strictlysupreme Chapter 8: The First Appearance of the Eight Golden Melons
Chapter 8: The First Appearance of the Eight Golden Melons
After a short rest at noon, we began to drive.
I don't know if it's because I ate red eel and golden-edged turtle, but I didn't feel tired at all when I worked in the afternoon. It was like a perpetual motion machine.
So much so that what would normally take more than a day to clear away was all done in one go. Along the way, Cai Xuan also found some Nine Oxen Divine Power Potatoes, which shows that the mountains and forests here are indeed very suitable for their growth, otherwise they wouldn't be everywhere.
It seems we need to make a tool for washing starch soon, otherwise all these good things will be wasted.
Back at the cabin that evening, remembering his experience with the three-colored crab, he didn't dare touch the red eel or the golden-edged turtle again. He simply cooked some white rice, drizzled it with Maggi soy sauce and peanut oil, and ate it that way. Last time, after eating the three-colored crab, he had to do push-ups for ages to release his boundless energy; if he ate anything again this time, he didn't know how long it would take—maybe all night! Who could stand that?
The moon is fullest on the sixteenth day of the lunar month, not the fifteenth.
The bright moon hung high outside the window, its clear light like water, while Cai Xuan slept soundly inside.
In the utter silence, the large pumpkin seedling suddenly trembled slightly. As if drawn by an unseen force, the moonlight, like a flowing spring, surged into a whirlpool, continuously converging upon the seedling's leaves. The seedling unfurled its tender leaves, absorbing all the falling moonlight. Strands of clear light meandered down its verdant veins, flowing into its roots, transforming into the purest vitality to nourish the pumpkin seedling.
The moonlight grew stronger and stronger, until the entire pumpkin seedling was enveloped in a faint silvery halo.
Nourished by the moonlight, the giant pumpkin seedlings began to grow wildly.
The roots beneath, like serpents emerging from their holes, rapidly burrowed downwards, diligently drawing every last drop of nourishment from the soil and the earth's veins. The internal organs of the red eel and the golden-edged turtle buried by Cai Xuan were instantly absorbed, reduced to ashes; the humus, wood ash, and compound fertilizer in the pit were also completely drained, leaving not a trace of nutrition. Yet the roots remained unsatisfied, continuing to burrow deeper into the soil, desperately drawing upon the rich energy of the earth's veins.
At the same time, the stems and leaves above ground also began to grow incredibly fast.
The green gourd vines, like a green dragon, quickly climbed up the log that Cai Xuan had set up.
In the blink of an eye, lush, towering vines covered the entire trellis. Then, eight dazzling, extraordinary flowers bloomed on the vines. Their petals were shimmering with gold, and their stamens were as red as cinnabar. Bathed in the bright moonlight, they shimmered and shimmered, exuding a pure and elegant charm, completely unlike any ordinary flower.
Flowers bloom for a fleeting moment, then wither in an instant.
Before the last petals had fallen, eight small golden gourds had quietly taken shape from between the flower stems.
The newborn golden melon was only the size of a baby's fist, but it expanded at a visible speed, growing to the size of two palms in an instant. The melon skin was green, with a faint, lustrous jade-like sheen, and it emitted a natural, pure fragrance.
The fragrance drifted through the window and into the room. Cai Xuan smelled it, turned over, and slept even more soundly.
But the aroma attracted bees, insects, spiders, and venomous snakes from the vicinity.
"Buzzing"
The first to arrive were a swarm of black tiger bees, each about the size of a child's fist, with black and yellow rings around their bodies and a "king"-like pattern on their foreheads. They looked majestic and fierce. These bees are extremely venomous and are known for their swarm attacks, so even ferocious beasts dare not provoke them.
The swarm of black tiger bees flew close to the little golden melon and, without saying a word, shot their poisonous stingers at the melon.
"Jingle bells"
With a soft thud, the poisonous stingers struck the hard skin of the little golden gourd, breaking off and falling to the ground like broken steel needles. The Black Tiger Bee panicked when it saw that its stingers couldn't pierce the gourds and turned to fly away. But then, the fourth gourd trembled slightly, and a thin crack quietly appeared on its surface, from which a burst of blazing flames shot out!
The flames were crimson gold with a bluish edge, sweeping across like a fire dragon.
The swarm of black tiger bees didn't even have time to scream before they turned into a cloud of ashes and fell to the ground.
The third small golden gourd then spewed out a stream of clear water, which swept up the fallen ashes and carried them into the distant grass. The platform became as clean as before, and the air returned to tranquility. Everything was as usual, as if nothing had happened.
The second group to arrive was a swarm of carrion flies.
These carrion flies are no ordinary flies. Their sharp mouthparts can easily pierce the outer skin of various spiritual fruits and inject their eggs deep inside. The eggs hatch quickly, grow into larvae, and feed on the fruit flesh, hollowing it out from the inside. This makes the fruit appear intact on the surface, but inside it is already rotten, filled with putrid liquid and insect bodies.
They are the most disgusting creatures in nature, the most insidious thieves.
The carrion flies buzzed toward the small golden gourds, but before they could get close, the fourth gourd spewed flames again, burning them to ashes. The third gourd then spewed out a stream of water, carrying the ashes away, seemingly disdainful even of the carrion flies' corpses.
A brightly colored poisonous spider silently climbed up the giant pumpkin vine.
This thing was enormous, about the size of a person's arm, with bizarre and alluring patterns on its back. Its eight long legs moved nimbly among the vines without making a sound. When it got close, it suddenly spat out sticky spider silk, layer upon layer, covering the small golden gourds, intending to wrap them up and drag them back to enjoy them slowly.
