Chapter 418: Chapter 358: Everything is Ready

The bricks were fired successfully, and Wu Yue was thrilled. She nodded at once and said, "The broken ones can’t be used. Go ahead and take them."

The young females nearby looked at Qingcao and Aya, their eyes full of envy.

They only dared to ask for them so directly because they were on good terms with Wu Yue.

But the other young females didn’t dare. Even though Wu Yue was always kind to her tribespeople, her status was different now. She wasn’t as revered as the Snow Tiger Witch, but she was still a witch of high standing.

Everyone could only cast a reluctant glance at the bricks still being carried out, piece by piece. Then, they all swarmed over to Aya and Qingcao, who had already gotten their hands on the beautiful "stones."

The young females’ happy cheers rang out continuously.

"Yue, is this what you’ll use to build the stone houses?"

The Snow Tiger Witch watched as Yuan Lang had to use all his strength just to break a single brick, and her eyes shone brightly.

Wu Yue took a brick and handed it to the witch. "I used to live in a cave, too. Teng Kun discovered this type of clay when we were building the cellar. We tried firing it, and we never expected it to become so hard."

The witch nodded in satisfaction, clutching the brick Wu Yue had given her to her chest. Then, with an agility completely unlike her usual self, she zipped back to her cave.

Wu Yue: "..."

’So she only came here to get a brick!’

After that, building the kiln and firing bricks was put in Teng Qian’s charge. Meanwhile, Teng Kun led the group of Scorpion Beastmen—lured once again by the promise of good food—to begin quarrying stone. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The Angry Beast looked at his scorpion tail, which was now obviously dull and less sharp than before, and wanted nothing more than to curse up a storm. But when he thought of the food that terrifying young female had promised, his mouth watered against his will.

Wu Yue, meanwhile, took Yuan Lang to the mountain that had collapsed before.

The entire mountain had been devoured by those yellow ants, so the two of them easily found some ant eggs.

They returned to the area where the slaves were making unfired bricks. Wu Yue crushed the ant eggs in a stone bowl, then mixed them with clay and water.

Then, she took two bricks to perform an experiment.

"When did the mud on the sole of your boot harden?" Yuan Lang asked, looking at Wu Yue.

"I don’t know the exact time, but I noticed it when I woke up this morning."

After a quick calculation, Yuan Lang nodded. "Then let’s check on it again after we eat tonight."

Wu Yue glanced at the mud mixed with yellow ant eggs between the two bricks, her heart filled with anticipation.

However, when the two of them came back to check that evening, the mud had dried some, but it had no binding power whatsoever.

Yuan Lang separated the two bricks with just a slight effort.

The anticipation in Yuan Lang’s eyes instantly vanished. "It looks like it’s not the ant eggs."

Wu Yue nodded, also disappointed. "Mm, but I definitely stepped on ant eggs yesterday. That’s why the dirt stuck to my boot... Ah!"

She cried out in a flash of inspiration. "Could it be the dirt itself?"

Yuan Lang pursed his lips. "Let’s test it. We can’t rule out any possibility."

With that, he stood up and headed back toward the mountain, intentionally seeking out a spot where the collapse had been severe.

He dug up some of the soil and carried it back. He then divided it into two portions: one he mixed with ant eggs and water, and the other he simply mixed with water to make mud.

They took four more bricks and used the two different types of mud to bind them, but this time, they didn’t leave.

A moment later, something amazing happened. They had thought it would take a long time to dry, but the mud hardened quickly, its color lightening considerably.

They exchanged a look, anticipation dawning in their eyes.

Yuan Lang placed his large hand on the pair of bricks joined with the ant-egg mixture and lifted them both. Their eyes grew even brighter.

He gripped one brick in each hand and had to try several times before he finally pried them apart.

Wu Yue, watching from the side, was grinning from ear to ear. Based on her observation, the force Yuan Lang had just used to separate the two bricks was far greater than the strength it took him to break a single brick the day before.

The other pair of bricks was the same; the bond was no different from the mud mixed with ant eggs.

In other words, the real binding agent was the waste soil that the yellow ants had consumed and then excreted.

’They had bricks, they had a binding agent, and the foundations were already tamped firm. Could brick houses be far behind?’

They had all been looking forward to this for so long; naturally, they were impatient to begin.

In the days that followed, they threw all their energy into making bricks. Teng Qian was a great help, building several new kilns.

With all of them firing at once, their efficiency was naturally top-notch.

A few days later, Wu Yue bribed the Snow Tiger Witch with a few bricks and, in exchange, requested the service of several Beastman Warriors who had previously served under Yuan Lang.