Clumsy Beast, Keep Your Paws Off-Chapter 426: Su Qinglan’s First Fortune

Down at the shoreline, the scene was much more intense. Rong Ye had already built a massive roaring fire. He had placed Shi Feng’s large stone pot directly over the flames, filled to the brim with clear seawater.

As the water began to bubble and hiss, a crowd gathered. The Merman warriors, the females, and the tribal leaders stood in a tight circle.

Their expressions were tense and full of dread. To them, this seemed impossible. How could water...something you can pour through your fingers turn into a hard, salty rock?

"It’s not working yet," one elder whispered, his voice trembling. "It’s just steam. The water is just disappearing into the sky. We are losing it!"

Su Qinglan stood at the front, her arms crossed and her expression perfectly calm.

She didn’t blink. Beside her, Han Jue and Xuan Long watched her with absolute trust; they knew everything their female say is bound to happen. She could even guess the upcoming beast tide than what this salt water is.

If she is saying it can turn into salt, then it is!

Rong Ye was the most active. He was sweating from the heat of the fire. He used a long, flat piece of wood to stir the bubbling water constantly.

"Lan Lan! It’s getting thick!" Rong Ye suddenly shrieked.

Everyone gasped and leaned forward, nearly falling into the fire. As the water evaporated, the liquid in the pot turned into a cloudy, grayish slush.

Then, as the last of the moisture hissed away into steam, a layer of snowy white crystals began to form on the bottom and sides of the stone pot.

"Lan Lan! See! Is this it? Is this the salt?!" Rong Ye shouted, jumping up and down like a cub.

Su Qinglan stepped forward and peered into the pot. She nodded with a satisfied smile. "Yes. Keep stirring for just a moment more so the heat dries it completely. Don’t let it burn."

A few seconds later, the water was entirely gone. What remained was a thick pile of glittering, pure white crystals.

The silence on the beach was deafening. Uncle Tang reached out a trembling hand, picked up a tiny pinch of the white crystal, and put it on his tongue.

His eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Salt..." he whispered. "It’s salt! It’s even cleaner and pure than the rocks we find in the caves!"

The crowd went wild. The Mermen began to cheer and dance, their voices echoing off the cliffs. They rushed toward the pot, wanting to touch the "magic" white dust.

Su Qinglan patiently showed them the final step. She took a clean, dry animal skin and spread the salt out on it. "Once the water is gone, you spread it out to let the air finish the drying. If the crystals are too big, you can grind them with a stone. But look...this is pure salt. No dirt, no bitter rocks. Just salt."

The disbelief turned into pure, raw worship.

The elders looked at the sparkling pile and then at Su Qinglan. They realized that from this day on, their tribe would never be poor again.

They were standing on the edge of an ocean of wealth, and this small female had given them the key to the treasure chest.

Rong Ye grabbed a handful of the warm salt and held it up like a trophy, his face glowing with pride. "We did it! My Lan Lan is a genius!"

After the first white crystals appeared in the pot, Su Qinglan didn’t stop there. She saw the Mermen staring at the salt like it was a miracle, but she knew it could be even better.

"Wait, there is more," she said, raising her voice to get their attention. "The ocean has sand and bits of seaweed in it. If you want the salt to be truly pure and white, you must strain the seawater through a clean, thick cloth before you boil it. That way, all the dirt stays behind, and you only get the clean salt."

She also pointed to the long stretch of beach. "And you don’t always need a fire. Burning wood all day is hard work and makes too much smoke. Just dig shallow pits in the sand, line them with smooth stones, and pour the strained water in. Let the sun do the work. It takes longer, but the salt will be beautiful and you won’t have to watch the fire."

The tribe members nodded like students listening to a teacher. They tasted the refined salt again and were stunned by how clean it was. There was no bitter aftertaste, just pure, salty goodness.

Su Qinglan was starting to feel the heat of the afternoon sun, and she wanted to head back to the shade of the cave.

She turned to Uncle Tang. "Let Rong Ye and my other husbands guide your warriors for the next few days. They know the process now and can help the Merman tribe set up the first large salt pans."

Uncle Tang looked at her with a face full of solemn respect. He suddenly stepped forward, his expression very serious.

"Little female, you have given us a treasure that will save our tribe forever. No other tribe would ever share such a secret. We cannot take this for free. We will give you half of all the salt we produce and half of the profits from the trade."

Su Qinglan was surprised by his generosity, but she shook her head with a light smile.

"Uncle Tang, half is too much. Your people do all the hard work. Just give me 10% of the salt or the profit from what you sell."

She knew what she was doing. A 10% dividend from the entire Merman tribe’s salt trade was still a massive fortune.

As they moved toward a larger Beast City, she would need capital to start businesses and help the Fox tribe flourish. Having a steady "passive income" from the sea was the smartest move she could make.

Uncle Tang didn’t argue. In the beast world, an honest word was worth more than gold. He looked up at the sky and raised his hand toward the Beast God.

"I, surnamed Tang of the Merman Tribe, make a solemn oath! From this day forward, 10% of all salt produced by our hands belongs to Su Qinglan. May the Beast God strike us down if we ever betray this debt!"

Suddenly, a faint golden light flashed in the air...a sign that the Beast God had witnessed the oath. The light faded and settled into Uncle Tang’s chest.

Su Qinglan felt a wave of relief. She knew the Merman people were honest and simple-minded, but seeing a magical oath made her feel even more secure.

Uncle Tang was a good man, and since he was the father-in-law of her "sister" Lan Yue, they were practically family. There was no reason to doubt him.

A big, satisfied smile broke out on Su Qinglan’s face. She had been rescued by the mermaid tribe as a distressed female, but now she was leaving as a business mogul.

"Alright then!" she said happily. "Now that the business is settled, let’s go back."