117: Chapter 117 Ecological Closed Loop, Infrastructure Mastery

The first batch of eighty bottles of purification liquid from Jubao Pavilion was taken away on the morning of the first day.

Manager Song Yuan's treasure ship docked on time.

Chen Mo arranged the eighty bottles of purification liquid in shock-proof wooden crates—twenty bottles per crate, four crates in total.

The lids were branded with the Blue Moon Island Workshop shipping seal and batch number.

When Manager Song Yuan inspected the goods, he didn't open the crates—he stood on the Pier, flipped through the shipping register from beginning to end, and signed his name in the receipt column.

"Next month on the first—one hundred bottles. The feedback from the civilian channels for the first month is already back—orders from the Outer Sea Loose Cultivator Pier and long-distance merchant fleets are trending upward."

Manager Song Yuan returned the register to Chen Mo. "Lord Lu—can your Workshop's production pace keep up?"

"It can keep up."

Chen Mo tucked the register under his arm. "One hundred bottles next month—it can be done."

After the treasure ship weighed anchor, Lu Changyuan walked back from the Pier along the stone path.

He would set off for Broken Star Reef tomorrow—today, he wanted to look at everything on the island.

The spiritual field thin-soil area.

Sowing for the second season of the earth vein jade spike was completed three days ago.

Eighty mu of old and new fields were lined up—the forty mu of old fields on the east side had dark brown soil, and the first crop of new jade spike sprouts had already emerged from the soil with needle-point-sized tender green.

The forty mu of newly opened fields on the west side had just finished being cleared of rubble, and a thick layer of decomposed seaweed fertilizer had been spread.

The pile of rubble at the end of the field ridge was already stacked to chest height.

Spiritual farmers squatted by the fields using bamboo sticks to loosen the soil—they were afraid of hurting the roots if they loosened the old fields too shallowly, and afraid of turning up the rubble underneath if they loosened the new fields too deeply.

An old spiritual farmer used his palm to test the soil temperature and turned to say to the person beside him, "The soil in the old fields is half a degree warmer than the new fields—spread another layer of thin fertilizer on the new fields."

Between the new and old fields was a three-foot-wide irrigation ditch.

The ditch water was drawn up from the cold water layer of the Outer Port—a few wisps of fine Starlight Coral branches floated on the water surface, drifted over from the port waterway.

Lu Changyuan stood on the field ridge for a while, the soil under his feet sinking slightly when stepped on—not the softness of sinking, but the kind of elasticity where something was pushing back from underneath.

The roots of the earth vein jade spike had already taken hold beneath this thin soil, turning the rubble land into arable land capable of growing food, inch by inch.

Eighty mu.

Elder Tianji said one mu supports forty people—the next harvest would feed three thousand two hundred people.

The food self-sufficiency rate would increase from fifty-seven percent to seventy-five percent.

Outer Port berth.

The cold light of the Starlight Coral mother branch had already spread for nearly ten zhang.

On the reef wall underwater, the branches of the coral mother branch were more than twice as dense as they were a month ago—the tips of every new sprout were exhaling translucent tentacles.

The tentacles swayed gently in the water current, like a group of extremely fine hands filtering the Impurities in the water.

The Silver-Scaled Moon Fish swam slowly in circles within the coral's cold light.

The number was still about twenty—no increase, but no decrease either.

A few mother fish had slightly swollen bellies—Su Qingli had observed them for an entire morning at the Pier the day before yesterday and wrote a line in her notebook: "Mother fish show signs of carrying eggs—the spawning period may be next month. If the area of the coral cold light continues to expand, the hatching rate of the first batch of fish eggs will increase significantly."

Something new had appeared in the waters around the school of fish—a small patch of light green, fine, thread-like seaweed was spreading across the surface of the reef.

The roots of the seaweed were embedded in the cracks at the bottom of the reef where the coral mother branch was attached; the leaves were only the size of a fingernail, but under the illumination of the coral cold light, they emitted a very faint fluorescent green.

Leng Feng had sketched this seaweed in his reconnaissance record and added a note on the side: "The algae roots are embedded in the reef surface purified by the coral—not wild algae, but something that grew naturally after the coral purified the water area. The fish are nibbling on the algae leaves."

Coral purifies the water area → attracts krill and Silver-Scaled Moon Fish → fish school leaves feces → feces nourish the reef surface → new seaweed grows → fish eat the seaweed.

A closed loop was quietly turning underwater.

The "spreading thirty zhang in one year" that Elder Tianji mentioned was only the expansion speed of the coral itself—after the coral purified the water, the things that grew naturally in the water spread faster than the coral itself.

Trial Workshop.

Chen Mo spread the adjustment records for the new pots on the workbench.

Three new Formation pots had been fully installed.

