The wood fumigation lasted through the night. Probably because the wood shavings were packed tightly enough, there was no sign of open flames.
Using a wood moisture content tester, they checked and indeed found that the dryness coefficient had improved by several degrees. The result was strikingly obvious.
“Everything is currently moving in a good direction. For now, just make sure to observe at fixed times every day and record the data.”
Yang Yi was very satisfied with this outcome. At least for now, it seemed simpler and smoother than he had imagined.
All that was left now was to wait patiently for the results. This was as much as he could do.
“Divine Envoy, please rest assured. I will keep my eyes on it at all times.”
Ming’s expression was extremely serious and focused, with faint bluish shadows under his eyes.
He had been so nervous last night, afraid something might happen, that he didn’t sleep a wink. He stared at it the entire time. He practically wished he could glue his eyeballs there.
“You don’t need to watch it every single moment. You should arrange your rest time properly.”
“Divine Envoy, I’m not tired!”
Yang Yi shook his head. “In the future, we’ll be drying a lot of wood at the same time. You won’t be able to keep your eyes on every single one of them, nor will we have enough manpower for that. You need to learn how to ensure that within a certain period, they proceed according to your plan, instead of always thinking about responding to emergencies as they happen.”
Ming blinked, trying to understand Yang Yi’s words.
“Don’t fix your gaze on a single prey. What you need to watch is the whole forest,” Hei Lie spoke up.
Ming suddenly understood. “Divine Envoy, Chief, I get it now!”
Yang Yi: “…”
After speaking such a long and exhausting string of words, it turned out to be no match for someone else’s short and simple metaphor?
Yang Yi felt that he really needed to work on his communication skills.
When leaving the wood-drying site, Yang Yi left Ming two wind-up alarm clocks, so it would be easier for him to check at regular intervals.
Previously, Yang Yi had also given each team two or more mechanical watches—usually to the team leader and the scribe—to help them arrange things more efficiently.
The road from the wood-drying site to the pottery site wasn’t exactly far, but Hei Lie was still willing to serve as transport. Otherwise, judging by Yang Yi’s speed, it would indeed become “far”.
However, this time, Yang Yi wasn’t riding on Hei Lie’s back directly. Instead, someone had made a carrying chair out of golden nanmu planks and safety ropes.
This way, not only could they avoid the awkwardness of close physical contact, but it also freed up Hei Lie’s hands to deal with any sudden situations.
There was no such thing as a truly safe place in the wild. No matter how calm things seemed on the surface, you had to stay alert at all times.
“What are you thinking about?” Yang Yi keenly sensed that Hei Lie was lost in troubled thought, his whole demeanor unusually silent.
During a forced march, everyone might talk less, keeping all their senses on high alert for danger around them. But this felt different from the usual silence. There was something else in Hei Lie’s mood.
Even with their backs turned to each other, Yang Yi could sense the subtle shift in his emotions. That was probably the effect of their symbiotic contract.
“I was thinking… if one day we no longer have clocks or watches, how would we know the exact time?”
In the past, they only had a rough sense of time—morning, noon, evening—but never anything this precise, down to the exact moment.
“This is a problem that can be solved. It just wouldn’t be as convenient as carrying a watch around.”
Yang Yi wasn’t particularly worried about this. He had plenty of books on how to make clocks.
Complex ones are not easy to make, but the sundial and the clepsydra are not considered difficult, especially when they already have clocks, which makes things even simpler.
A sundial uses shadows, so it doesn’t work very well on cloudy days. A clepsydra, on the other hand, uses dripping water, so it isn’t affected by sunny or rainy weather.
Only then did Hei Lie set his mind at ease, no longer as heavily burdened as before.
“I’m very glad to see that you’re willing to think about these things.”
“This is only natural, isn’t it?” Hei Lie replied matter-of-factly. “You said before that for anything we do, we must prepare for a rainy day.”
He was the chieftain, carrying the trust of over a thousand people.
He had to think not only about the present, but also about the future. He did not want to see the tribe lose its vitality because of “loss”, nor did he want them, out of fear of “loss”, to refuse to enjoy the conveniences they currently had.
