Ever since they learned about the "Spirit Monster migration," the entire Li Family Village sprang into action.
Especially after Li Yu went into the mountain to investigate, he immediately rallied all able-bodied young workers in the village.
Because according to the news Li Yu brought back,
This time, it's not just the Spirit Monsters; even the animals in the mountains have shown obvious signs of agitation.
Of course, when you say all the able-bodied young people in the village—
In a village with just over a dozen households, that means fewer than twenty youngsters.
That even includes a handful of fourteen- or fifteen-year-old teens; you could practically call it all hands on deck.
Li Yu didn't expect this little group to withstand the incoming Spirit Monsters.
He just wanted everyone to make noises around the outskirts of the village from time to time to scare off those hungry wild beasts.
At the same time, Li Yu also sent the village peddler to the nearby villages to inform them of the situation.
"Brother Yu really is kindhearted!"
"If it were me, I'd have to take advantage of this and collect some money off them."
The village peddler was named Li Er, and he was always the one responsible for buying and selling goods in the nearby towns and villages.
To be honest, Li Er was one of the few well-off households in the village.
Whenever someone in the village was short on rice, oil, or firewood, they could go to Li Er's house to buy or barter for it.
"Second Brother, you can't say that!"
"After all, we're all neighbors here; gotta look out for each other a bit."
Close on Li Er's heels was a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy.
The boy's name was Li Chengfeng; he was Li Er's fourth younger brother, and the only one of his brothers to survive.
Rumor says, Li Chengfeng's name was actually chosen by Big Girl's father back when he lived in the village.
So really, it was one of the few names in the village that people didn't mind saying out loud.
"Hmph! You expect those bastards to help us?"
"You'd be better off just hoping they don't fight us for water again this year!"
Li Er was talking about a very real issue: the nearby villages all shared the same river.
If the upstream used too much, there wouldn't be any left for the downstream.
So the villages had gotten into plenty of fights over this in previous years.
From a selfish standpoint, Li Er almost wished the nearby villages took more losses this year.
"Second Brother, look—isn't that Big Girl and 'Non-crying' Baby?"
Seeing that he couldn't convince Li Er, Li Chengfeng just turned his head and pointed toward the entrance of the village.
"What are they up to now?"
Following Li Chengfeng's finger, Li Er sure enough saw Big Girl hopping up and down with her basket strapped to her back.
"Heard they're looking for mud suitable for building walls?"
"Brother Yu plans to dig a trench outside the village and set some traps, keep the wild beasts from coming in like last year."
When he heard this, Li Er stared at Big Girl's back and fell into thought.
Even if he didn't believe a trench and some traps would keep the wild beasts out,
From Li Yu's arrangements, it was clear he didn't feel safe about village security at all.
"Brother Yu is a hunter favored by the Mountain God, 'Non-crying' Baby's actually the God's child..."
"Say, do you think our village should build a shrine especially for the Mountain God?"
Li Chengfeng couldn't help but blink at Li Er's words.
"Uh... Second Brother, do you even know what the Mountain God looks like?"
......................................................
Strengthening the village's defenses—even setting up sentry posts—wasn't just Li Yu's idea.
Ever since Li Boyang came into this world, he'd actually been pondering similar things.
Because as far as Li Boyang was concerned, Li Family Village's public facilities were absolutely miserable.
Aside from the rickety fence around the village,
There wasn't a single thing you could honestly call a "public facility."
So when Li Yu told the children to scout around, searching for mud that could work for wall-building,
Li Boyang was suddenly struck by inspiration—a bold idea popped into his mind.
He had Big Girl join in as well.
Whether it was the era, or just the sheer poverty of the village...
The houses and courtyards that Li Boyang saw in the village were all basic stone bricks crudely stacked together.
Like: form the clay into brick shapes, let them dry in the shade, then bake them under the Taiyang, and get primitive earthen bricks out of it.
Some were built straight out of stone, held together only by a mess of clay and wood-ash.
With houses like these, even basic insulation was tough, never mind anything else.
So Li Boyang had Big Girl join the kids turning over mud everywhere.
Really, he wanted to see if they could find some good clay for properly firing bricks in the future.
Of course, considering the molds, kilns, high temperatures, clay, water, and environment needed to make fired bricks, doing it in a short time was just flat-out unrealistic.
So Li Boyang treated it as a long-term plan, and didn't rush it.
"Little Brother, will this kind of mud work?"
Big Girl was dirty as a spotted cat, but her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she stared at Li Boyang.
Because right now, Li Boyang was pinching a lump of clay, holding it up to the top of his head to bake it.
Whoosh!
In just a few breaths' time,
The hair on the top of Li Boyang's head radiated a scorching heat, even seeming to form waves of fierceness.
Without a thermometer, Li Boyang had no idea just how hot his hair actually was.
But looking at Big Girl's flushed face,
Li Boyang could easily guess that this temperature was way beyond what any normal human could withstand.
[Have I lost normal temperature sensation?]
[No, more accurately, my tolerance for heat has surpassed ordinary humans.]
Feeling the clay in his hand harden, Li Boyang instantly stopped channeling Evil Qi into his scalp.
And as the Evil Qi weakened, the temperature of his hair gradually dropped to normal, eventually turning back to its reddish color.
"Whoa!"
With a gentle squeeze, Li Boyang broke the outer shell, revealing the chunk of pitch-black clay he'd just baked into a rectangle.
"So tough! It's almost like a hunk of iron!"
Big Girl gave the baked clay a squeeze too, and immediately shouted in delight.
"Is this the kind of mud you were looking for, Little Brother?"
Li Boyang nodded to Big Girl's question in affirmation.
This patch of clay did have more metal elements than the others so far.
Which meant, when Li Boyang wanted to fire bricks in the future,
He wouldn't need to add extra lime or anything to boost strength and fire resistance.
The best part? This clay could be simply shaped and baked for usable bricks straight away.
[With good bricks, maybe we can speed up civilization for this era a little!]
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