"...Then what counts as dirty?" Xia Chujian asked curiously.
She had initially been gauging the Blood Kirin's fastidiousness from a human perspective, but now she realized that might not be the case.
San Zong chuckled amiably, using his hands to rummage through the humus soil on the ground as he explained, "Apart from the humus soil it grows in, clean air, and rainwater, pretty much anything else would be considered contamination. Like blood, urine, ashes… hmm…"
Xia Chujian understood immediately.
She twitched her lips.
San Zong skillfully dug a pit beneath the Blood Kirin, unearthing its roots. He held it in his hands and presented it to Xia Chujian, saying, "Female Sire! Look! This is the freshest Blood Kirin San Zong has ever seen!"
The Blood Kirin's shape truly resembled a small, cyan-green beast, even with two lifelike horns on its head.
Alas, it was not a beast, but a plant.
However, Xia Chujian's gaze was not fixed on the Blood Kirin.
Her eyes darted around, constantly scanning the area around the Blood Kirin, attempting to locate the Blood Kirin's companion plant—the Kong Sang.
According to the records of Academician Tantai Sinian, the Kong Sang was a herbaceous plant that appeared so delicate it seemed a gust of wind could blow it away. Its plant was slender, with leaves resembling orchid leaves, but half the length.
The petals were moon-white with a hint of pale pink, and the leaves were a hazy, mist-green color.
This plant was said to grow alongside the cyan-green Blood Kirin.
But at first glance, there was nothing beside the small pit where the Blood Kirin had been dug up.
Not a single mist-green, orchid-like plant, not even a withered yellow blade of grass.
Only black humus soil, and more black humus soil.
San Zong held the Blood Kirin up for a long time, but Xia Chujian didn't reach out to take it. He looked at her in confusion and asked softly, "Does Female Sire not like this Blood Kirin?"
Xia Chujian's mind raced, but her face remained impassive as she said calmly, "It's just a task, it's not about liking or disliking. But one Blood Kirin isn't enough…"
San Zong "oh"ed and quickly said, "San Zong heard the Director of the Plantation say that the Exotic Beast Forest produces ten Blood Kirins a year. This is one, so there should be nine more!"
He looked at Xia Chujian expectantly, waiting for her to speak so he could help her find them!
Xia Chujian thought, according to Academician Tantai Sinian's article, the Kong Sang from a million years ago was discovered near a "nest" of Blood Kirins.
Was the quantifier "nest" also a key point?
She only saw one Blood Kirin here, which clearly didn't fit the concept of a "nest."
Xia Chujian's eyes darted around, but she still asked calmly, "San Zong, do Blood Kirins always grow individually like this? Are there any that grow together in nests?"
San Zong's eyes widened, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "San Zong hasn't heard of it, but it should be possible… However, that would require the humus soil to be very fertile, more fertile than ordinary humus soil!"
"How so?"
"…Female Sire sees here, there is one Blood Kirin here, and there are no other plants around it. Because the Blood Kirin is particularly absorbent, there is about one mu of humus soil here, which is only enough to support the growth of one Blood Kirin."
"If several Blood Kirins were to grow together, forming a nest, then the humus soil that supplies their growth would not only have to be very large, but also particularly fertile. Not just ordinary fertile, but it would have to be many, many years without anything else growing there, to accumulate enough fertility."
Xia Chujian frowned: "…Many, many years, how many years is that?"
San Zong scratched his pig face in embarrassment: "This, San Zong heard the Director say, it would have to be at least hundreds of thousands of years…"
So it would probably take at least hundreds of thousands of years for humus soil that hasn't grown anything else! And the area of this humus soil would have to be particularly large.
San Zong, who knew how to farm, had no concept of how big it would be, and Xia Chujian had even less of a concept.
Xia Chujian frowned almost imperceptibly.
How was she supposed to find it?
Even if she spent several months here from now until next March, it would be impossible to survey every inch of land…
If she couldn't find the Kong Sang before next March, then her aunt could only wait another year.
But according to Doctor Shen Junyi, her aunt probably wouldn't be able to wait until next year…
The thought of her aunt, who had raised her since she was a child and depended on her for life, leaving her like this made Xia Chujian feel as if the sky had fallen! No, she absolutely couldn't wait until next year! Xia Chujian became fierce, looked at San Zong with unkind eyes, and asked in a low voice, "Is there any way to find the location of other Blood Kirins as soon as possible?"
San Zong scratched his head and said, "San Zong can smell it, but this place is too big, it might take a long time…"
"How long would it take you to smell all the places?"
"...Everywhere?!" San Zong's piglet face was about to collapse. "Then San Zong could smell until he died and still not finish! This place is too, too big!"
Xia Chujian was in a state of utter confusion, pacing back and forth in the small woods, muttering, "Is there really no way? Is there really no way?"
Her voice was not loud, but her tone carried a strong sense of despair and sorrow.
Not only did the pig-headed Humanoid San Zong feel involuntary sympathy, but even the little dog felt it.
It looked up at Xia Chujian, its tiny, black bean-like eyes seemingly filled with tears that were about to fall.
