Chapter 65 - Sixty Four - Purifying Water and New Forming Connections (1/2)
Autumn glanced out of the kitchen window as she placed another clean dish upon the drainer, watching the droplets of rain trickle down the glass with a small sigh. From her peripheral vision, she caught a shadow of movement and quickly glanced back, only to see that it was just Eraj, coming to grab bottles of water, probably for those passing time in the gym.
The contaminate in the rain had not lessened and while it was doubtful that a little would cause harm or lead to mutation, it did not mean it was wise to prolong exposure outside. Therefore, just as during Winter, they were somewhat confined. Well, not everyone was.
The monotonous meals and also with certain other supplies dwindling fast, half of them had once more driven beyond the walls in hopes that they might be fortunate enough to be able to get something, anything to improve the food and living circ.u.mstances. Take soap, for example. All of the shower gels had long since been used up, the last drops in between snowstorms and with the hard soap they had but one left and no others. Scraps of newspaper had been folded neatly in each bathroom, along with scraps of cloth. The latter could be washed and reused, the former... once it was gone, there was nothing to replace it. Tyler refused to sacrifice the books in the library for such.
As the new father that was Jonah adamantly insisted on remaining at home with his newborn, though no one had even thought to insist otherwise, it was Dexter that was leading others out on expedition. Most of his original squad had followed him, with the exception of Paul and Ren Zexian. The former had been worrying for days over Shaun, who took three days to reshape the lump of metal in the gym into usable weights,tiring himself out as he did so. The latter would not leave Nathan's side. Right now, the pair were holed up in the cottage in the garden and not one person had seen them since a break in the weather, yesterday afternoon when Nathan brought in new potatoes, a winter cabbage, spring onions and some newly grown radishes.
Instead of those two men, Chang Min had joined them, providing more than enough firepower to keep them safe from unexpected surprises. However, although it had been intended that the group would take a quick trip to a village some few miles away, the rains had begun to fall with little pause an hour or so following their departure.
Placing the last plate upon the drainer, left the water in the sink for purifying. This had been one of the things Ren Zexian had tried to teach Tyler and Brooke, though, as he had explained, being that water was not his element, he could only advise them of the theory and not demonstrate or guide them more clearly.
”As with cultivation,” he had advised, ”there are some abilities in which hand signs are required in order to help focus and guide the mind. A former senior of mine learnt the purification technique as he felt boiled water still held too much impurities and would taint his body. Thus I can teach you the hand signs. The rest will rely on your comprehension of them.”
Brooke had been a little embarrassed, at first, thinking she probably looked ridiculous as she placed finger to finger, thumb to finger, finger to palm and so on, however Tyler had taken it in his stride, even seemed elegant while doing these movements. ”Just look at it as if you are speaking in sign language,” he'd suggested, as Brooke had begun to pout red-faced. ”And besides, if you purify dirty water this way, who exactly is going to laugh at you? How precious is water?”
So she had fallen into practice once more, fumbling then muttering; ”What about Nathan, why isn't he doing this as well?”
Tyler had rolled his eyes heavenward. Some people could accept a disability such as autism, without accepting it as well. Nathan's type was not obvious, but that did not mean he did not have it. In his world, if Nathan did not see the point of something, explaining it would also be pointless. Why would Nathan purify water, when he can just make some? So Tyler had not deemed Brooke worthy of an answer.
The whole idea of purifying water was to reuse it, not as drinkable water or for cooking, but if they could clean water for dishes, for bathing, wouldn't this make life a bit easier? When asked why Ren Zexian hadn't put forward this suggestion before, he replied; ”I'd forgotten about it. I last saw my senior four thousand five hundred years ago. He failed the tribulations a season later, I heard. I only recalled once I gave that cultivation technique to Brooke, the Gentle Rains from the North technique was what he practiced. He was blessed with the lone Ice root as well.”
Strangely enough, it seemed Brooke was destined to follow in this senior's early footsteps, for she comprehended how to purify water quite quickly and although the amounts of water she could purify were not great due to her low cultivation, it gave her immense satisfaction to reduce the dirt and soap in the bath water she used, even this tiny bit. Tyler took much longer at comprehending the technique and still his ability was less than Brooke's, making her happier still.