Just as the spider silk was about to touch the melon, a crack appeared on the surface of the second golden melon.
A vertical eye slowly opened, its pupil flashing with lightning.
"Crack!"
A bolt of lightning suddenly shot out from the vertical eye, striking the poisonous spider. The spider was instantly killed, its eight legs curled up as it fell from the shelf. But before it hit the ground, it was incinerated by the flames spewed from the fourth golden gourd.
The third golden gourd then spat out a jet of water, which swept up the spider webs and ashes on the ground and threw them outside the wall.
A black serpent, as thick as a thigh and with two short, sharp horns on its head, its scales gleaming coldly in the moonlight, slowly climbed over the wall, up the wooden frame next to the large golden gourd vine, opened its blood-red maw, revealing two rows of barbed fangs, and lunged at the small golden gourd.
"Bang!"
The first small golden gourd suddenly swung up, like an iron hammer, and slammed hard onto the head of the two-horned serpent.
The blow was incredibly powerful; the two-horned serpent was stunned and its body went limp, causing it to fall from the shelf. The fourth small golden gourd immediately spewed out flames again, and the scorching tongues of fire instantly wrapped around the two-horned serpent's body, burning it to ashes.
As usual, the third golden gourd spat out a stream of water to clean up the final mess.
That night, countless poisonous insects and ferocious creatures were attracted by the aroma, wanting to devour these small golden gourds and turn them into resources to strengthen themselves, but unfortunately, none of them returned.
The sky gradually turned a pale white, and the night slowly faded away.
The fragrance of the small golden gourd gradually faded as the moonlight dimmed, and the insects, snakes, and venomous creatures that had been attracted to it quietly dispersed. Tranquility finally returned to the second-floor platform, where drops of morning dew condensed on the gourd leaves, glistening and reflecting the rising sun.
"I slept really well."
When Cai Xuan woke up in the morning, he stretched and opened the door, ready to practice his martial arts.
Suddenly seeing the large golden gourd vines climbing all over the trellis and eight small golden gourds hanging from it, he was stunned: "What happened? How did they grow like this overnight? This is too outrageous! This world is too strange."
Cai Xuan looked on incredulously and ran to the side to look at the head of the giant golden gourd vine.
In just one night, it grew incredibly thick, almost as thick as his arm. Looking up along the vines, under the lush green leaves, rows of round, plump, and delightfully green little golden gourds hung from the wooden frame, looking so adorable that one couldn't help but want to reach out and touch them.
The wooden frame was too high for Cai Xuan to reach.
He could only run to the kitchen, move a wooden chair underneath, and step on it to reach for the first little golden gourd.
Smooth and tender, warm to the touch, like a piece of warm jade. He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but the moment his hand touched the little golden melon, Cai Xuan felt a connection, as if they were connected by blood. He quickly banished this unrealistic thought from his mind. To feel a blood connection with a little golden melon? That was utter nonsense!
Who would feel a blood connection with Little Golden Melon?
Cai Xuan reached out and tapped the melon. It made a "thump" sound, indicating that it was solid and sturdy.
He nodded in satisfaction, then moved the wooden chair under the second small golden gourd and reached out to touch it. Suddenly, the first golden gourd moved, and a stream of water sprayed from its bottom, sprinkling onto Cai Xuan's head.
"Is it raining?"
Cai Xuan wiped the water off his face and looked up at the sky. The sky was clear and blue, and there was no sign of rain. Suddenly, he saw water droplets rolling on a large golden gourd leaf. He guessed it was dew and didn't pay any attention to it.
"Hehehehe..."
Suddenly, I heard a little girl's silvery laughter.
Cai Xuan's hands stopped abruptly, and he turned his head sharply to look around, but there was no one there! Not to mention people, there wasn't a soul in sight. In any case, he hadn't seen any trace of smoke or fire anywhere in all the time he'd been here.
It must have been the sound of birds or beasts.
Some birds make incredibly strange calls, sounding just like humans. At first glance, you might really think someone is laughing.
Regardless of whether there were people around, he dared not go into the dense forest, and at night he didn't even dare to leave the house, for fear of encountering something and dying.
Cai Xuan touched each of the little golden gourds thoroughly, the feeling of blood connection growing clearer and clearer, filling him with increasing unease. He knew the little golden gourds couldn't possibly have his own bloodline, so he didn't bother with it. After all, he wasn't Xu Xian, Xie Duan, or Dou Xu, capable of harming snakes, snails, or bee spirits; he had no such appetite.
After touching the small golden gourd, he turned back to look at the head of the large golden gourd.
Although I fertilized it when I dug the hole, it grew so big overnight that all the nutrients inside must have been absorbed, so I took out some compound fertilizer and applied some more.
The fertility of compound fertilizer is ultimately limited; we need to find ways to obtain fertilizers with higher fertility and longer-lasting effects.
After thinking for a moment, he took a hoe and dug a pit some distance away. He cut some fresh green leaves to line the bottom of the pit, then added wood ash and humus. He caught some three-colored crabs, extracted the crab meat, and crushed the remaining shells and legs, adding them to the pit. He then covered it with a layer of grass, covered it with soil, poured on the essence he had scooped from the toilet, and finally covered it with the canvas from his tricycle, letting it ferment slowly.
Hopefully, this haphazardly cobbled-together fertilizer will be of some use.
He then took two empty metal cans and placed them in the toilet to collect urine, intending to use them as fertilizer.
It must be said that urine is extremely helpful for plant growth.
After finishing these tasks, the morning was over. Cai Xuan heated up the remaining golden-edged turtle and red eel from yesterday, ate them all, and then continued repairing the road.