Chapter 68: The Bloody Red Barbarian Cannon
Chen Shi carried the book crate and shouldered a Red Barbarian Cannon taller than a man. Behind him, Li Tianqing followed quickly, carrying a large basket piled full of black iron pellets the size of human heads.
Each weighed over ten kilograms. They were stuffed full of black gunpowder and painted with Great Five Thunder Talismans. Their power was extremely yang and fierce!
Both the black gunpowder and the Great Five Thunder Talismans were volatile; a slight mishap would cause an explosion.
If one exploded, the others would inevitably follow. Let alone their two Divine Embryo Realm young cultivators, even the Primordial Spirit of a Spirit Transformation Stage third realm great cultivator would be blown to ashes. A fourth realm God Descent Realm great cultivator would probably meet their end too!
Yet Chen Shi and Li Tianqing walked lightly, unaware that they might fly into the sky at any moment. They chatted and laughed as they walked.
The reason for their calm was that Chen Shi had pasted Calming Talismans on them, making the Great Five Thunder Talismans and black gunpowder less dangerous. But Li Tianqing doubted the Calming Talisman could soothe a cannonball's spirit. Strangely enough, his emotions were quite stable.
Thrilling palpitations emanated from the distant mountains. The two climbed to a mountaintop to look, faintly seeing bright light. It should be the divine light formed when spell power erupted, shining from the valley and reflected by the crystal leaves of the porcelain trees all over the mountain, dazzlingly colorful.
“After finishing this job, I'm going back to my hometown.”
Li Tianqing put down the basket on the hilltop and said, “Little Ten, before leaving, I'll give you a few sets of books. They are old books I brought with me on this trip. Classic of Poetry, Book of Documents, Rites of Zhou, Doctrine of the Mean, Great Learning, mostly the Master's books.”
Chen Shi put down the Red Barbarian Cannon, lowered the book crate from his back, took out a black iron pellet, and asked, “Will they be tested in the county exam?” “They will.”
Li Tianqing licked his finger and held it up in the wind to estimate wind direction and speed. “I passed the Xiucai exam last year, and they were tested in that literary exam. If you pass the Xiucai exam this spring, we might be able to take the Juren exam together in August of the second half of the year. The Juren exam is only every three years. If you can't pass the Juren exam in autumn, you'll have to wait another three years.”
Chen Shi wrapped the gunpowder in a piece of torn clothing, stuffed it into the long cannon barrel, picked up a stick to poke it, and compacted it. “But the Juren exam is a provincial exam. You should be taking it in Quanzhou, and I'll be in Xinxiang. Pity we can't take it together.”
Li Tianqing inserted the fuse into the Red Barbarian Cannon. “It is indeed a pity. However, if we pass the Juren exam and go further, we can participate in the Palace Examination. At that time, everyone has to go to Xijing to take the exam.”
Chen Shi said excitedly, “Then let's see who wins Top Scorer!”
He was full of confidence. With Scholar Zhu's teachings, he would surely amaze the world with a single feat!
He put the pellet into the cannon barrel and took out two Yellow Turban Strongman Talismans. As the talismans burned, two Golden Armored Gods gradually emerged, becoming clearer and clearer.
Li Tianqing praised, “Excellent dog blood! Talismans drawn with Black Pot's blood are several times more powerful than other dog blood. Truly pure!”
Chen Shi positioned the two Golden Armored Gods. The Red Barbarian Cannon was mounted on the shoulders of the two gods, and he also had them support the cannon body with their hands to stabilize it.
Li Tianqing took out a small notebook and wrote and drew. Chen Shi leaned over and saw strange patterns drawn on the paper with numbers.
“I studied mathematics with a Red Barbarian for a while.”
Li Tianqing calculated while saying, “Red Barbarians are also called Red-Haired Ghosts. They have red hair and green eyes. Their ancestors were Europeans who came to the West Ox New Continent with Admiral Zheng He's fleet. They built the Red Barbarian Cannons. The Red Barbarian who taught me was named Li Gen, a mathematics teacher hired by the Li family. He told me that to fire a cannon, one must calculate the amount of gunpowder, the weight of the pellet, wind direction, target distance, and adjust the cannon muzzle angle.”
“So troublesome?”
Chen Shi thought firing a cannon only required stuffing in gunpowder and a pellet, then lighting the fire. He didn't expect it to require calculation.