What he needed to do was find balance, making use of what they presently possessed to build the tribe, while not allowing everyone to become overly dependent.
This was also why he and Yang Yi worked together to make everyone firmly believe that these were gifts sent by the gods to temporarily help them through their difficulties.
One day, the gods would make them disappear.
Only if they were from the gods would everyone be willing to believe and accept this, because no one could oppose the gods.
Otherwise, being unable to bear the thought of losing the conveniences they once had would give rise to all kinds of negative emotions, which would be extremely dangerous for a tribe.
From the Blackstone Tribe Chief, Hei Lie understood that the hearts of the people were extremely important for a tribe, no less important than possessing great military strength.
“The principle is indeed like this, but not everyone can achieve it.”
Yang Yi was impressed because he himself couldn’t do it.
Saying something was one thing, but when it came to actually doing it, it often turned out to be another. His ability to take action was terribly poor.
Especially since his family was well-off, he could spend his whole life doing nothing and still never worry about food or drink. That had only spoiled him into laziness, leaving him without the ideals and ambitions many others possessed.
It was only after coming here, when there was truly no other choice, that he was forced to start moving.
“We just want to survive.”
Yang Yi’s heart tightened. He let out a deep sigh. Being able to be lazy was proof that life had been passable.
Hei Lie and all the other members of the Spark Tribe had an extremely strong ability to take action. Things like procrastination simply didn’t exist in them.
If they had nothing to do, they would instead grow uneasy, worried that they would be eliminated.
And this kind of elimination meant directly facing death, not just the imagined possibility of starving to death.
In the place where Yang Yi had lived before, living poorly was certainly a reality. But there was never the possibility of being unable to survive. To put it in extreme terms, even the leftover food from roadside trash bins would be enough to keep many people alive.
Harsh survival made these people brim with even more strength.
The group spent only half an hour before arriving at the pottery-making site.
From far away, they could already see smoke rising in the distance. This group had already begun firing pottery.
The pottery group had also spotted them early on from the watchtower and waved a bright red flag in greeting.
As Hei Lie’s group approached, Hui—the one in charge of the pottery group—walked over to welcome them. His hands were still smeared with clay. He is grinning cheerfully, showing none of the previous look of dejection and decline.
Hui was already considered quite old within the tribe, about the same age as Jiao.
He was an old warrior with only average strength. As he aged, his combat ability had become even worse than that of an ordinary person.
After being driven out, he had followed everyone, traveling thousands of li to reach the Black Forest.
He hadn’t suffered any serious injuries. But the long and bumpy journey had taken a toll on his body, which only slowly improved after a long period of recovery.
Originally, he had thought of himself as a burden. He worked diligently every day, yet deep down, he had given up struggling, waiting for death. That was, until Yang Yi taught them how to make pottery. He realized that besides hunting, he could also find something he was capable of doing in this!
Hui suddenly became spirited. He no longer looked as old and feeble as before, seeming younger by several years, his whole being glowing with vitality.
In truth, his age, if compared to people on Earth, would still be that of a strong and able-bodied middle-aged man, especially with the physique of a warrior as his foundation.
It was just that not seeing his own value, denying himself, and being unable to find his place had led to his body’s decline.
There were still many people like this. Almost all the abandoned ones had undergone great changes compared to before.
Hei Lie clenched his fist and lightly thumped it forward. “Looks like today we’ll be hearing some good news.”
Hui wanted to return the gesture, but upon seeing his own hands, he let them fall halfway, his eyes and voice unable to hide his excitement.
“Divine Envoy, Chief, a new batch of pottery has just been fired! It’s much sturdier than what we made before. It’s even prettier, smoother, and has a beautiful black sheen to it!”
Hearing this, both Hei Lie and Yang Yi became interested. Without wasting words, they went straight to take a look.
Back when they had first tried firing pottery here to see if it was suitable, Yang Yi had already realized that the quality of the clay here was better than that near the tribe.
However, because news was not easily exchanged between them, Yang Yi didn’t know much more about the situation.
When Yang Yi saw Hui proudly present the freshly fired, bottled pottery, he was completely stunned.
