The sudden loud voice startled Wen Ze, who was cutting vegetables, making his ears twitch slightly. 

Yin He, who was tending the fire, couldn’t resist his curiosity and kept glancing over in that direction. It took several pointed looks from Wen Ze before he finally turned his head back. 

Bai Xia didn’t notice what was going on between the two brothers. Hearing Zhuo Mu say that shaving the hair in human form wouldn’t affect the beast form, he kept shaking his head repeatedly. 

“It won’t have any effect, but I’m just saying I don’t want my human form to end up bald. My beast form is a white bear, and staying in beast form during the summer is way too hot.” 

Zhuo Mu thought for a moment and asked, “Have you tried smoking it with the leaves of the green tip fruit?” 

Wen Ze knew about green tip fruit. It’s a plant similar to goji, also called Shu Yangquan. By autumn, the small oval-shaped fruit with a pointed tip turns red, resembling goji berries. 

The stem of the green-tipped fruit is also slender, and in the summer, small purple flowers bloom. It is commonly found in the wild. 

However, he didn’t know before that the green-tipped fruit leaves also had the effect of repelling insects. 

Bai Xia responded to Zhuo Mu, “I’ve smoked it. I used the leaves to smoke the entire cave inside and out for a long time, but the lice are still in my hair, and there seem to be eggs too. Just smoking with leaves isn’t enough to get rid of them completely.” 

“In our tribe, your medical skills are the best. I just want to ask if you can think of another way.” 

“I’ve had this hair for a long time, and I really don’t want to shave it.” 

As he said, his gray, medium-length hair was well-maintained, strong, and shiny. He also braided it into several delicate braids and tied them with thin strings with colorful stones. 

Shaving it off would solve the lice problem, but it would also hurt him. 

In the end, Zhuo Mu told him, “Let me think for a bit and see if there’s any other medicine we can use.” 

Bai Xia nodded repeatedly. “Alright! I’ll leave it to you! I’ll head back for now.” 

After speaking, he waved his hand, said goodbye to Zhuo Mu and the others, and turned into a large white bear, running into the depths of the tribe. 

For dinner, Wen Ze prepared scrambled eggs with shallots, stir-fried meat with thorny fruit, egg drop soup, and steamed root vegetables. Each dish was served in generous portions, making sure everyone ate their fill. 

After eating, Yin He took the initiative to wash the dishes, while Wen Ze called out to stop Zhuo Mu, who was about to leave. 

“I actually heard what you said to Bai Xia.” 

Zhuo Mu responded with a soft “mm” and waited for him to continue. 

Under the intense gaze of his red eyes, Wen Ze felt an unexpected wave of nervousness. He scratched his nose and went on. 

“Well, I’ve heard of something that can treat lice, fleas, and things like that.” 

Zhuo Mu: “What is it?” 

Wen Ze: “Isn’t there a hot spring inside our tribe’s territory?” 

Zhuo Mu nodded. 

Wen Ze explained, “Around most hot springs, there’s usually a sulfur ore. After it’s refined, you can get sulfur.” He raised his hand to gesture and described, “The sulfur ore has a sharp smell, and its color is typically earth-colored, yellow, or brown. It’s totally different from regular rocks; you can tell just by looking at it.” 

Zhuo Mu flipped his hand and took something out of his space. 

“Is this it?” 

Wen Ze took a closer look and realized that the yellowish-brown thing mixed with black sand smelling strongly of sulfur was actually a sulfur ore! 

He took it, confirmed it, and happily said to Zhuo Mu, “Yes! This is sulfur ore! Where did you get it?” 

Zhuo Mu replied, “I picked up a few pieces when I was at the hot springs earlier and put them in my space, but I had no idea what to do with them.” 

Wen Ze was secretly shocked. He remembered that sulfur was toxic and could drive snakes away, yet Zhuo Mu had it on him and didn’t react at all. 

But then again, Beastmen weren’t something you could judge by normal standards, and Zhuo Mu was among the toughest of them. 

A little toxicity like that wasn’t going to be much of a threat to him. 

The two of them were talking not far from the stove, and Yin He, who was washing dishes, overheard. He leaned in curiously and asked, “Brother, how do you use this thing to get rid of lice? Do you crush it and mix it with water to apply on the scalp?” 

Wen Ze couldn’t help but laugh, “Even though Beastmen are strong, you can’t do that! It’ll burn your scalp. And you, stay away from sulfur. It’s toxic; definitely don’t put it in your mouth.” 

Yin He mumbled, unwilling to back down, “I’m already ten years old; I’m not some clueless child who only eats random things.” 

Wen Ze wasn’t entirely reassured and turned to Zhuo Mu, “Where did you put the sulfur ore in the space? It wasn’t placed next to the food, was it?” 

Zhuo Mu replied, “No, it’s always been stored separately.” 

“That’s good.” Wen Ze continued, “If we want to use sulfur to repel insects, we have to process it first. There’s some animal oil left at home. Can I use it?” 

Zhuo Mu: “Feel free to use it.” 

Yin He was afraid of missing out on something new, so he used both of his paws to wash the dishes. 

“Brother, wait for me! I’ll be done right away!” 

Wen Ze smiled, “Don’t rush; there’s still something I need your help with.” 

Yin He confidently said, “Just tell me!” 

After Yin He finished washing the dishes, Wen Ze asked him to scoop some wood ash from the stove pit and put it in a wooden bucket, then add water and stir it. 

“You mix it first; I’ll go get some firewood.” 

Yin He: “Got it!” 

He held the wooden stick tightly and stirred it with great force. 

But Zhuo Mu volunteered and said, “I’ll go get the firewood.” 

“Sure, thank you!” 