Pot 1 and Pot 2 were old pots—Chen Mo led two old apprentices to operate one, and three newly graduated apprentices to operate the other, both at full production, one hundred twenty to one hundred fifty bottles per pot.

Pot 3 was the first new pot—operated by three apprentices who had just graduated less than a month ago, the temperature control Array Pattern was still being broken in, with a monthly output of about eighty to one hundred bottles.

Pot 4 and Pot 5 were the remaining two new pots—the pipelines and cooling tanks were installed, and the Spirit Stone slot had been debugged, but they hadn't been fired up.

Not enough apprentices.

"Currently, the three pots in production add up to—between three hundred and four hundred bottles per month."

Chen Mo flipped the production schedule to the current month's summary page, "The military contract requires one hundred fifty for the first three months, and civilian channels require eighty—totaling two hundred thirty. Three pots making two hundred thirty—that's enough. Next month, civilian channel volume increases to one hundred bottles—still enough. Any more and it won't work—the fourth pot needs to be started, which requires hiring three more new apprentices. One month of training. Once the fifth pot is also running—all five pots can produce over seven hundred bottles per month."

"But is there enough old sand for four pots?"

"Enough."

Chen Mo flipped the production schedule to the raw materials page—the monthly output of old sand had doubled after the thunder bamboo acceleration, enough for four hundred bottles.

"The thunder bamboo is still growing. Based on the current growth rate—the old sand output will be enough for five hundred bottles the month after next. Before the raw materials can't keep up, there's no rush to start the fifth pot."

Lu Changyuan closed the production schedule.

From one pot and three people producing less than ninety bottles a month—to three pots and nine people producing over three hundred bottles a month.

This line only took three months.

Outside the Trial Workshop, the newly hired apprentices were learning ratios from the old apprentices under the shed.

Weighing old sand, washing thunder bamboo shavings, sewing cloth strips for sample bags—everyone was focused on the work in their hands, neither rushing nor slow.

The cloth bags in the sample cabinet were already lined up to the sixth row—each row containing a dozen, arranged by date from old to new.

East side of the Inner Harbor.

Resettlement shed area.

The supplementary population had been fully resettled.

The first batch of six thousand four hundred people allocated by Commander Tie Zhan had been diverted to the spiritual fields, Workshops, Piers, and mine lines.

Smoke was rising from the wooden shed roofs of every household—not for the morning meal, but for noon.

There were seven or eight people lining up to fetch water at the well in the middle of the shed area.

Two old Dao soldiers were sitting on the well curb sunbathing, with patrol spears placed beside them—the spearheads were old, but the shafts had been newly replaced.

Su Qingli stood at the entrance of the shed area, holding the final summary page of the population register.

She wrote a line at the bottom: "The first batch of supplementary population has been fully resettled. Spiritual fields: two thousand three hundred people. Workshops: nine hundred people. Piers: eight hundred people. Mine lines: one thousand two hundred people. Miscellaneous workers: one thousand two hundred people. All operations are normal—from today onwards, there is no need for the Lords Mansion to send people to check the resettlement progress every day."

She closed the register and handed it to Lu Changyuan.

"After you leave—things on the island will run as usual. In the spiritual fields, the old spiritual farmers will lead the new planters; just keep an eye on the field ridges before the second season of jade spikes head. The production schedule Chen Mo arranged for the Trial Workshop is already set until the month after next—the raw material batch and shipping date for every pot are circled. The outer fishing team led by Old Mai Liu comes to the Pier once a day to deliver goods and collect wages. The receiving shed table at the Pier is set up—no need for me to watch."

"The public treasury and private treasury in your hands—how long can they support the island?"

"The public treasury—excluding your private treasury. The current stored grain plus the Spirit Stones in the public treasury account are enough for all fourteen thousand plus people on the island to eat for eight months. Adding the advance payment reserves in the private treasury—it will last more than a year. And there is Spirit Stone income from the military contract and civilian channels every month. We aren't eating into our savings—we are adding to them every month."

Su Qingli opened the account book, her finger pointing to yesterday's public treasury monthly closing line—Monthly income: Military contract this month supply one hundred fifty bottles (fifty-five Spirit Stones/bottle) = eight thousand two hundred fifty Spirit Stones; Civilian channel first batch eighty bottles (forty-five Spirit Stones/bottle) = three thousand six hundred Spirit Stones.

Monthly expenditure: Spiritual field expansion labor and fertilizer, Workshop raw material procurement, Pier stone materials, population food—totaling about five thousand eight hundred Spirit Stones.

Monthly balance about six thousand Spirit Stones.

Night fell.

Qixia Peak stone platform.

Luo Qingcheng was meditating on the stone platform.