Black pottery! This was black pottery!
Its color was as dark as lacquer, its surface smooth to the touch, almost like porcelain. When held in the hands, one could even see a reflection in it.
It had a deep, rich look full of texture. It didn’t resemble an everyday utensil at all; rather, it looked like a piece of art.
“How did you make this?”
Yang Yi was deeply impressed. In such a short time, they had actually managed to produce black pottery!
On Earth, black pottery appeared in the Neolithic period. It was an exceptional type of pottery, known as “the art of earth and fire, the crystallization of strength and beauty”.
Even today, skilled craftsmen still make black pottery into exquisite works of art, beautiful and full of style.
The formation of black pottery was achieved during the firing process using a carbon infiltration technique. It placed very high demands on the clay body.
The clay had to be delicate, free of sand, highly adhesive, and rich in various mineral elements. Only then could the firing produce a pure, evenly black texture.
Looking closely at the black pottery before him, there were still quite a few flaws, yet it was already a leap in progress.
Originally, Yang Yi had only thought that the pottery group’s current task was simply to meet daily needs, so the products could be used for trade.
He hadn’t expected that these people would far exceed his expectations.
“The clay here is better. It hardly needs any washing. With the pottery wheel, the clay body can be pulled thinner and more evenly. But when it was too thin, I worried it wouldn’t be sturdy enough and would break easily. It also wasn’t smooth enough, so I took a stone and pressed it over and over, and that’s how I made it.”
Yang Yi frowned slightly. “That alone wouldn’t fire it into black. You must have also gone through a carbon infiltration process.”
Hui looked puzzled, not understanding what “carbon infiltration” meant.
“Did you, toward the later stage, pour water onto the top of the kiln?”
“Yes, yes! As expected of the Divine Envoy. You know everything.”
Hui spoke while sheepishly rubbing his nose.
“Actually, it was because one time we didn’t control the heat and timing well, so we decided to put out the fire little by little. Unexpectedly, when we took the pottery out, it had this beautiful black color. The first time we made it wasn’t that good. What you’re holding now is already the eighth batch.”
Hui was someone who dared to try new things. He thought the black color was simply too beautiful and wanted to recreate it.
So he carefully studied exactly which step led to this result, and how to improve it to make it even better.
By the second firing, it was already noticeably more successful than the first.
Using the new method, the pottery came out even more beautiful. With each round of practice, summarizing experience and refining the technique, he had achieved the results they had now.
Hui didn’t know that this was because the extinguishing charcoal had produced thick smoke, which smoked the pottery, completing the carbon infiltration process and turning it naturally black.
He had simply stumbled upon the key by accident and, through exploration and practice, found ways to improve it.
The glorious civilization future generations could enjoy was the result of predecessors like these, slowly exploring and practicing with their own wisdom.
“You are a very outstanding and hardworking person. The gods will bless you.”
Yang Yi extended his hand. Hui, trembling with excitement, bent down and knelt before him.
Yang Yi hadn’t originally intended to accept this kind of kneeling salute. It was hard for someone from modern times to get used to it.
But Hei Lie had said that he represented the gods, and this was how people expressed their piety, so he tried to accept it.
As it turned out, this was exactly what these people responded to.
Yang Yi felt more and more like he was just a big swindler.
He placed his hand on top of Hui’s head and hummed a Chinese song that carried a blessing in its meaning. That marked the completion of the ceremony.
Still, Yang Yi preferred practical rewards. What he gave, as always, was an outdoor multifunctional army knife. No one else was left out. Everyone’s contributions were acknowledged.
Everyone was thrilled to receive one. Even though they had long been away from the tribe, they had already heard the news and knew this was a symbol of honor.
“This is pretty close to the kiln. Won’t it get too smoky?”
Yang Yi looked at the group shaping clay on the pottery wheel under the shed, with the kiln not far away. The air was thick with smoke, and the atmosphere a little murky.
“Divine Envoy, we like staying here. Watching the fire makes us happy. Plus, it’s warmer. Our fingers are more nimble, so we can shape the clay better,” Hui said dismissively, clearly seeing nothing wrong with it.
