As the morning sun had melted most of the snow in front of the cave, John carried half a bag of crude salt blocks into the cave.
The surface of the salt blocks was still stained with brown mud and fine rock fragments, piled by the fire pit like a heap of dusty white jade.
The Tribesmen gathered around, curiously poking the salt blocks with their fingers, but no one dared to put it directly into their mouths—yesterday, when cooking fish soup, Alex broke off a piece of crude salt with mud on it and threw it in.
Tiny specks of mud floated in the soup, and by the end, you could still chew on gritty stones.
“Alex, this salt is good stuff, but with mud and stones, it’s too uncomfortable to eat.”
Mark squatted beside the salt pile, picked up a salt block, and tapped it; several black-brown gravel fell out.
“Yesterday, when I drank the fish soup, I almost broke my teeth.”
His words drew agreement from many Tribesmen.
A He rubbed his jaw and whispered,
“I also ate stones.
Although the soup was still fragrant, it felt strange.”
Yuna stood by, holding a piece of animal hide stained with salt residue, her brows slightly furrowed.
“I tried wiping it with animal hide, but the mud in the cracks of the salt blocks still wouldn’t come off.
If it’s cooked into food, it might be unhygienic.”
Alex had noticed this problem long ago.
The sand and mud in crude salt not only affected the taste but might also carry harmful substances.
Long-term consumption would be detrimental to the Tribesmen’s health.
He squatted down, picked up a piece of crude salt, and examined it carefully against the sunlight—the cross-section of the salt block showed sparkling crystals, but they were covered by an outer layer of mud and sand.
“The good stuff in this salt is all blocked by mud,”
Alex said to the Tribesmen, holding up the salt block.
“We need to find a way to remove the mud and sand, and ‘extract’ the clean salt from inside.
This is called ‘purification’.”
“Purification?” The Old Shaman walked over, leaning on his wooden staff, his cloudy eyes fixed on the salt blocks.
“How do you purify it?
This salt and mud are stuck together.
You can’t just split the mud with a stone axe, can you?”
“No need for a stone axe, water will do.”
Alex smiled, stood up, walked to the corner of the cave, picked up a clean pottery jar, and found several freshly washed pottery plates.
“Salt can dissolve in water.
We’ll crush the crude salt and put it in water.
The salt will dissolve in the water, the mud and stones will sink to the bottom, then we’ll pour out the clean saltwater from the top, let the water evaporate, and what’s left will be clean salt.”
The Tribesmen listened with blank expressions.
Mark scratched his head: “Salt can dissolve in water?
And then turn back?
That’s too strange.”
Ashi also nodded: “Water is soft, salt is hard, how can they melt together?”
Alex didn’t explain further; instead, he picked up a piece of crude salt, broke it into small fragments with a stone axe, and put it into the pottery jar.
“Watch closely, everyone.”
He poured some clear water from the spring into the pottery jar, then stirred it with a sharpened wooden stick.
As the wooden stick rotated, the salt blocks slowly diminished, and the originally clear water gradually became cloudy, also showing tiny white particles—that was the salt dissolving.
“See, the salt is going into the water.”
“Soon, the mud and stones will sink to the bottom, and the water on top will carry the salt.”
The Tribesmen gathered around the pottery jar, staring intently.
A He squatted at the very front, propping his chin with his small hand, unwilling to even blink.
“Will the salt really go into the water?
Will it get lost?”
Alex smiled and patted his head.
“It won’t get lost.
When the water dries, it will come out by itself.”
About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the water in the pottery jar gradually cleared, and the brown mud and gravel settled at the bottom.
The water on top had a faint white luster, like a thin layer of frost.
Alex pointed at the pottery jar and said, “See, the mud and stones have all sunk.
The water on top is saltwater, full of clean salt.”
He then picked up a sieve woven from fine vines—this was specially made by Yuna yesterday, with vine threads as fine as hair, capable of blocking tiny mud and sand.
Alex placed the sieve over another pottery jar, carefully pouring the upper layer of saltwater into the sieve.
The saltwater flowed through the sieve’s gaps into the new pottery jar, while the tiny mud and sand that hadn’t settled were caught by the sieve.
“So clean!” Yuna exclaimed, looking at the clear saltwater in the new pottery jar.
“There’s no mud at all!”
The Tribesmen also gathered around, looking at the faintly glowing saltwater in the jar, their faces full of curiosity—no one had expected that the salty and hard salt could turn into a “thing” in water.
Next was the evaporation of water.
Alex washed the pottery plates clean and placed them in the residual heat area by the fire pit—the temperature here was neither too high nor too low, just right for slowly evaporating the water without scorching the saltwater.
He poured the saltwater evenly into the pottery plates, where it spread out like a thin silver film.
