CHAPTER 307: CHAPTER 27: TERRITORIAL SPECIALTY, DAWN OF PROSPERITY

On her return journey to Dark Hell, Yue Jinghua recalled the dimly rising star in the starry sky and suddenly felt a burning sensation near her ears. However, when she subconsciously touched it with her fingers, she found nothing unusual.

Having experienced the traversal through Dark Hell once before, the journey this time became much easier. With the help of Snake Woman Little Gore, Yue Jinghua smoothly returned to the village in Fengdan County.

The door of her house, closed for three days, finally reopened in the morning light.

During these three days, Hongling, who had been faithfully guarding outside, heard the noise and rushed over with excitement, magically preparing hot water and clothes for Yue Jinghua to change into, as if performing a magic trick.

After a refreshing hot bath and a delicious meal, Hongling brought over an object, which was the new type of lighting tool - the Blue Snow Candle - made according to Yue Jinghua’s request and design sketch before she entered Dark Hell a few days earlier.

Yue Jinghua didn’t realize that the candle, which seemed ordinary to her, had already caused quite a stir among the people of Jingxin Courtyard.

Canglong Continent and the 23rd century were different. Although this place was filled with various mysterious and inexplicable forces by modern science, most of its customs and habits were very similar to ancient Earth.

Take the Dragon War Empire for example, for nearly a thousand years since its establishment, ordinary families have always used oil lamps for lighting.

When Yue Jinghua first arrived, she saw Hongling frequently adding oil to the lamps in Jingxin Courtyard, and asked why they didn’t use candles.

Only then did Yue Jinghua learn that there were no candles on Canglong Continent, and a material called paraffin had never appeared here.

Most households used oil lamps. Depending on their level of wealth and status, the type of oil they used varied a bit, but it was nothing more than the usual vegetable oil lamp, and then the pine oil lamp and whale oil lamp used in noble families’ estates, which produced less smoke and had better lighting effects. In the palace, they preferred to use merfolk pearls for illumination.

When Yue Jing asked about candles, Hongling did have some memory. When she was young in the Duke Mansion, she heard the Grand Duke Xue Ying, who was fond of exotic things, mention that in the Ruison Federation to the south, people used beekeeping to collect the grease from honey and made a special wax oil lamp called the Honey Wax Lamp. Unfortunately, the quantity of honey wax was scarce, and only the upper class within the Federation could use it. The method of production was considered a closely guarded secret, and the Honey Wax Candle had never appeared outside the Federation.

At that time, Yue Jinghua listened, but didn’t think much of it. Compared to the lack of electric lights and the internet, the absence of a candle didn’t seem like a big deal.

Little did she know that this time in Fengdan County, she would unexpectedly discover Blue Snow.

Blue Snow was the flammable ice that was commonly developed by countries on Earth’s oceans and continents in the 23rd century.

With the current mineral resources of the continent, it was not possible to extract paraffin, but with flammable ice, Yue Jinghua slightly modified Blue Snow to make a substitute for paraffin wax.

In order to process Blue Snow into candles, Yue Jinghua and Hong Yao repeatedly experimented. They added some Xuan Beast Oil to Blue Snow, boiled it over fire, then pressed it into a membrane using a bamboo tube, placed a wick inside, and finally froze it into the shape of a cylindrical mold.

Unexpectedly, the first Blue Snow Candle on Dragon Road was made so effortlessly.

The appearance of Blue Snow Candles initially caused quite a panic, with Hong Ling and Hong Yao finding it hard to believe that a small ointment-like candle the size of one or two fingers could keep burning for days and nights on end.

"The day after Miss departed, Hong Yao made these Blue Snow Candles according to your method, and we have used them," Hong Yao was initially not confident and stayed up all night beside the candle.

It wasn’t until the candle had burned for two days and two nights and only shortened by an inch that Hong Ling and Hong Yao began to find it incredibly unbelievable, especially Hong Ling. Having spent so much time in Jingxin Courtyard, her days of tightening her belt made her particularly sensitive to daily expenses.

She had already calculated in her heart that, if they had to change the lamp oil every three days, these Blue Snow Candles could last at least half a month without replacement.

This was just for the Blue Snow Candle which was slightly thicker than a thumb. Miss has also mentioned something about Blue Snow Charcoal and Blue Snow Stove. If each one of these is as miraculous as the Blue Snow Candle before us, then the nearly hundred-miles-wide and depth unknown Blue Snow Field in Fengdan County would indeed be worth a fortune, far more valuable than a gold mine.

For Fengdan County which has always been poor in resources and located at the edge of the continent, this astonishing invention can turn the fortunes of Fengdan County overnight.

"You go to the village and find some deft women and children to start a workshop for making Blue Snow Candles. As Blue Snow Candles are new, the villagers being ignorant, surely won’t accept them at once. You first let those who help with the making take some home. In a few days, distribute a few to every household in the village, the remainder will be selected, take ten and give them to Hong Yao, let her find a reliable merchant guild to enquire about the market price of Blue Snow Candles," Yue Jinghua instructed, and she inquired about the recent situation in Fengdan County during her absence.

"There’s still no movement from Bailu County, but there is one thing, I am a bit worried, the mercenaries who escaped next to the Blue Snow Field have not been found to this day, and I’m concerned that the secret of the Blue Snow Field might have been leaked. How about we speed up the mining, dig out all the Blue Snow in the Blue Snow Field and be ready to face a possible conflict?" Hong Ling understood the current situation of Fengdan County very well.

The county had only over a thousand weak and sick people to rely on a Dark Array for defense. If Bailu County truly had ulterior motives, flattening Fengdan County would only take one night.

"Mining? You can’t get fat with one bite, mining the Blue Snow Field isn’t a matter of one or two days. We don’t know how much Blue Snow Fengdan County has underground. You don’t need to worry about defense, just hurry up and make the Blue Snow Charcoal and Blue Snow Stove. The cold is setting in, and I fear another bunch of people in the village will die. As for the defense of Fengdan County," Yue Jinghua revealed a mysterious expression: "I’ve already brought enough reinforcements here, you go and find Yue Chen and Ye Zi to come over."

It had been a while since Yue Jinghua had seen Yue Chen, and after not seeing him for a few days, she felt his face seemed to have shrunk again, his features becoming more defined and already having the contours of an adult.

Upon seeing Yue Jinghua, Yue Chen was slightly stunned, feeling that Yue Jinghua has become more formidable after not seeing her for several days.

"You woman, despite being a Lord, you’re hardly seen all day," Ye Zi watched with irritation, lashing out at Yue Jinghua.

"Did you two discover anything around Fengdan County?" Yue Jinghua had long since figured out Ye Zi’s temperament; the more you argue with her, the more she will confront you, but as long as you don’t respond, she would soon cool down.

"We looked around the city and found that Arrow Bamboo is a type of spirit wood very suitable for weapons, and if we could plant fast-growing Sun-viewing Wood around the outskirts of Fengdan County, we would be able to easily observe the situation ten miles away. Moreover, within the territory of Fengdan County, there are a total of one hundred and fifty-two kinds of spirit wood," Yue Chen and Ye Zi have been collecting the spirit wood of the county in the past few days.

"Arrow Bamboo needs to be processed and we currently lack the manpower for it, but I have a special type of herbaceous plant here. You two see, in one day, how much can you propagate and plant?" Yue Jinghua took out the Burning Poison Algae.