On the stone table in front of her was a jade box—inside were the thirty bottles of purification liquid and ten dried Silver-Scaled Moon Fish that Lu Changyuan had sent up in the afternoon.

"After I leave—the island's defense is handed over to you. The fifty Sword Ray Cavalry will remain on the island under Leng Feng's command. Daily maintenance of the island protection Restriction belongs to Su Qingli—if you encounter a tough situation, you take action."

Lu Changyuan placed a Spirit-Locking Jade Talisman on the stone table. "This is the backup activation talisman for the Qixia Peak Seal-Breath Restriction—in case the Spiritual Qi leakage from the Thunder Bamboo Garden exceeds the Restriction's load limit, use this to activate the backup layer. One activation can last for half a month."

Luo Qingcheng opened her eyes.

She took the jade talisman in her hand, flipped it over, and looked at the Array Pattern on the jade talisman against the moonlight.

"Half a month—is that enough time for you to rush back?"

"Enough."

"Broken Star Reef—how far is it?"

"In the southeast corner of the East Sea jurisdiction. From here—two days at full speed for the Sword Ray Cavalry. But outside Broken Star Reef is a magnetic reef area; medium-sized spirit boats cannot enter, so we can only take small sampans. Once we reach the periphery, we still have to pass through magnetic fog and hidden reefs—I don't know how long it will take inside."

Lu Changyuan took the hydrographic intelligence of the Tianji Pavilion from his sleeve and placed it on the stone table. "Help me look—can you see anything from the structure of this Trapping Array's array eye?"

Luo Qingcheng took the intelligence and unfolded it.

She stared at the structural diagram of the Trapping Array's array eye for a while—the arrangement between the array eyes was a path she had never seen before, with the array eyes connected to each other in staggered directions.

Next to each array eye was a string of symbols.

"This array—it's not solved with Spiritual Qi."

She folded the intelligence and returned it to Lu Changyuan. "I recognize some of the symbols on the array eyes. They are old-style warehouse labeling symbols from the Zhenhai Fortress military warehouse in the East Sea—used in the military warehouse twenty years ago, later replaced by unified numbering. The array eyes of this Trapping Array were not designed with a Formation Master's mindset—they were designed by the brains of people who managed warehouses and calculated inventory."

"Can you solve it?"

"No—I am used to using Spiritual Qi to push the array eyes. This array requires you to put down your Spiritual Qi first—relying purely on deduction. If you can't solve it, withdraw and try again—do not force your way through."

She put the jade talisman into her sleeve. "You can go to the island with peace of mind. Within thirty miles of Qixia Peak—I am here. Anyone from outside who wants to come in, ask this sword of mine first."

It was not yet dawn.

Outer Port Pier.

Lu Hu tied the last Storage Pouch onto the small sampan.

The cabin was packed with backup goods of eighty bottles of purification liquid, twenty dried Silver-Scaled Moon Fish, three spare oars, two bundles of spirit wood strips for repairing the hull, and a set of simple array-breaking paper talismans that Su Qingli had drawn overnight.

The magnetic hidden reefs on the periphery of Broken Star Reef would disturb the spirit boat's rudder—they could only row.

Lu Changyuan leaped from the Pier onto the bow of the sampan.

Two old cavalrymen sat in the middle of the boat, each holding a long oar.

Lu Hu sat at the stern to steer.

Leng Feng stood by the Pier.

His right hand pressed on the hilt of his sword—the fifty Sword Ray Cavalry were lined up behind him, arranged in two rows on the water surface.

The mounts of the cavalry only revealed their silver-gray backs in the morning mist, dozens of pairs of ray fins cutting through the water, the sound as uniform as a knife dragging on a whetstone.

"Young Lord—if you don't return in seven days, I will send people to the periphery of Broken Star Reef to meet you." Leng Feng said.

"Don't get too close. The three-mile-wide magnetic hidden reef area outside Broken Star Reef—a spirit boat will have its rudder skewed if it gets too close. Stop outside the hidden reef area, don't go inside."

The morning mist pressed in from the sea.

Lu Hu pushed the sampan away from the Pier.

Two long oars entered the water at the same time—the sampan rowed to the southeast with the wind and current.

The morning light pushed over from the horizon where the sea met the sky, illuminating the water surface in the direction of Broken Star Reef into a pale golden line.

The sampan rowed across the light, rowing further and further away.

On the Pier, Su Qingli opened the account book and wrote a line on a new page: "Today, the Lord set off for Broken Star Reef—to search for the person who closed the Old Seal Bid Case. Daily life on the island continues as usual—the second season of spiritual fields has been sown, the purification liquid Workshop has three pots in production, and the outer fishing team is fully staffed and on duty. Defense is temporarily handed over to Guest Elder Luo Qingcheng."