At night, when it came time to sleep, none of them wanted to leave. They all lay down near the kiln, with warm water available at any time.
They didn’t have to worry about the cold or about food, and the daily work was so easy—something they had never imagined possible before.
As they worked, they could still chat leisurely. What they talked about the most was their hope that things could always stay this way.
Sometimes, they even felt that they were too leisurely. Compared to other groups, they couldn’t help but feel they were getting a huge advantage.
To put their minds at ease, and even more so to avoid being easily replaced, they racked their brains to figure out how to fire pottery better.
It had to be not only practical but also beautiful, so it could be traded for more goods.
Even primitive people struggling on the edge of subsistence still had a pursuit for beauty.
Yang Yi shook his head in disapproval. “The air here isn’t good. Over time, it’ll affect your health. When the weather gets warmer, try to keep your distance from here.”
Seeing that Yang Yi spoke seriously, Hui still felt it didn’t matter much, but he agreed and would carry it out.
The pottery wheels they used were made by cutting a large piece of wood into a round disk. A hole was chiseled in the center to fit in a wooden rod as the vertical shaft, with the lower end buried in the ground. A pivot was fitted at the top to make it easy for the disk to spin.
When shaping the clay, they spun the wheel to keep it turning steadily, using the rotational force to pull the clay into the desired form with both hands.
The pottery wheels they made weren’t much different from those on Earth, except that these were powered by human effort, whereas most on Earth now were electric.
With the pottery wheel, the speed and uniformity were much better than slowly coiling clay strips by hand. The fired pottery came out more beautiful, with even thickness, fine detail, and less chance of being damaged in the kiln.
Thirty people were working the pottery wheels, most of them the elderly and weak who had been abandoned earliest.
When the pottery group was first formed, they had volunteered to come and make pottery.
Staying outside was never as safe or comfortable as being in the tribe. If anything happened, the people in the tribe wouldn’t be able to rush over to rescue them.
Even so, they had come without hesitation because they understood the importance of pottery and wanted to do something for the tribe, rather than become useless people who only received care.
These people weren’t particularly fast at making pottery, but they were extremely meticulous and patient.
They hadn’t been learning for very long, yet their work already had proper form and structure.
When Yang Yi went to check the pottery bodies drying in the shade, he saw that their skills had improved, about on par with what he had seen on Earth, which was why they were able to produce high-quality pieces like black pottery.
“You actually made your own bellows.”
When Yang Yi walked near the kiln, he saw someone using a clay bellows to increase the fire’s intensity.
For firing high-quality ceramics, temperature was absolutely key. With high enough heat, they could even fire porcelain.
One of the supplies Yang Yi had given the pottery group was a hand-cranked bellows. Back then, he had thought it was just the beginning and hadn’t reminded them to also think about how to make one themselves.
Unexpectedly, they had taken the initiative to make one on their own.
Hui grinned widely, showing a mouthful of teeth worn flat.
“We thought the structure of the bellows didn’t seem very complicated, and we also had diagrams for all its parts. So we tried molding a similar shape out of clay, then asked the lumber transport team to help us find sturdy wood to make the boards. We didn’t expect that it would actually work!”
Yang Yi gave him a thumbs-up. “You’re all incredible.”
Being praised made Hui very happy. “We’re even thinking about how to improve it so two people can work it together, like how two people pull a saw when logging. With two people, the effect would be even better!”
“You’ll succeed,” Yang Yi said with certainty.
Right now, the pottery group has built only three kilns, each one larger than the last. They had been slowly gaining experience step by step. Only when they felt ready for large-scale firing did they begin making bigger kilns.
“If this firing is successful, we can build more kilns. This kind of kiln can fire over a thousand pottery bowls at a time,” Hui said with a hint of excitement.
Hui had once been an auditing student and had learned quite well. Now, he even led the pottery group in studying together. Everyone could now count and do some simple addition and subtraction.
“What’s the success rate?”
“This time, I think out of a thousand, the number of damaged ones won’t exceed two hands’ worth,” Hui said with great confidence.
Not only Yang Yi, but even Hei Lie was amazed. “That high?”
Hui stood even straighter than before, clearly proud.
