CHAPTER 120: CHAPTER 103 SOAP

"Master, is there... is there any wind?"

"Wait a bit longer, just a bit longer."

Inside the Golden City Square residence, Li Ang and Chai Cuiqiao sat at the table, staring intently at the talisman paper on the gauze window.

WHISP... WHISP WHISP...

A faint breeze began to curl around the Yellow Paper Talisman, blowing through the gauze window into the room, slightly reducing the heat of summer.

"Cough, see, it’s working now. Alright, let’s eat some melon."

Li Ang maintained his composure and clapped his hands. After studying at the Academic Palace for a month, the talisman papers he wrote could barely operate normally. They couldn’t be considered a Clear Wind Talisman, and definitely not a Cooling Wind Charm, but merely a Wind Talisman.

"Um..."

Chai Cuiqiao skeptically shifted her gaze from the shaky talisman paper and picked up a spoon.

At the end of summer, you simply can’t go without chilled watermelon. Master and servant enjoyed the breeze, each eating half of a melon.

The watermelon was brought to Yu Country by the Silk Road Hu Shang. The original watermelon was small with many seeds, white flesh, thick rind, and hollow inside – not tasty at all.

After over 200 years of improvement by the Academic Palace, the fruit gradually increased in size, with thinner rinds, fuller flesh, and red, sweet flavor.

"It costs 1 string and 300 coins for such a melon, which is outrageous. That’s enough to buy four kumquat trees laden with fruit. Dongting tangerines exclusively offered as tribute from Pingjiang Prefecture only cost 1 string."

Chai Cuiqiao, responsible for managing the household’s finances, scooped out the watermelon and couldn’t help muttering to herself.

These are all greenhouse melons, if you think they’re expensive, I think they’re expensive too.

This sentence unintentionally popped into Li Ang’s mind. He shook his head and said, "After all, it’s the Holy Melon of Manichaeism. As soon as the farmers grow them, they are bought up at a higher price by those Mani Temples in Chang’an City."

"Mani Temple... is that the Great Cloud Bright Temple?"

Chai Cuiqiao thought for a moment. "Why do they like eating melon so much?"

"Because of their religious beliefs."

Li Ang said casually, "Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism share origins in Persia. Their doctrine believes that under Haotian, there are two forces in the world, light and darkness, constantly in struggle. If light dwindles, darkness grows; if darkness strengthens, light diminishes. In the world today, darkness is strong while light is weak. Plants contain the essence of light, and if believers eat more vegetables and less meat, they can absorb this essence of light and transmit it through their will to the Light Kingdom, helping the Light King return to the world to seal the darkness and balance light and dark. Because melons contain the most essence of light, in Manichaeism’s view, the more melon you eat, the faster you can help achieve the balance between light and dark. Eating melon is pretty much like saving the world. The largest and best-tasting watermelon has become their Holy Melon."

Chai Cuiqiao gaped in astonishment. "This... isn’t that a bit far-fetched?"

"Isn’t it, though?"

Li Ang took a bite of watermelon and said somewhat indistinctly, "The Haotian Temple is a case in point. A long time ago, the Haotian Temple absolutely did not allow the spread of such things and sternly eradicated any non-Haotian faiths. Later, for some unknown reason, the restrictions were relaxed. As long as they collectively recognized Haotian as supreme, some sects were allowed to exist. Thus there are all sorts of strange doctrines and worldviews. Hmm... logically speaking, Manichaeism should also confer a Saint Honor on the Agricultural Science professors at the Academic Palace for improving such delicious Holy Melons."

Yu Country was open and tolerant, but because of the Academic Palace’s high status and strong influence, it was difficult for various sects to show their aggressive nature in Chang’an. Zoroastrianism, Jingjiao, Manichaeism, and other Foreign Religions all behaved dutifully, staying within their respective workshops. During festivals, they would even come out to offer eggs and vegetables to the neighbors.

Li Ang offhandedly remarked, "Great Cloud Bright Temple holds a Holy Festival in autumn, inviting Chang’an citizens to come and eat melon for free. The one who eats the most melon can even receive a reward of 100 strings of coins."

Chai Cuiqiao’s face immediately lit up with an eager expression. "Oh?"

"Forget about it," Li Ang said nonchalantly, knowing what she was thinking just by looking at her expression. "The last winner was their Holy Daughter; she ate ten watermelons in one go. And to be able to eat so much without bursting, I reckon she must be a gifted Cultivator. She’s a champion in the melon-eating spectator world, you could say."

Chai Cuiqiao pursed her lips, somewhat unconvinced. "Is that so? Cultivators joining the competition, isn’t that bullying ordinary people? How could she eat ten melons..."

The two of them chatted idly and finished the watermelon. Chai Cuiqiao chopped up the rind and tossed it into the garden.

Li Ang stood up and returned to the study, pulling out the last silver ingot from the drawer and placing it two inches above the palm of his hand.

HISSS—

Mo Si automatically shot out, ready to erode and devour the silver ingot but abruptly stopped mid-air.

