Minho replied, "No. I always kept it separately."
"That is good." Hayoon continued, "If we want to use sulfur to repel insects, we need to process it first. There is still some beast oil left at home. Can I use it?"
Minho said, "Use as much as you want."
Haeun was afraid of missing out on anything interesting.
While washing the dishes, both his paws were moving furiously.
"Sis, wait for me! I am almost done cleaning up!"
Hayoon laughed. "Do not rush. I still need your help with something."
Haeun puffed up proudly. "Just tell me what to do!"
After Haeun finished washing the dishes, Hayoon told him to scoop some plant ash from the stove pit into a wooden bucket and mix it with water.
"Keep stirring it first. I will go get some firewood."
"Got it!" Haeun replied enthusiastically.
He gripped the wooden stick and stirred so hard that the wind whistled around it.
Minho spoke up on his own. "I will go."
Hayoon nodded. "Alright."
Once the firewood was brought over, Hayoon instructed Minho to make a small fire pit.
Meanwhile, she searched through their things and picked out a cracked clay bowl before placing it over the fire.
"Give me a smaller piece of sulfur ore," she said while holding out her hand toward Minho.
After receiving the sulfur ore, she gestured for both Minho and Haeun to move farther away.
"This thing can explode when heated, so be careful."
Minho frowned slightly. "Tell me what to do instead. I will handle it."
Hayoon shook her head. "This is my first time doing it too. I am not confident enough to direct someone else." She smiled lightly. "Do not worry. I will adapt as things go."
Minho still looked unconvinced and did not move too far away.
If something happened, he could immediately transform into his beast form and shield Hayoon.
Hayoon removed several pieces of firewood and reduced the flames.
Then she slowly poured some water into the clay bowl before placing the sulfur ore inside as well.
Sulfur did not dissolve in water, so the water was only used to filter out impurities from the ore.
Sulfur itself had a fairly low melting point.
As it heated up, it slowly melted into a bright yellow sticky liquid, and the smell it released became even more pungent.
Hayoon took out a small piece of beast hide from her storage space and held it beneath her nose with one hand while carefully stirring with a wooden stick in the other.
At the same time, she stayed ready to run at any moment in case it exploded.
Fortunately, she had already lowered the fire, and nothing dangerous happened in the end.
The larger chunks of gravel could be removed easily, but the finer grains remained mixed together with the sulfur in the water and could not be filtered out at all.
She shook her head and used long chopsticks to move the cracked clay bowl aside.
Minho asked, "Did it fail?"
Hayoon replied, "Not exactly. It can still be used, but there are too many impurities."
Minho gave a quiet hum.
Hayoon rested her chin on her hand, a habit she often had when thinking.
"I am trying to figure out how to increase the purity."
Minho asked, "So heating it directly will not work?"
"Right. If there is no water at all, it will definitely explode."
"Then what about steaming it instead?"
Hayoon's eyes lit up immediately. "That is right! We can try that! Steam is still extremely hot after all!"
The two of them immediately got to work.
Minho took out another clay bowl and a clay pot.
Hayoon looked a little distressed. "Such a good pot will not be usable for cooking anymore afterward."
"It is fine. If sulfur proves useful, we can keep it specifically for processing sulfur. Besides, pottery fired in open pits is not very durable anyway. This pot already has cracks."
Only after hearing that did Hayoon feel reassured enough to accept it.
Minho then took out another chunk of sulfur ore about the size of a fist.
Hayoon placed it into the clay bowl and steamed it over the water inside the pot.
This time, after the sulfur melted, she quickly removed the impurities.
Although a little fine sand still remained, it was already far cleaner than before.
Looking at the liquid sulfur left in the bowl, Hayoon happily announced, "Success!"
There was a faint smile in Minho's eyes as well. "What next?"
"You heat up the beast oil," Hayoon replied. "I will go filter the plant ash water."
"Alright."
The two of them worked together.
Hayoon took out a clean piece of linen cloth and tied it securely over another clean wooden bucket.
As she filtered the liquid, she could not help thinking how fortunate it was that they now had linen cloth.
Otherwise, just the filtering step alone would have been unbearably difficult.
The gaps in the linen cloth were fairly large, so Hayoon filtered the ash water three full times before finally obtaining something barely usable.
Meanwhile, Minho had already finished heating the beast oil.
He scooped several spoonfuls into a clean clay basin and stirred it lightly until the oil cooled to a usable temperature.
"Everyone step back a little," Hayoon said as she tied the beast hide into a simple face covering. "I am starting now."
The two of them stared at her without blinking and obediently stepped back several paces.
Hayoon first brought over the filtered ash water and slowly poured it into the beast oil little by little while continuously stirring.
As the two substances combined, they produced a sizzling sound and released both heat and a strong smell.
Compared to sulfur, though, it actually smelled much better.
After stirring for a while, the beast oil inside the clay basin gradually thickened into a paste-like texture.
Under the light of the fire pit, it reflected a smooth and beautiful sheen.
Hayoon felt increasingly confident.