The Plant Master Becomes A Mute Sub-Beast: Farming And Laying Eggs

Chapter 173: Chapter 173: Cotton Plant

After a full inspection and setting the useful roots aside, Kaelen said to Chief Cinder:

"I see this land is full of treasures, you should send people to search for more. Do not limit it to plants or roots, just bring back anything you find for me. I will lend you three Wood-attribute Divine Energy warriors; they will come see you shortly."

Chief Cinder hastily nodded, then immediately went to assign tasks. Sane also went with him, leaving only Kaelen, Draven, the three children, and the old Priest. Kaelen reached into his mask, wiping away the sweat stinging his eyes, and said to the old Priest:

"It is too hot here, shall we go to your place? I want to look at the seeds you gave me, it is better to find a private place."

The old Priest nodded: "Certainly, please come with me."

The old Priest leaned on his cane and stood up unsteadily. Kaelen and Draven split up, each supporting him from one side. The old Priest was moved, saying kindly:

"Sigh, thank you. Getting old, getting old..."

He sighed again: "Actually, I know of the Crimson tribe. That child Collins is a disciple of my senior brother, it is a pity that our two tribes were originally too far apart, so we rarely kept in touch."

Hearing the old Priest mention Collins, Kaelen and Draven were extremely surprised. They didn’t expect them to be acquaintances.

Oliver pattered along behind them, chattering away: "Mr. Priest, are you also a disciple of the late Temple Master?"

The old Priest looked down at the little boy with lively purple eyes, nodding without hesitation: "Yes, Collins’s teacher ranked sixty-eighth, I ranked seventy-third, and there were still five senior brothers between us. Because we were just registered disciples chosen by the Temple, not personally chosen by the late Temple Master, we did not have many opportunities to interact with him, only seeing him during Sacrifices."

Saying that, the old Priest’s gaze looked towards the distant North, saying sadly: "In the past, every spring I would go to the Beast City once, but for nearly eighty years since the late Temple Master passed away and the Eldest Senior Brother took his place, we have not gone there anymore."

Draven asked softly: "May we know the reason why, sir?"

The old Priest sighed, saying regretfully: "At first, the Eldest Senior Brother always followed the late Temple Master’s decree of subduing people with virtue and serving God with heart, but his actions became increasingly bizarre.

He even issued orders for live sacrifices. Initially, it was just some wild animals or magical beasts, but later he even intended to sacrifice humans. At that time, we all vehemently opposed it, so he finally gave up.

However, from then on, everyone’s status in the Temple plummeted sharply, not even having a single sweeping disciple left. Out of one hundred and seventy-three priest disciples, in the end, only twenty people remained in the Temple, all of whom returned their Divine Sparks and left the Beast City."

The old Priest touched his aged face, whispering: "You might not believe it if I tell you, but I am even younger than Cinder. Only one hundred and twenty-eight years old. After returning the Divine Spark, we all became this old."

Everyone took a deep breath, and Kaelen’s expression became even uglier. What returning the Divine Spark? This was clearly having half their life force sucked away!

"What kind of True God would demand back the Divine Spark of a loyal believer and conveniently take away half their lifespan. This is clearly an Evil God!" Draven couldn’t help but curse in a low voice.

The old Priest hurriedly patted his hand, shushing him: "Do not say such disrespectful words in the future. We are merely insignificant believers; offending the Gods will bring about heavenly punishment!"

Kaelen also tugged at Draven’s sleeve, signaling him to calm down. Draven bit his lip tightly, thinking of Wofu who was imprisoned somewhere in the Northern Continent, and a wave of sorrow swelled in his heart. If it weren’t for his overconfidence, perhaps they would have completed the mating ritual by now, and he might even be carrying Wofu’s child in his belly.

After talking for a while, they arrived at the old Priest’s residence. Kaelen and Draven helped him sit down, and poured him a pitcher of water.

"Why didn’t you take in a few disciples?" Draven asked softly.

The old Priest said bitterly: "I did, I had two disciples. But... they..." He choked back tears, then shook his head: "Let’s not mention it anymore, just consider it as if I never had any disciples."

It seemed to be another unpleasant story. Draven and Kaelen didn’t ask anymore. Kaelen lowered his head, opened the small leather bag, and poured the seeds out to examine them. There weren’t many seeds in the bag, only about fifty. These seeds looked quite similar to the kapok seeds their tribe was growing around the village, covered in a white layer.

Kaelen’s eyes widened. He tossed aside the mask obstructing his vision, pressing his face close to the pile of seeds on the table. Draven was surprised to see him lose his composure like that, and asked cautiously:

"What is the matter, Cael?"

Kaelen smiled as brightly as a blooming flower, pointing at the seeds on the table, and said cryptically to Draven: "Open page ten of the collection book I gave you, you will know as soon as you see it."

