Ye Ju dragged the bamboo raft she made into the water, the water reaching her waist, and then jumped onto the raft. Following the waves, the raft drifted away from the shore.
Ye Ju carefully observed the condition of the raft. The bamboo had a diameter of over half a meter, and it sat about twenty centimeters in the water, indicating sufficient buoyancy. Xiaobai had grown larger, and its load-bearing capacity was just barely adequate. But what if they added supplies? Ye Ju pondered, stroking her chin. Moreover, if the waves got any bigger, the raft would surely be swamped. This also needed consideration.
The purple bamboo flooring was also fine, showing no signs of leakage. However, there was another phenomenon: the stern of the raft was sitting lower in the water, while the front was slightly tilted upwards. This was likely due to the cabin being located further back. Xiaobai, watching its sister pace around, dared not make a sound. There was also the issue of needing to make oars, or at least long bamboo poles to change direction.
“Xiaobai, let’s go back and make some adjustments,” Ye Ju decided to push the raft back to the shore for further modifications.
“Okay, Sister! We’ll use our spiritual energy to push it back.” Xiaobai was quite clever.
Ye Ju nodded, and together with Xiaobai, they used their spiritual energy to wrap around the raft and return to the shore. Upon reaching the shore, Ye Ju directly dragged it onto the sand. She then ran towards the bamboo forest with Xiaobai. This time, they needed to select the largest purple bamboo.
Larger purple bamboo was scarcer. Ye Ju chose four pieces, estimated to be about a meter in diameter, which she couldn’t even embrace. It also took considerable time to chop them with her ice blade. They were truly hard and heavy! When did they grow so large? This island was truly magical! Seeing the bamboo forest looking sparser after she had cut so much purple bamboo, Ye Ju called Xiaobai to carry her back to the bamboo house to pack spiritual spring water. She then sprinkled three pots of spiritual spring water mist. After that, she shouldered the bamboo and headed straight for the sea.
Xiaobai turned and dived into the sea to catch fish, exclaiming it was hungry and coquettishly asking Ye Ju to cook. Ye Ju saw that only half of the sun’s face remained on the horizon. It was indeed late. She returned to the stone house to cook.
Back at the stone house, after everything was prepared, they ate. Both the girl and the fox were truly hungry. When they tasted the fish soup with fresh bamboo shoots, they exclaimed, “Wow! What earthly delicacy is this? It even carries a hint of spiritual energy. It’s so delicious I could swallow my tongue!”
“Sister, this bamboo is so tasty! Let’s go dig for more tomorrow,” Xiaobai said to Ye Ju while eating. Its taste buds had been fully developed by Ye Ju, officially making it a little food connoisseur!
Ye Ju said it was no problem. Thinking of the many things she had to do tomorrow, she went to the bath to soak after eating and meditate for a moment. As soon as she returned to her room, she fell asleep. A moment later, she felt a fluffy Xiaobai burrowing into her arms. Ever since the room was built, Xiaobai would run and sleep with Ye Ju halfway through the night; it was extremely clingy.
Ye Ju’s bed was quite soft. She had spread many leaves on it and then painstakingly wove mats with soaked wild vines. Previously, she had given them to Xiaobai, but Xiaobai had disliked the smell of the wild vines and refused them, preferring the bare stone slab bed. After Ye Ju finished weaving, she scented it by soaking it in her favorite floral scents and then drying it, making it fragrant. Xiaobai regretted its earlier refusal and found an excuse to sleep with Ye Ju. Most importantly, after Sister fell asleep, Xiaobai discovered that the surrounding spiritual energy elements would automatically surge into Sister’s body. Xiaobai, by its side, also benefited, and its spiritual energy grew rapidly, much faster than its own cultivation.
Ye Ju slept soundly until morning and found Xiaobai missing. She assumed it had gone to catch fish; eating was now a top priority for Xiaobai.
As expected, Xiaobai had transformed into a little loli, holding a large bamboo pot of seafood, including its favorite clams.
She grilled the clam meat, simmered the fresh bamboo shoot fish soup, and steamed the crab. There was no salt, so they needed to boil salt. This task was assigned to Xiaobai, who could use its fox fire to boil it, making it quick and efficient. The previous filtration equipment could be used again by replacing the materials inside.