“When we open the kiln this time, every single person in the tribe will be able to have their own bowl! And they’ll be black—one of a kind!”
That was something every member of the Spark Tribe had been hoping for. Right now, much of their food needs to be served in bowls. Without enough bowls, it was troublesome.
Either several people would fight over one, or they’d have to line up and wait their turn.
With how delicious the tribe’s food was, that was downright torture.
So when everyone heard the news, they were overjoyed. This would bring a huge improvement to daily life in the tribe.
“In the future, we can also fire other kinds of pottery to make life more convenient for everyone. But right now, we’re facing a very big problem.”
Hei Lie immediately understood. “You’re short on firewood for the kiln?”
“Yes. With the speed we’re making pottery bodies now, we could easily fire more than three kilns at the same time. But if we did that, there wouldn’t be enough firewood.”
The lumber transport team’s wood was meant for building houses, while the pottery group had its own small lumber squad, with only five people assigned to it.
“I’ll send more people over, not just woodcutters, but also pottery shapers and guards,” Hei Lie said.
Yang Yi glanced at him. “Sounds like you’re planning something big.”
With that much pottery, it was obvious it wasn’t just for trading daily necessities anymore.
“Trade can bring back a lot of things, including people.”
Yang Yi understood immediately. This was about buying slaves.
Many tribes already had slaves, most of them taken in war, and they weren’t treated as human.
In some tribes that ate both meat and human flesh, they were even kept as a food reserve.
It was, without a doubt, the fastest way to increase the population. Yang Yi felt uncomfortable, but he didn’t say anything.
This world was different from the one before. The most he could do was make sure those slaves lived the same as ordinary people.
“Does the Western Continent trading caravan have pottery as beautiful as this?”
“No.” Hei Lie paused, then shook his head. “More accurately, he hasn’t shown it to us. He’s a cunning man and didn’t trade his truly good things with us.”
“Then how do you know he has better things?”
“He once tried to bribe me, and brought out finer pottery and good wine.” Hei Lie had been somewhat resentful at first, but then a trace of pride crossed his face.
“But those pottery pieces are far inferior to our black pottery! I suspect that even their best pottery wouldn’t be much better than ours.”
Yang Yi was confident about that, too. At the very least, their black pottery wouldn’t be lacking in comparison.
Even in modern times on Earth, black pottery could still be considered an art form; it hadn’t been overshadowed by porcelain and possessed its own unique beauty.
From what he knew about the Western Continent, it could be inferred that they lived relatively well and already had a privileged class, which meant they would have higher standards for the items they used compared to ordinary people.
Their black pottery could fully meet those standards!
Once trade was established, the people of the Eastern Continent could also acquire many more things from the West Continent.
Yang Yi’s space contained many items, but no livestock.
The Western Continent had already domesticated horses and had very likely tamed other livestock as well.
Of course, since no trade had yet taken place, everything was just speculation. There was no rush to make it happen, and their craftsmanship still needed improvement.
Ever since Yang Yi learned that the Western Continent could trade a single crudely made pottery piece for a large amount of fur, he had felt a pang in his heart.
That kind of pottery was extremely rough, hardly better than what he could pinch together by hand. It was just decorated with a few patterns, nothing more.
Given their current level of craftsmanship, even if they couldn’t secure a deal with the Western Continent trading caravan, it would still be easy to trade with the tribes of the Eastern Continent. They could even offer far more reasonable prices than the Western Continent traders.
“If that’s the case, protecting this place will be extremely important.”
Hei Lie: “I’ll order everyone not to reveal anything about the pottery group, and I’ll assign more people here. The defenses here will also need to be redesigned.”
Yang Yi nodded. “The most important thing is protecting the people here.”
Making black pottery required skill. The reason these people had been able to master the method so quickly was partly because of the information he provided and partly due to coincidence. It wasn’t something that could be easily replicated.
As long as the people remained, everything else could be worked out.
“Divine Envoy, don’t you worry. If anyone dares to come here, I’ll smash their brains out!”
A hearty, familiar voice rang out, piercing everyone’s ears. Without even turning around, they knew it was Rong who had arrived.