Fortunately, Li Tianqing understood these things and quickly finished.
Li Tianqing took a compass and ruler, measuring bit by bit and comparing with the data on the paper. “If you pass the Juren exam but fail the Palace Examination, you can take the exam for the Divine Machine Battalion. The Divine Machine Battalion requires testing in mathematics. When they fire cannons, they must not miss a single shot. If this shot hits, I'll take the exam for the Divine Machine Battalion after passing the Juren exam! The Divine Machine Battalion makes a lot of money, and since many people died this time, it must be easy to get in!”
Chen Shi followed his instructions to adjust the cannon muzzle orientation and the posture of the two gods, shaking his head, “Little Jin won't like you. Little Jin likes men like me.”
Li Tianqing grunted and whispered, “I think the way Little Jin looks at me is different.”
Chen Shi took out a fire starter and laughed, “That's your illusion. I think when Little Jin looks at me, there's light in her eyes...”
The sky went dark. Pillars of dark light flew out from the mountains, shooting straight into the high sky, turning into a great dark curtain that shrouded the firmament.
Pitch darkness swallowed everything; they couldn't see their hands in front of their faces. Only the light emitted by the two Golden Armored Gods was barely visible.
The two were bewildered, feeling incomparable violent qi generate in their bodies. For a moment, inner demons danced wildly.
They had not yet touched upon Mind Refining, so they didn't know this state was extremely bad.
If the mind were occupied by inner demons, a person would become demonized, muddled, knowing only to act on instinct!
The Evil Bodhisattva's influence on the Demonic Domain was that all living things slowly turned into porcelain.
And Chen Yindu's Demonic Domain was to demonize all living things, then absorb them!
“Tianqing, something's wrong...”
As Chen Shi spoke, the sky cleared. Sunlight shone down. Not only did the black heavenly curtain disappear, but even the heavenly curtain formed by the Evil Bodhisattva's Demonic Domain vanished!
The demonic nature controlling the two also evaporated.
Li Tianqing was astonished, looking up at the sky: “What exactly happened? The Demonic Domain seems to have collapsed. Could it be... Grandpa and the others succeeded?!”
Overjoyed, he laughed aloud: “Little Ten, our plan worked! They succeeded! They executed the Evil Bodhisattva!”
Chen Shi looked around. A gentle breeze blew, rustling the leaves all over the mountains. Leaves collided, making the crisp sound of porcelain, but at the same time, rustling sounds could be heard.
That was a portion of leaves beginning to transform from porcelain to normal state!
Accompanying the collapse of the Evil Bodhisattva's Demonic Domain, these trees actually began to recover!
Chen Shi was both surprised and delighted. He squatted down to check the wild grass on the ground; these stubborn lives were recovering vitality too!
At this time, Li Tianqing spoke up, “Little Ten! The people in the Zhao family camp are preparing to leave!”
Chen Shi stood and looked towards the Zhao family camp. He saw the Zhao family's Brocade Guards clustering around the Zhao family descendants and a few porcelain dolls, rushing towards the outside of the mountain. They had activated Armored Horse Talismans and were very fast. Even more amazing was that those few porcelain dolls were gradually transforming into living people!
When Chen Shi intended to light the fire, these people had already turned past a foothill, disappearing behind it.
Qianyang Mountain had many ridges and changeable terrain. The Red Barbarian Cannon required measurement and calculation, making it inconvenient to fire.
“We can't let them leave alive!”
Chen Shi was murderous. He shouldered the book crate. “No need for the cannon. We'll use the black iron pellets directly to blow these guys away! These Zhao family people caused the Evil Bodhisattva and killed so many; they must pay with their lives!”
He immediately went down the mountain, pursuing those Zhao family descendants and Brocade Guards.
Li Tianqing hesitated for a moment, activated the Armored Horse Talismans on his legs, carried the black iron pellets, and quickly followed. “Little Ten, the living beings porcelainized by the Evil Bodhisattva are starting to recover. Without the Evil Bodhisattva's influence, those porcelainized experts of the Zhao family might recover too. If they recover, I'm afraid we aren't their match...”
More than just not a match?
Let alone the Spirit Transformation Realm Zhao Yanlong and Zhao Yanchu, just the Golden Core Realm Zhao Yanliang—once the Golden Core came out and its light shone, the two of them would be turned to ashes.