“Now we wait for the water to dry,” Alex told the Tribesmen.
“After the water evaporates, what’s left in the pottery plates will be clean salt.”
John stood by, looking at the saltwater in the pottery plates, his brows gradually relaxing.
“So there’s a method like this.
Before, we only knew to eat crude salt directly.
I never thought it could be processed like this.”
During the waiting process, the Tribesmen were not idle.
John led several able-bodied men to break the remaining crude salt into fragments;
Yuna continued to weave fine vine sieves, preparing to filter more saltwater later;
Mark and Ashi guarded the fire pit, occasionally adjusting the position of the pottery plates to ensure the saltwater was heated more evenly.
A He was also busy.
He squatted by the pottery plates like a little sentry, asking every now and then,
“Is the water dry yet?
Has the salt come out?”
When the sun reached its zenith, the saltwater in the pottery plates finally began to diminish.
The originally thin silver film slowly shrank into small pieces, and white fine grains began to appear at the edges.
A He was the first to discover it, jumping up excitedly: “It’s out!
The salt is out!”
The Tribesmen quickly gathered around.
In the pottery plates, fine white salt, like tiny snowflakes, densely covered the bottom, crystal clear and without any impurities.
Alex carefully scraped a little with a wooden spoon and offered it to A He’s mouth: “Taste it, is it better than the previous salt?” New chapters come out on novelping.com first.
A He licked it, his eyes instantly brightening: “It doesn’t grit my teeth!
And it’s saltier than before!
So delicious!”
He said, wanting to eat more, but Alex stopped him with a smile: “Don’t eat too much, eating too much will make you thirsty.”
The Old Shaman also came over, scraped a little fine salt, and tasted it, a relieved smile appearing on his face.
“Clean!
Purer than the saltwater we drank before!
From now on, using this salt to cook, we won’t have to worry about eating mud and sand anymore.”
With the success of the first pottery plate, the Tribesmen were even more motivated.
They followed Alex’s method, dividing the work: some crushed crude salt, some dissolved saltwater, some filtered, and some evaporated.
The fire pit was surrounded by pottery plates, each filled with faintly glowing saltwater, looking from afar like a small silver sea.
By evening, they had purified half a bag of fine salt.
The fine salt was stored in clean pottery jars, white as snow, soft and fine to the touch, without any impurities.
Alex broke off a small piece of fine salt and threw it into the simmering yam fish soup.
Soon, a richer salty aroma than yesterday wafted out, without any muddy smell, only the freshness of the fish and the stickiness of the yam, mixed with the pure salty fragrance, making mouths water.
Each of the Tribesmen was served a bowl of fish soup.
When they drank it, there were no gritty stones, no muddy taste, only a rich aroma spreading in their mouths.
Mark drank the fastest, finishing one bowl and serving another, saying while drinking,
“So fragrant!
Even more fragrant than yesterday’s soup!
This clean salt really makes a difference!”
John also drank the fish soup, feeling the warmth slowly rising in his body—yesterday, he felt his arm was a bit sore, but today, after drinking the soup with fine salt, his arm was no longer sore, and he felt energetic all over.
“This purified salt is not only delicious, but it really gives people strength.”
John said to Alex, his tone full of admiration.
Alex felt warmth in his heart as he looked at the Tribesmen’s satisfied smiles.
Just then, the system’s prompt sounded in his mind:
[Detected that the host invented the “Water Dissolution Method for Purifying Crude Salt” technology, solving the Tribe’s salt resource impurity problem, and improving the Tribesmen’s dietary health and physique, meeting the “First Invention (Resource Purification Technology)” standard.
Reward Civilization Points: 120 points.
Current Civilization Points: 560 points.]
560 points!
Alex rejoiced in his heart—this amount was already close to the 80-point requirement for exchanging “Coarse Grain Seeds”.
With a little more saved, they could prepare for spring farming.
As night deepened, the charcoal in the fire pit continued to burn, and the fine salt in the pottery plates slowly crystallized.
The Tribesmen sat around the fire pit, drinking fish soup, and discussing tomorrow’s plans—some said they wanted to purify more fine salt for storage, some said they would go to the rock wall to break off more crude salt, and others said they would use fine salt to exchange for food with other Tribes.
Although they hadn’t yet encountered other Tribes, everyone was already thinking about “bartering.”
Alex leaned against the rock wall, watching the lively scene, holding a pinch of fine salt in his hand.
These tiny white particles were not only seasoning but also a guarantee of the Tribe’s health and a step towards civilizational progress.
He knew that purifying crude salt was just the first step.
Next, they would also need to learn to store food, cultivate land, and plant crops, step by step transforming the Flame Stone Tribe into a truly stable home.
The fine salt in the pottery plates reflected the fire pit’s light, like stars scattered on the pottery bottom.