v6c40: Renewal, Regrowth

The morning after the week of New Year’s dawned wonderful and crisp. It was one of those slow mornings, where everyone moved lethargically, and most people were half asleep until after the late breakfast.

That quiet, lazy atmosphere lasted until we heard a commotion outside. The other women of Soaring Heaven’s Isle, the ones who had gone to Grey Shard Coast, had apparently returned to travel back north with their seniors. All of them looked rather worse for wear, but they all had big smiles on their faces… and were carrying a massive box between them.

My eyes widened when they opened it to reveal a tuna twice my size nestled in a box packed with ice.

“We heard ye like these, Captain,” Lai Ni said in her thick accent.

Seiyu’s eyes were practically sparkling.

The party ended up getting extended just a bit. After all, there was sushi to be had, and it was accompanied by the tale of their own hectic New Year’s. The auction had gone wrong when a group of thieves attacked the venue and tried to steal the main event… only to run face first into the girls from Soaring Heaven’s Isle. Comedy, I was informed, ensued.

Considering the banged-up clothes some of them had, I suspected they were embellishing how easy it had been to win that fight.

Whatever the case, it certainly provided an amusing distraction while I butchered the massive tuna. I was lucky I could reinforce my knife with Qi, because this thing’s skin was like a rock. It was officially the biggest thing I had ever rendered down as well, being heavier than Babe. The thing was a damn monster of a fish!

Washy watched carefully as I cut against the grain, and we folded the vinegar rice together. We didn’t have any wasabi, but we did have some spicy Spirit Herbs, and we definitely had pickled ginger.

A couple of people were a little weirded out by eating it raw… but after they had a taste of it? Well, that was a whole ‘nother story. Our funazushi was alright, but it was nothing compared to the delicious, fatty tuna belly paired with vinegar rice.

I got to watch Tigu lean into the cat stereotype. She devoured her portions, making little noises of happiness.

“Master, Master! Is there any way we can get more of this?” she asked eagerly.

I considered the question. Well… maybe? None of us could fly as fast as the Soaring Heaven’s Isle disciples, and the sea was at least a week away. If somebody felt like taking two weeks for a fish run, that could definitely happen. With an ice crystal, it would be cold enough…

But there was another way. I did have to see how much damage Tianlan had suffered in the Grass Sea, and if she needed any patching up. That, and I wanted to meet with the monkeys of Crystal Hill again.

“Zhuye is going to be old enough to travel this year,” I told her. “So after the planting… will my daughter show me around the Azure Alliance? I hear there’s a big port near Grass Sea City.”

Tigu straightened up. Her smile got even wider.

“Of course! There are so many beautiful things! I’ll arrange a grand trip for us all!” Tigu declared.

“I have always wanted to see the ocean…” Meiling muttered from beside me.

A family vacation.

==========================

We ate our fill and preserved the rest of the giant tuna. Even cultivators had a limit to how much they could eat…even Seiyu. The bones would make delicious soup, and we were going to try our hand at preserving a bunch of the meat—we didn’t have cans, but Meiling sterilized some oil and glass containers. So we heated the meat, filled a bunch of jars, and then sealed them with wax.

I caught Meiling scowling in thought afterwards at the jars. “It’s still strange to use so much wax,” she muttered. “We had to make sure every bit of it counted, but now…” her voice trailed off when she turned to look at the bricks of yellow wax we had stacked up against one of the walls. “If everyone could store food like this…”

It would save lives. A lot of them. We had already shared the method with Hong Yaowu. Food security was an issue at this level of development, and every little bit of preservation would help. Part of the reason people didn’t use wax for this was because it took so much. With the previous methods of gathering wax, they could maybe do five or six jars like this per year.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

With frames that could be harvested year after year? Suddenly, you could preserve a hundred jars, instead of five.

It was weird to think something as simple as wax was so life changing. But there it was.

We finished putting everything away, and went outside, where our new friends were waiting.

Bailu and Seiyu had been pretty fun. A bit strange, sure, but they hadn’t caused any problems. They had arrived on a storm, hung out, had drinks, played around with everybody, and now they were leaving again just as quickly.

Still though, they had left an impact.

“We’ll visit again!” Bailu cheered, hugging all her new “dragon buddies”. Xianghua just looked amused, while Loud Boy flushed at just how touchy the bubbly woman could be. Wa Shi nodded gravely.

“Bring plenty of interesting things!” he commanded her. “The tastes of the world will be ours!”

Bailu saluted.

“I’ll bring suika next time,” Seiyu said. I paused. Suika? Didn’t that mean watermelon?

“You will?” I asked hopefully. She nodded gravely.

“Indeed! It has been a while since I was last home anyway. I shall bring the entire bounty of Wa for the services Lord Jin has rendered to this humble woman,” she declared, fire in her eyes as she lifted the “going away bento” I had given her.

It had twelve levels, and was comically large.

The other women had smaller bentos, but they were just as happy with them.

“See you all again,” I said, as they rose into the air.

“May the heavens bless your path,” Big D intoned, nodding his head in their direction.

“Goodbye, dragon buddy!” Washy and Loud Boy shouted.

“Have a good trip!” Tigu called.