The water in the small copper measuring cup reached a rolling boil with a faint, metal hiss.
Yan Zhiqiu knelt beside the resin fire, her bone scraper gleaming in the amber light as she shaved the white lichen shelves into semi-clear, ribbon-like slivers. Each curl of the fungus was as stiff as horn, but as it dropped into the bubbling salt water, it softened instantly, releasing its milky latex into the water.
A thick, pungent steam rose from the cup, carrying the astringent odor of wet lime plaster, crushed wood-ash, and bitter almond. The vapor was so bitter-salt that when it brushed against Yan Zhiqiu’s knuckles, the skin tightened noticeably, drying the natural oils of her fingers within seconds.
“The latex is soaked with calcium hydroxide and stone potash,” Qiao Ming observed from his seat on the cambium bench. He watched the boiling solution with the practiced eye of a map maker who understood the chemical behavior of deep-sea deposits. “The world-roots of Verdant Heaven drew their nourishment from the ancient limestone strata before the deluge. That is why the lichen is so intensely bitter-salt. When it contacts the acid-venom in the muscle, the acid will not be able to maintain its atom-deep focus. It will bind with the calcium to form an insoluble salt.”
