227 Water Source?
"Wow!" Cao Mao was envious of Mao Xueyan. If he had it, he would be able to make so many heaven-grade materials to produce more pills, or he could even copy useful artifacts, "What do you want to use it for? What item are you planning to mass-produce?"
Mao Xueyan stuck out her tongue, "We're going to create a new source of spiritual water for our beast clans. Now, we'll have to find a dryad, so we can ask for a drop of their hollowed spring water."
Cao Mao had a pokerface. He glanced at his several spatial rings in his sleeve pockets, which contained countless liters of spring water in there.
"What's hollowed spring water?" Cao Mao pretended ignorance to get some information.
"The spring water is a natural medicine for beastmen. It can only be found near a dryad's forest, though."
Cao Mao nodded. He had taken a bath in there in the dryad's realm, so it was true, "I understand, but what are you going to do with the spring water?"
"Obviously, we are going to create a new source of water for our tribes. We're going to use it to nurture our children and weak beasts. Since the spring water can enhance one's affinity with water and wood element, I think all beastmen will be happy to use it."
Cao Mao nodded again. He had experienced it first hand, so he could confirm that Mao Xueyan didn't lie. However, it seemed that she didn't know about the healing property of the spring water.
"Have you drunk the spring water before?"
"No."
"Then, how do you know all of this?"
"… I heard it from my parents. I haven't seen it or tasted it yet."
Mao Xueyan looked sad as she gazed at the goblet. Even though she had this immortal-grade treasure, she didn't know where she could find the hollowed spring water.
Cao Mao grinned. He decided to prank her, "By the way, are you thirsty? We had been staying in the auction house the entire morning, and we haven't eaten or drunk anything."
"Sure, you have some water on you?"
Cao Mao bit his lower lips, holding back his laughter. He poured hollowed spring water from his ring to a small teacup and placed it on the ground in front of the cat.
"Here."
"Thanks. You're quite considerate for a perverted orc."
"Of course, I'm the nicest guy you've ever met."
"… Doubt it."
"Oh, before you drink that, you should keep the goblet away from the cup. You might spill the water in there, and it will ruin your plan."
"Right. Oh, by the way, can you keep the goblet and these rings for me. I can't transform at the moment, so they're kind of inconvenient."
"Sure."
Cao Mao took the goblet and the spatial rings, which Mao Xueyan had looted from Tang Deming's guards earlier.
After Cao Mao had stored everything, Mao Xueyan picked up the cup with both paws and took a zip.
At first, Xueyan thought that Cao Mao had given her cold mineral water or a high-grade spirit drink. But after a second later, she widened her eyes.
Mao Xueyan could feel the intense wood, water, and ice element within the spring water. Moreover, they even healed the chronic abdomen injuries, which she had kept hidden from Cao Mao.
Shocked by the effect of the mysterious water, Mao Xueyan's voice cracked, "W-What is this water!?"
"I don't know. I got this water from the herb realm from the Myriad Cauldron Sect. Oh, I heard a rumor that dryads lived there."
Mao Xueyan choked. She coughed as if she wanted to vomit it out.
It took her a whole minute to catch her breath.
"DO YOU HAVE MORE OF THIS!?"
Cao Mao revealed a sad smile, "I'm so sorry. That was the last cup of water that I had. I had planned to drink it, but I worried about you, so I gave it to you."
"WHAT!?"
Mao Xueyan shoved her paw into her mouth, trying to force herself to vomit out the water.
Seeing the reaction and the desperation of Mao Xueyan, Cao Mao laughed, "Just kidding. I have more."
The cat's eyes were bloodshot. Her red pupils expanded.
In anger, Mao Xueyan jumped on top of Cao Mao's head. Then, she bent down her head to glare into Cao Mao's pupils with her big bloodshot eyes. Her claws also dug into his skin.
"GIVE.ME.THE.WATER!"
"Not without a condition."
"You don't need conditions! Just give me a drop of that water, and I'll return you 100 spatial rings worth of hollowed spring water!"
Cao Mao sighed, "You are shortsighted. You see, the Hollowed Spring Water isn't the best in this world."
"What do you know!? The spring water the best elixir that every human and beastmen yearn for! As long as we have an infinite source of that water, our tribes can thrive! You know what, we can share the water! We can irrigate several rivers to your city when we have generated enough water from the goblet. How's that?"
Cao Mao had a bitter smile on his face. He didn't lie that Hollowed Spring Water wasn't the best medicinal water in this world. In fact, he had proof.
As Kunwu had wanted Cao Mao to become a good alchemist so that he could make Yin Yang Divine Vein Pill for Jia Shan, he had somewhat influenced the system. The system shop had been selling alchemy recipes, herb encyclopedia books, spirit botany manuals, and various sources of information relating to alchemy knowledge and herbs. With the combination of Yuan Hua's wet banana, Isolation Training Space, and massive amounts of information sources, Cao Mao's ability in alchemy improved leap and bound during the past month. Now, his theoretical knowledge in the field rivaled that of Jia Wenhe and Ju Shoufen.