Once the firewood was brought over, Wen Ze instructed him to make a fire pit. Wen Ze then picked through some things, took out a broken clay bowl, and placed it over the fire. 

“Give me a smaller piece of sulfur ore,” he said, reaching out to Zhuo Mu. 

After getting the sulfur, he signaled for both Zhuo Mu and Yin He to step back. 

“This thing can explode when heated, so be careful,” Wen Ze warned. 

Zhuo Mu frowned and said, “Just tell me what to do; I’ll take care of it.” 

“This is my first time doing this as well, so I’m not sure myself, let alone giving orders.” He smiled and reassured, “But don’t worry, I’ll figure it out.” 

Zhuo Mu was still worried and didn’t step too far away. If anything went wrong, he could change into his beast form to protect Wen Ze. 

Wen Ze pulled out a few pieces of wood to reduce the fire. Then he slowly poured some water into the clay bowl and put the sulfur ore into it. 

Sulfur doesn’t dissolve in water; the water is just there to help filter out the impurities from the minerals. 

Sulfur has a low melting point, and as it heated up, it slowly melted into a bright yellow sticky substance. At the same time, the strong smell it gave off became more intense. 

Wen Ze took a small piece of animal hide from his space and placed it under his nose with one hand, while using the other to gently stir with a wooden stick. 

He was careful, ready to run at the slightest hint of an explosion. 

Fortunately, the fire had been lowered, and in the end, there was no danger. 

However, the larger chunks of gravel were removed, but the smaller ones were mixed with the sulfur in the water and could not be filtered out at all. 

He shook his head, picked up the broken clay bowl with a pair of chopsticks, and set it aside. 

Zhuo Mu asked, “Did it fail?” 

Wen Ze replied, “Ah, it’s not really a failure. It’s usable, but there are a lot of impurities.” 

Zhuo Mu nodded. 

Wen Ze rested his chin on his hand, a habit he had when deep in thought. 

“I’m thinking about how to increase the purity a bit.” 

Zhuo Mu asked, “Wouldn’t heating it directly work?” 

“Yes, but if you don’t add any water, it’ll definitely explode.” 

“How about steaming it?” 

Wen Ze’s eyes lit up. “That’s right! Let’s give it a try! After all, steam is pretty hot too!” 

Without hesitation, Zhuo Mu grabbed a clay bowl and a clay pot. 

Wen Ze looked a bit worried. “Such a good pot… Guess it can’t be used for cooking anymore.” 

“It’s fine. If the sulfur works, we can keep it just for that. Besides, pottery made from pile-burning isn’t really for regular use, and this pot already has cracks.” 

Hearing that, Wen Ze finally felt relieved and took the pot. 

Zhuo Mu then took out a chunk of sulfur about the size of a fist. Wen Ze placed it in the ceramic bowl and steamed it with the water from the pot. 

This time, after the sulfur melted, he quickly removed the impurities. 

There was still a bit of fine sand and dust left, but it was way better than before. 

Looking at the remaining liquid sulfur in the bowl, Wen Ze happily declared, “Success!” 

Zhuo Mu also smiled. “What’s next?” 

“You heat the oil, and I’ll filter the wood ash water.” 

“Got it.” 

The two of them worked together. Wen Ze took out a clean hemp cloth and tied it securely to another clean wooden bucket. 

As he filtered, Wen Ze thought to himself, luckily, they had the hemp cloth now, or this filtering step would be a nightmare. 

The hemp cloth had coarse gaps, so Wen Ze had to filter it three times before he finally got the usable ash water. 

Meanwhile, Zhuo Mu had finished heating the animal oil. He scooped a few ladles into a clean clay bowl, stirred it, and the oil quickly cooled to a usable temperature. 

“Everyone, step back a bit, I’m about to start,” Wen Ze tied the animal hide into a simple mask and signaled to the two of them. 

The two men looked at him in confusion and took a few steps back. 

Wen Ze then took the wood ash water and slowly poured it into the animal oil, stirring as he poured. 

The two ingredients blended together, not only making a sizzling sound but also releasing heat and a scent. 

Compared to the smell of sulfur, it was actually pretty pleasant. 

After stirring for a while, the animal oil in the clay pot turned into a paste, which glowed with beautiful flowing colors under the light from the fire pit. 

Wen Ze felt more and more confident: it was starting to look just like the lard soap he had seen as a child! It was really working! 

Yin He widened his eyes in surprise. “Wow, brother, what is this?” 

From behind the animal hide mask, Wen Ze’s muffled voice came, “You can call it soap. It’s used to remove stains.” 

Yin He was extremely curious. “Remove stains? I want to try it!” 

“Wait a bit, it’s not ready to use yet.” 

After saying that, Wen Ze brought over the liquid sulfur they had just prepared. 

It was his first time adding it, so he wasn’t sure how much to use. He only took a small spoonful. 

When the sulfur was mixed with the animal oil, the smell of rotten eggs was so strong that it almost made Wen Ze faint. 

He stirred it all over again, and only after it was completely mixed did he scrape it out, put it on a clean leaf, and wait for it to cool. 

After finishing all that, he finally stopped, quickly ran to the side, and sneezed loudly several times. 

Yin He leaned over to take a look at the “sulfur soap,” while Zhuo Mu walked over to Wen Ze and asked, “Do you want to go wash up?” 

“It’s fine,” Wen Ze said, his eyes a little red and his voice stuffy. “I’ll be fine after some rest. I also need to see if I have to adjust it once the sulfur soap cools down.” 

Zhuo Mu replied, “Don’t push yourself.” 

Wen Ze smiled, showing his two canine teeth. “Really, it’s fine. That reminds me, could you go check on the big cow and the little cow for me?” 

Zhuo Mu agreed right away, “Sure.” 

But when he looked closely, Wen Ze realized something was strange. 

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