Chapter 162

Chapter 162

The cooked and cooled sheep milk was poured into a wooden barrel. Two wooden sticks were crossed to form a churn handle set across the barrel, and a clean animal hide was placed on top—this was the simple setup for churning clarified butter.

Churning sheep milk sounded simple but wasn’t easy to do. It took at least two hours of continuous effort to extract as much fat as possible from a single bucket of milk.

That was what Qi Bai usually did alone. But now the room was full of sub-beastmen who had just given birth. They all perked up their ears to listen as Qi Bai explained the process, silently mimicking his motions, eager to learn how to make this new food.

This time, everyone took turns churning a few times, and before everyone had even gotten a chance to try, the milk was almost done.

Qi Bai took the churn stick from one of the sub-beastmen. Several of them looked disappointed—but then their eyes widened in surprise.

Everyone saw Qi Bai pull out a lump of golden-yellow “dough” from the barrel.

Tu Ruo gaped: “This… this…”

She leaned in to look inside the barrel. It still contained white milk, but the color looked noticeably lighter.

Qi Bai hadn’t lied—there really was oil in the milk.

This clarified butter looked very similar to the oil usually rendered from animal fat, except for the color.

Well, not quite the same.

Clarified butter wasn’t as greasy as lard. Even if you ate a big chunk, it only left a rich, mellow dairy flavor in your mouth.

Qi Bai explained, “The remaining milk can still be drunk, but the taste will be lighter.”

Hu Xue scooped some out with a bamboo ladle and widened her eyes. “It really is lighter.”

“Let me try.” “Me too!”

The others crowded around, asking Hu Xue to let them try the leftover milk too.

A sub-beastman smacked his lips and said, “It’s not tasty anymore—like water.”

Qi Bai chuckled. The milkfat had been extracted—that leftover liquid was skim milk.

Skim milk not only had a lighter taste, but also lower nutritional value. But back on Blue Star, skim and whole milk were often sold at similar prices—sometimes even with skim being more expensive.

Qi Bai’s cousin only drank skim milk, claiming it helped with weight loss. Of course, it wasn’t just the milk. The girl was extremely strict about everything she ate—every calorie was carefully tracked.

Qi Bai smiled and rinsed the ball of clarified butter in a pot of cooled boiled water.

Only when food was abundant could people believe being thin was beautiful. For the Heishan tribe, where food was scarce, plump and strong was still the standard of beauty.

He finally explained, “Once the butter is rinsed clean, put it in a pot and simmer it over low heat until there are no more bubbles—that means the water is gone.”

Once the water was removed and it was stored properly, the clarified butter could last up to a year without spoiling. They could make a good amount now while the ewes were producing the most milk, so they’d still have some in the second half of the year.

And clarified butter could be used not only for eating—it could also be used like lard for oil lamps.

Yang Luo had only eaten a few pieces and already felt full. Even if it couldn’t be eaten in large amounts at once, it was reassuring to know no one would starve. After all, the sheep pen’s ewes were producing plenty of milk every day.

Beaming, he told Hu Xue, “Good, good, good. From now on, set aside half the sheep milk each day to make clarified butter.”

Then he turned more serious, addressing the sub-beastmen in the room who had recently given birth or were about to. “Even if you can’t go outside, you still need to work hard every day.”

The sub-beastmen nodded and said, “Don’t worry, Priest Yang Luo. We’ve all learned carefully. We’ll work hard!”

By the time the first batch of clarified butter was done, half the afternoon had passed.

Qi Bai wiped his hands and went to check on the fried sheep milk he’d prepared earlier.

Inside, the fire kept the room warm, but near the front entrance it was still quite cold.

Qi Bai walked quickly, lifted the fur covering the tray, and poked it with his finger. The fried sheep milk had hardened a bit from the cold.

He cut it into small pieces with a bone knife and brought it back to the kang for the adults to taste.