After handing the task to Xiaobai, Ye Ju went to the seaside. She first shaved hundreds of palm-sized bamboo strips from the remaining bamboo, utilizing all of it. Then, she began to measure and saw the bamboo. Yes, Ye Ju discovered that by condensing ice spiritual energy into a serrated shape, it was very convenient for sawing through purple bamboo with a diameter of over a meter.
Ye Ju planned to add a layer of purple bamboo sections, each as long as the raft’s width, to the bottom of the raft. Ye Ju chose eight sections of purple bamboo, each three and a half meters long, with bamboo joints at both ends. The large purple bamboo, with a diameter of over a meter, required eight sections, but Ye Ju sawed an extra one. The stern of the raft needed strong support, so she decided to tie an extra section.
Ye Ju flipped the raft onto its side and propped it up with the remaining bamboo to prevent damage to the cabin. Ye Ju then bound the rolling bamboo sections crosswise to the raft. During this process, she used bamboo strips to thread through the gaps, carefully preventing them from piercing the waterproof large leaves, and securely tied them to each raft piece. After completing one section, Ye Ju was covered in sweat. This was meticulous work. After all nine sections were tied, from a distance, it looked as if the raft had gained nine wheels, resembling a strange train.
She flipped the other side back and followed the same procedure, tying them all. An extra section was tied to the stern of the raft to increase its support. Fortunately, Ye Ju now possessed immense strength; otherwise, this raft could not have been completed. After placing the raft flat, Ye Ju was still uneasy. She shaved many bamboo nails and, using ice spiritual energy, hammered them in one by one from the purple bamboo surface of the raft for reinforcement.
After all the nails were hammered in, Ye Ju, her spiritual energy depleted, collapsed onto the raft. She was exhausted! She called out to Xiaobai in her mind. A moment later, Xiaobai flew over with a purple bamboo water flask in its tail. Ye Ju used her last bit of strength to grab the flask and gulped it all down! She sat up and began to meditate.
Xiaobai dared not make a sound to disturb her and instead flew around the raft. It was curious about the raft’s new appearance.
Half an hour later, Ye Ju’s spiritual energy recovered. Xiaobai finally dared to speak:
“Sister, why is it like this? It’s so strange.”
“Hehe, this is to increase the raft’s buoyancy, so it won’t fall apart when encountering sea waves!” Ye Ju patted Xiaobai’s head.
“Xiaobai, we can take this boat out to see the world. But Sister is afraid of getting lost at sea and not being able to return to the island.” Ye Ju felt she had been a bit impulsive. Although she was alone here, the outside world was even more unfamiliar. Ye Ju now considered the island her home, her base camp. What if she went out and couldn’t return?
“Sister, I know. Although I haven’t been out to play either, I am an ancient spiritual beast. I will never forget my birthplace,” Xiaobai said with a proud expression.
Ye Ju…
Should she believe it? Perhaps she should ask Yushou. For now, she would focus on the preparations. She would use the remaining purple bamboo to make water buckets and weave lids for them. For those with bamboo joints, she would drill small holes and make bamboo stoppers, which could seal them perfectly. For sea voyages, fresh water was essential. There was also the storage of various fruits, dried meats, and spices… This required various storage containers. She instructed Xiaobai to catch all kinds of food. On days when she didn’t want to go into the sea to catch fish, they could eat dried fish.
Ye Ju also helped, utilizing all the remaining purple bamboo. She also made thin bamboo strips and then bundled them together like braided ropes. She filled the sealable bamboo buckets with spiritual spring water, and for those with lids, she picked many spiritual fruits and placed them in buckets. Xiaobai, by her side, was drying fish. Ye Ju taught her to rub salt on them for marination before drying. In the end, Ye Ju even moved the large stone缸 from the kitchen, filled with spiritual spring water, onto the boat.
She also found many wild vines to weave baskets. She first tied a circle with bamboo strips, then used wild vines to weave downwards to the bottom, and finally used a bamboo circle to slowly gather the bottom. This way, a basket over a meter wide was created. Although it looked strange, it could hold things, which was good. She picked all the edible things she could find, such as bamboo shoots, and fruits like jackfruit and mangoes.