Draven pouted, then took out the book he always kept in his crossbody cloth bag, opening page ten. Just reading a few lines, his mouth opened as wide as if it could fit a chicken egg:

"C... Cotton?"

Kaelen laughed out loud: "Exactly, it is cotton. Haha, the Beast God blesses us! Mr. Priest, I want to exchange these seeds with you. For these fifty cotton seeds, I offer you three hundred catties of refined salt, five bolts of silk, ten bolts of coarse cloth, ten bone hoes, ten bone sickles, and five bone shovels. In addition, for all cotton products from the Crimson tribe in the future, the Cinder tribe will only have to pay half the price."

The old Priest was bewildered: "Three... three hundred catties of salt is how much?" He knew how to count, but what a catty was, he truly didn’t know.

Kaelen estimated the saltiness of today’s lunch, then said: "If calculated based on your tribe’s current salt usage, three hundred catties of salt will be enough for your tribe to use for three winter months."

The old Priest’s hands trembled: "That... that much? Just fifty seeds can exchange for three hundred catties of salt?"

Kaelen wagged his finger: "Note, it is refined salt, salt that is much saltier and purer than the coarse salt you trade from Hollow. Plus, there is also the salt exchanged from growing sugar beets. This means that from now on when cooking, you can safely add a little more salt to your food."

The old Priest couldn’t help but put his hand over his heart. Draven, afraid he might suffer a sudden cardiac arrest, had already placed his hand on his shoulder, ready to use his Divine Energy if anything happened. But this old Priest was much sturdier than he thought. He only lost his composure for a moment, then rubbed his face and said:

"Does your tribe accept more clansmen?"

Kaelen, Draven, and the three children: "..." Please have a little ambition!

Actually, the old Priest only said that to ease his mood a bit. He was merely a Priest and didn’t have the authority to decide for the Chief. Kaelen also didn’t believe this was true, just chuckling:

"Our tribe does not, but yours can. You can merge or form an alliance with neighboring tribes, planting, raising animals, and improving the people’s livelihoods together. Over on our side, we did exactly that."

The old Priest nodded: "I will discuss it with Cinder. Lord Cael, is this type of seed really that precious? Many generations of ours, including the late Temple Master, have tried planting it without success. I heard the late Temple Master even used his Divine Energy to try planting it, but only grew a flower with no practical use."

Kaelen shook his head: "First, because this plant is only suitable for growing on the other side of the magical beast forest. Second, because you do not know how to use it, it became useless. I cannot explain it clearly to you because now is not the right time to plant cotton. However, we have kapok, and in the first trading batch, I will include products made from kapok, then you will know the uses of cotton."

He gathered the cotton seeds into the bag, then handed it to Ryder: "Ryder, I leave this to you."

Ryder accepted the leather bag, ostensibly stuffing it into his shirt but actually storing it in his spatial dimension. The little boy rubbed his eyes: "Papa, I am so sleepy~"

Oliver and Finnick also cooperatively let out a long yawn.

Kaelen smiled helplessly: "The children have a habit of taking afternoon naps, it is getting a bit late now, so I will excuse myself to take them back to rest."

The old Priest nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, children need to sleep a lot to grow healthy. You should quickly take them back."

The five of them bid farewell to the old Priest, then returned to the guest living quarters. The Sub-Beasts had already finished cleaning and arranging the furniture, so they could use it as soon as they returned. Upon arriving, Ryder immediately climbed into bed, closed his eyes, and slipped into his dimension.

During the day, his two younger brothers couldn’t follow him inside, but since there were only fifty seeds, Ryder had more than enough energy to plant and harvest them.

It took the little boy half an hour to plant the fifty cotton seeds. After watering them with spiritual spring water, he hurriedly picked five or six fresh chili peppers and brought them outside.

"Papa, I did not eat enough for lunch. I want to eat sour and spicy glass noodles~"

Kaelen burst out laughing, then asked the other two: "Do you guys want to eat anything?"

Finnick raised his paw: "I want to eat grilled meat vermicelli!"

Oliver shook his head: "I do not want to eat hot food."

Oliver’s condition looked somewhat lifeless. Kaelen hurriedly picked him up and felt his forehead:

"No fever. Do you feel incredibly lethargic, just wanting to lie flat in one place without moving? And do you want to eat something cool?"

Oliver nodded sluggishly. Kaelen guessed this was because it was too hot. The Snake clan inherently had poor heat tolerance, and since Oliver was still a youngling, unable to withstand the intense summer heat, he became this exhausted.

Kaelen thought for a moment, then poked his head outside and said to a beastman guard:

"Pardon me. Could you go to Aaron and borrow an Ice-attribute Divine Energy warrior from his team for a bit, just tell him I need one."