Li Ang took a deep breath, activated his Spirit Vein, and forcibly made Mo Si pause. Mo Si oscillated on the surface of his palm for a while and failed to touch the silver ingot. Finally, it slowly contracted and retreated beneath the skin.

Success. Li Ang let out a long sigh and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Over the past month or so of attempts, he gradually felt that Mo Si would undergo subtle changes according to the flow of Spiritual Power within the Spirit Vein.

Imagine my Spiritual Power as an electric current, myself as the generator, and Mo Si as a superconductor. I could control Mo Si to some extent by adjusting the flow of Spiritual Power. For example, it could adhere to the bones, wrapping around them like reinforced mesh to increase bone strength, or attach to muscles, enhancing strength and physique, rather than relying solely on instinct as before.

This process will continuously consume Spiritual Power, Li Ang thought. Perhaps in the future, I could manipulate Mo Si to protrude from my body and evolve into various shapes, such as gauntlets, blades, Chain Hammers, and the like. But for now, all I can do is prevent Mo Si from penetrating my palm and devouring the silver ingot. If it were Fine Gold... I’m afraid it still wouldn’t work. The desire of Mo Si to devour would exceed the range of control by Spiritual Power. I must expand my Qi Sea and increase the total amount of Spiritual Power. The Sword Dao class using Fine Gold is next month, and there isn’t much time left.

Li Ang had already tried to extract Mo Si, but the thing had deeply parasitized his bones and muscles, and it was impossible to remove under the current conditions. Unless he stood in a massive mine filled with Fine Gold, letting all the Mo Si in his body actively crawl out. But then... could my skeletal muscles, hollowed out and eroded, still support me enough to live?

In some ways, Mo Si is more vicious than parasites like the Medina Dragon Worm.

Li Ang shook his head, placed the silver ingot in his palm, and watched as Mo Si devoured it completely.

There wasn’t much money left at home. The 1,500 strings of coins sent by Aunt Song from Yizhou, plus what Yu Miaoshui obtained from selling the family estate—1,000 strings were spent buying gold and silver, leaving only 500 strings. As for the remaining 3,000 strings, I have no idea when they’ll be sent over.

I can’t just sit and eat away the reserves. I need to figure out a way to earn more money.

Li Ang muttered to himself, pulling out a sheet of paper from the drawer.

There were many ways to earn money after enrolling in the Academic Palace. Aside from the most basic Drawing Talismans, registering a patent was the most direct and efficient way. The Academic Palace has always encouraged its doctors, instructors, disciples, and even ordinary Yu Country people to study and research, to delve into the principles of heaven and earth, and to apply them practically in the world. At the same time, the Academic Palace knew that research without tangible benefits would only make Natural Science the private property of a minority of wealthy and idle scholars. To this end, the Academic Palace established a publications office and a patent office, where any invention or creation of special value could be registered for a patent. The Academic Palace would then negotiate with large merchants on behalf of the inventor to secure benefits. For example, Cheng Juxiu—who was currently following the Doctor of Engineering Gongyang Deming to study—had registered dozens of ship design patents, earning him an annual patent fee of 30,000 strings of coins. His disciples, who assisted in the research, also received a sizable share of the money.

Patent theft is hard to avoid; there will always be small workshops that secretly produce them. But those merchants looking to grow and become more powerful must pay the Academic Palace the full patent fees every year, or else they’ll face lawsuits. And in Yu Country, to bring a lawsuit against the Academic Palace is to ask for trouble—it’s outright seeking death.

Li Ang silently thanked the status of the Academic Palace and began to sketch on the blueprint.

"Young Master, what are you drawing?"

Chai Cuiqiao, who entered after knocking, saw Li Ang busily writing and drawing. She approached, stood beside the desk, and looked at the blueprint with a tilted head, curiously asking.

Li Ang casually answered, "Soap."

"What’s that?"

"It’s what we use to bathe with every day."

Li Ang smiled slightly. There were many ways to cleanse skin among the common folk of Yu Country, such as rice washing water, soapnut, and plant ash. A bit wealthier households, in pursuit of a better cleaning effect, would use something called bath beans—which were the same thing that the scholar who married the Prime Minister’s daughter mistakenly ate. The concoctions of bath beans differed, but the most luxurious ones used white bean powder as the main ingredient, adding green wood fragrance, white sandalwood, spikenard, musk, clove, and other spices to make it fragrant and pleasant. They also included ingredients like egg whites and pork pancreas to moisturize the skin. They were expensive with great cleaning effects and smelled so good that it was no wonder people mistook them for edible food.

The Academic Palace, in fact, had already made significant improvements to bath beans, by mixing and grinding together ingredients like sugar, pork fat, pork pancreas, and spices in proportion, then heating and pressing them into what they called "soap." Its composition was fatty acid soap, just one step away from a complete soap.

When Li Ang was still in Yizhou, he had already made some rudimentary soap with plant ash and high-end soap with beef and mutton oil, convenient for his family to wash clothes and bathe, earning high praise from Chai Cuiqiao. What he planned to do now was to draft a complete manufacturing blueprint to register at the Academic Palace Patent Office and make a profit.

There’s another reason. One of the by-products of the soap-making process is glycerin...