji Yan’an was approaching with his men.

Jiang Yunsui immediately ran to meet them.

“You certainly know how to wander far.”

Song Jin teased them the moment he arrived.

Jiang Yunsui said, “Ji Yan’an, we found salt.”

“A huge salt lake.”

Song Jin smiled. “That truly is timely. Southern salt prices have risen, and we need a great deal. The last salt we bought was expensive and inferior.”

Heaven had truly bestowed a great gift on them.

Of course, Jiang Yunsui deserved much of the credit.

After all, the gift had reached them through her.

Ji Lu said, “Young Master, there is a salt lake over there, but… its color is rather strange.”

Ji Yan’an said, “Let’s see it.”

Song Jin asked, “How strange can salt look?”

They reached the lakeshore.

Song Jin said, “…That is indeed strange.”

He had never seen red salt.

“There is no smell of blood. This is simply the salt’s natural color.”

Jiang Yunsui said, “Pretty!”

Ji Yan’an said, “Take a sample back and have Shen Qingzhu test it for poison.”

The color was too unusual. Even knowing it was salt, they did not dare consume it casually.

For a small sample, they only needed to gather crystals from the shore.

Producing it in quantity would require tools to boil the lake water. After evaporation exposed the salt, it would still need several processing steps before it became edible.