The sheep milk melted in their mouths, releasing a rich burst of dairy flavor, followed by the refreshing fruity tang of red berries.

The soft, rehydrated fruit tasted nothing like it had been dried—it was sweet and sour, just like it had been freshly picked from a tree.

Yang Luo, who had never eaten a dessert before, stood frozen in place.

After a moment, he glanced at the wooden barrel on the floor and raised an eyebrow. No good—there were only seven or eight wooden barrels total. That wasn’t nearly enough.

And using clay pots wouldn’t work—Yang Luo had seen clearly that the churning sticks struck with real force. One wrong move and the pot could shatter.

He quickly turned and grabbed his cloak and fur hat.

Qi Bai followed and asked, “Priest Grandpa, where are you going?”

Yang Luo pulled on his hat while running out. “I’m going to find people to chop trees—we need at least ten more…”

Thinking of the sixteen milk-producing ewes in the pen, Yang Luo clenched his fist. “No, make that fifty—make a hundred barrels… Not just for clarified butter, but also for that tofu thing you mentioned—”

“Milk tofu.”

“Yes, milk tofu. Fried milk, milk tofu—we’ll make it all!”

Qi Bai looked in the direction of the school and silently said a prayer for Hu Huo.

Hu Huo was too skilled at woodworking and weaving. Now anytime anyone needed something made from wood, the first person they thought of was him.

But Hu Huo was only one person, and his tasks were already stacked up through tomorrow—how could he possibly find time to make barrels too?

Qi Bai smiled, though. With all these new tasks, Yang Luo seemed reinvigorated.

Just moments ago he’d been running like a young beast—you’d never guess he had fallen two days ago, or that just yesterday he’d still been walking cautiously with a bear bone cane.

—At the school—

Just as Qi Bai had predicted, Hu Huo now faced a panting Yang Luo and didn’t know what to say. Agreeing was hard, but refusing was even harder.

Yang Luo practically breathed steam when he spoke. “Can you do it or not? Hurry up and tell me! Why are you just staring at me—I need it urgently!”

Quan Lie put down the grass rope he was braiding and said, “Don’t worry. It’s just hollowing out some logs to make barrels. We don’t need Hu Huo for that—we can do it ourselves.”

He stood up and shouted out a few horned beastmen’s names in the school. “Grab your stone axes. Let’s go chop trees now!”

Yang Luo hesitated for a second, then gritted his teeth and said, “Go to the smithy and get iron axes instead.”

That stunned Quan Lie.

The horned beastmen behind him outright cheered.

Those who joined the Heishan tribe later hadn’t received any of the earlier-crafted bird-bone weapons.

So most tools in the tribe were still stone-based.

To be fair, the tribe had been producing iron tools for some time, but outside of the smithy, most people hadn’t gotten to use them yet.

Mainly because Yang Luo never let them.

Stone axes were made of stone—and there was plenty of that on Heishan. Sure, they broke easily, but you could always just tie a new one together.

Qi Bai had told Yang Luo that iron-producing ore wasn’t easy to find. The fact they’d found the red mountain range was just good luck.

So even though the smithy had made many tools, Yang Luo had insisted Qi Bai not distribute them.

Actually, Yang Luo misunderstood. Qi Bai hadn’t planned to hand them out yet either.

The tribe’s smelting technique was still underdeveloped, and making iron tools was very labor-intensive. Giving them out would only cause conflict over who got what.

So for now, all iron tools were property of the tribe. Once everyone saw the benefits of farming, they could choose whether to use their work points to trade for tools.

But with Yang Luo’s approval, everyone could use iron tools early—and of course the horned beastmen were thrilled.

Yang Luo stood at the school’s entrance.

Snow from the roof cascaded down as he opened the door, but he didn’t seem to notice.

He watched the beastmen run off joyfully, then chuckled and patted his lower back.

At this rate, it looked like he no longer had to worry about being kicked out of the tribe.