Before long, ten minutes had passed.
Ye Shijie's voice came from Xia Chujian's bone conduction headset: "Xia Chujian, are you coming back on your own, or should I have Li Fu and Song Mingqian come and drag you back?"
Xia Chujian had no other choice for the moment.
She looked at her smart bracelet. It was only a little after one in the afternoon, but it was already getting dark.
Because this place was close to the Land of the Far North, the daylight hours in winter were at most six hours.
The further north one went, the shorter the daylight hours became.
In the core Restricted Life Zone of the Land of the Far North, it was perpetual night, with no sunlight.
The snow had stopped, and the night was like a light veil, descending from the sky, about to envelop everything in the world.
The temperature was dropping even more drastically.
Although Xia Chujian was wearing the ivory-white wool hat her aunt had knitted for her, and a particularly warm coat of the same material, she still felt the chill like a tide, spreading layer by layer.
She should go back first.
She would think of something tomorrow.
Xia Chujian said sullenly, "I'm coming back."
Ye Shijie didn't say anything more and immediately ended the call.
Xia Chujian took out a storage bag that could keep things fresh, put the Blood Kirin with its soil into the bag, then turned around and walked back the way she had come.
At this moment, in the gradually darkening night sky, a clear bird cry cut through the air.
Xia Chujian looked up and saw the Griffon Sea Eagle flying back.
The dark chain around its neck stood out against its golden feathers.
But the Griffon Sea Eagle was not ashamed, but proud.
When it raised its head and cried in mid-air, it seemed to wish that all the birds in the Exotic Beast Forest could see the "necklace" around its neck.
Xia Chujian's mouth twitched, and she stopped.
Before long, the Griffon Sea Eagle landed beside her, lowered its furry lion head, and rubbed against Xia Chujian's hand in a flattering manner.
Xia Chujian: "..."
She hadn't expected that this Griffon Sea Eagle, which had seemed so arrogant before, would be so docile after being tamed.
She casually stroked the golden mane on its head and flipped onto its back.
Then she reached out to the pig-headed Humanoid San Zong and the little dog: "You two come up."
San Zong looked up at her in surprise, his pair of black bean-like eyes, like the little dog's, pure and without a trace of impurity.
"Female Sire! No need! San Zong can follow and run!" He waved his hands repeatedly, seemingly not believing that a normal human would give him such good treatment.
But the little dog was very excited.
It barked "Woof, woof" and tried hard to jump onto the Griffon Sea Eagle's back.
But the Griffon Sea Eagle was too tall. Even when it squatted on the ground, it was two meters tall. The little dog's round body could jump one meter high at best.
Although Xia Chujian was feeling annoyed, she couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips when she saw the little dog's "repeated defeats and repeated battles."
She said to the pig-headed Humanoid San Zong, "You hold the little dog and come up. You can run, but the little dog can't. It's too small, and it's too cold here. We have to go back quickly."
San Zong was so excited that he didn't know what to say. He fidgeted, rubbing his large, calloused hands, looked at Xia Chujian, and then at the little dog, who was still eager to try and kept jumping and failing. Finally, he nodded, "Okay, San Zong is doing it for the little dog!"
He picked up the little dog, and then with a gentle leap, he jumped onto the Griffon Sea Eagle's broad back.
Xia Chujian raised her eyebrows.
She didn't expect that this pig-headed Humanoid, who looked a bit clumsy and was said to only know how to farm, was actually quite skilled.
San Zong didn't know what Xia Chujian was thinking. He just huddled near the tail of the Griffon Sea Eagle, holding the puppy in one hand and quietly grabbing a feather of the Griffon Sea Eagle with the other, settling himself securely.
Xia Chujian tugged on the chain around the Griffon Sea Eagle's neck and said calmly, "A'Diao, let's go."
The Griffon Sea Eagle let out a cheerful cry, spread its broad wings, and with a sudden shake, soared into the darkening night sky.
Once in the sky, the wind became stronger, whistling past their ears.
Xia Chujian was wearing a self-heating mask, goggles, and a woolen hat, but after all, they weren't as windproof as a tightly sealed helmet. The all-pervasive cold wind, like needle pricks, drilled into the gaps between her mask and woolen hat.
The moment it touched her skin, the extremely low temperature, capable of freezing a person to death instantly, caused great damage to Xia Chujian.
She took a breath and quickly lay down, burying her entire face in the downy feathers at the Griffon Sea Eagle's neck.
Fortunately, the cold immediately receded, and her whole body warmed up again.
The Griffon Sea Eagle seemed to know she was cold, and spread its wings, flying even faster.
Xia Chujian sighed comfortably and turned her head to look at the night sky.
It was like swimming in a lake full of diamonds, the twinkling stars were the diamonds in the lake, pure, white, and lustrous.
With the Griffon Sea Eagle, the journey that would have taken her half an hour on foot now only took a few minutes.
Turning the page, there's another update.
I'm going with the flow and releasing both updates together.
My dearies, work hard!
(I use the Pinyin input method, and suddenly realized that "work hard" and "slaves" have the same Pinyin, and my mood became complicated. Humble.JPG)
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