Also, one of the system's alchemy recipes required Hollowed Spring Water as one of its ingredients to make another form of alchemic liquid medicine, which was more potent than the dryad's spring.
"Have you ever heard of Elemental's Tear?"
"Elemental's Tear? What's that?"
Elemental's Tear was the top heaven-grade alchemic liquid, which contained the concentrated essence of all five basic elements and the source of life-force. Upon consuming, one would never die from old age. It could be said that the liquid was from the Fountain of Youth, the Elixir of Immortality.
Fortunately, the required ingredients and the processing of this liquid was not as hard as the making of Yin Yang Divine Vein Pill.
Elemental's Tear could only be made by combining Hollowed Spring Water, Hollowed Molten Lava, Hollowed Mountain Soil, Hollowed Storm Orb, and five basic element crystals in a special alchemic container, a human cauldron. Someone had to eat and digest everything inside his/her body without dying from the conflicted energy!
After the human cauldron had managed to convert every strand of energy into his/her blood, the human cauldron's blood essence would automatically become the Elemental's Tear.
Cao Mao had another inspiration. If he could mass-produce Elemental's Tear instead of Hollowed Spring Water, it would be more beneficial than creating a simple spring water source.
Mao Xueyan listened to Cao Mao's explanation about his alchemy skill and the requirement to make Elemental's Tear with a blank look. She understood that Cao Mao was skilled in this field, but she had never expected that he would be this knowledgeable.
Still, Mao Xueyan didn't need Elemental's Tear. She only needed a proper water source for her tribes. As of now, they had to rely on the water from two rivers in Tian Long Forest, which was not enough for the beastmen.
"Nah, I don't care about your Elemental's Tear or whoever's tear. I only want a source of spring water."
Seeing the attitude of Mao Xueyan, Cao Mao changed his approach, "Let me change the question, how many people are there in your tribes?"
"About 20,000 or so, why?"
"You have been living in Siren City for a month. Haven't you experienced what my under-constructing pylon tower can do?"
Mao Xueyan paused to think. Indeed, it rained a lot, and the water was clean. Still, she doubted that it was enough for her people, "It's true that the rain contains a lot of Qi, but we're talking about a water source here. I don't think the rain in your city is reliable. What if it stops raining one day?"
"Yes. It will stop raining eventually, but that tower will still generate water for everybody in the city every day."
Mao Xueyan frowned, "How did you know that?"
"I just know. I'm the creator of that tower."
Mao Xueyan still didn't believe in Cao Mao as it was too good to be true.
Cao Mao glanced at the system menu, where it showed the pylon constructing progress. He could see the information of what the pylon could do.
…
Headquarters Pylon Tower Level 1 (Construction Progress – 75%)
Number of Available Tower Quest (s): (Complete the Tower Construction to Unlock)
Life Essence Water Production: 75,000 Liters per day (75%)
Life Essence Water Storage: (Complete the Tower Construction to Unlock)
Empty Elemental Crystal Socket: (Complete the Tower Quest to Unlock.)
Empty Spirit Familiar House: (Complete the Tower Quest to Unlock.)
…
The pylon tower might attract attention of his enemies, but it could potentially help him and his family in the long run. Also, the leveling part guaranteed that the tower could be upgraded, and it might even give him something good.
"Why don't you and your tribesmen migrate into my city for 3 or 4 months? After that, you can decide if you want to use the goblet to generate the spring water."
"Ugh."
The invitation was attractive since Cao Mao had a nascent soul expert and many 6th-stage cultivators as backers. Moreover, he could create expensive pills, which might be helpful to her beast clans.
However, as the lord of Tian Long Forest, she couldn't afford to rely on somebody else. She had a reputation and pride as the union clan leader to uphold.
While Mao Xueyan was hesitating, Dandan retransformed back to her humanoid form and made the decision for her elder sister.
"I want to go to your city! Living in the forest is boring!"
"…"
Mao Xueyan turned to her sister and was about to scold her.
But after seeing how enthusiastic she was, the cat gave in.
"Okay. Let's test it out if you have enough water supply for us. Also, we'll need a food source, and we need a lot of grain pills. I doubt you will allow us to hunt and eat humans-"
"Ah, if they're not one of my clansmen or my family, I don't give a damn about them. Kill or hunt whoever and whatever you want. I don't care if you raid a human settlement nearby and slaughter a bunch of helpless pregnant women, elders, children, or chickens. Oh, wait, spare the chickens. Capture them for me, so I can create a chicken farm. And, I almost forgot. You can't kill and eat my monster geese since I'm rearing them to be my family's mounts. You can't also treat me and my orc kids as domesticated pigs either, okay?"
"…"
Mao Xueyan gave Cao Mao an odd look. On the other hand, Dandan laughed, "Brother-in-law, you're evil! I like you!"
"WHO'S BROTHER-IN-LAW!?"
Mao Xueyan screamed in anger. Her voice echoed in the maze.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om