Chen Shi hesitated. “If they recover, we stop.”
The two were much faster than the Zhao family descendants and Brocade Guards. After running four or five kilometers of mountain road, they caught up.
The Zhao family descendants and Brocade Guards had suffered torture from evil spirits these days and were starving, almost resorting to cannibalism, but their vigilance was high. They soon discovered the pursuers.
“It's the murderer who killed the Eldest Young Master!” someone recognized Chen Shi and shouted.
Immediately, dozens of people slowed down. Zhao Yanlong was slowly recovering his flesh and blood body. Hearing this, he was both surprised and delighted, tears in his eyes, laughing to the sky: “Ziyu, is it your spirit in heaven sending this murderer to your father? Good, good! My good son Zhao Yanlong!”
The two sides were sixty or seventy meters apart, already within range of the Midnight-Noon Evil-Slaying Sword. Chen Shi grabbed a black iron pellet, roused his qi and blood, and threw it with force!
“Whoosh—”
His strength was extraordinary. The black iron pellet arrived in an instant, smashing toward one person's head!
The group of Brocade Guards had long prepared their spells. Immediately, someone used a Midnight-Noon Evil-Slaying Sword to meet that pellet.
“Boom!”
As if heavenly thunder triggered earthly fire, thunder and fire burst forth. The firelight formed a fireball over six meters in diameter above everyone's heads!
Below, four or five Brocade Guards and Zhao family descendants were directly shattered. The firelight expanded, swallowing a space of about six hundred square meters. Zhao family descendants and more than ten Brocade Guards flew into mid-air. Limbs and broken arms flew everywhere; almost not a single complete person could be found!
Even more terrifying was the thunder fire. The flame temperature was extremely high. In a short instant, it burned the limbs in the air black!
Eardrums buzzed; they couldn't hear any other sound. They only felt heavenly thunder rolling in their minds, even feeling that heaven and earth were shaking.
The thunder sound was too loud, loosening their souls.
They shook their heads vigorously, as if they could shake the strange noise out, yet the buzzing remained.
The blast wave hurled Zhao Yanlong away. He had not yet completely turned into a human body. Upon landing, he heard a crisp crack from his legs. Startled, he shouted to the nearest Zhao family descendant: “Quick, pick me up!”
“What?” That Zhao family descendant asked loudly, ears buzzing.
“Pick me up!”
This time the Zhao family descendant heard him and hurriedly picked him up, fleeing forward.
Seeing this, other Zhao family descendants also fled, fearing that if they ran slowly, they would be blasted to death by that black iron pellet!
Chen Shi and Li Tianqing chased from behind. Chen Shi grabbed another black iron pellet and threw it!
That pellet whistled towards the rear of the crowd. Just as it was about to fall, a round Golden Core soared into the air, fixing the black iron pellet in mid-air.
Chen Shi shouted in anger. While running wildly, he threw another pellet. With a Clang, it hit the suspended black iron pellet.
“Boom!”
Two black iron pellets exploded in unison. The Golden Core in the air also turned into powder in the terrifying explosion!
Among the people fleeing below, Zhao Yanliang vomited a mouthful of blood, wilting.
The Golden Core was his.
He was a master of the late Golden Core Realm, far beyond what Zhao Ziyu could compare to, but against the firearms of the Medicine King lineage, he wasn't enough. Two black iron pellets shattered his Golden Core, erasing it from existence!
Zhao Yanliang's aura decayed. He tried to call for support, but the surrounding Zhao family descendants and Brocade Guards were all fleeing; no one paid him any attention.
Zhao Yanliang tried his best to stabilize his breath. Hearing rapid footsteps ahead, he looked up and saw a youth carrying a book crate whistling towards him.
“This murderer...”
He raised his hand, trying to condense mana and activate a spell. Although the Golden Core was gone, his foundation was still there, and he could still fight.
But just as his palm raised, Chen Shi was already there. Like lightning, he grabbed his palm and pressed down hard, snapping his wrist with a crack.
Zhao Yanliang trembled in pain and cried out. Chen Shi had already swept past him, slapping the back of his head with a backhand strike.
When Li Tianqing caught up, he saw this Golden Core Realm great expert lying on the ground, brains bursting out.
(End of this chapter)