Dragon Canon

In front of everyone, Sun Yu mixed a batch of gunpowder using the new formula and set it off.

There was a thunderous boom, and a wave of hot air swept over everyone, accompanied by a tingling sensation. As promised, the new gunpowder was immensely powerful and even contained a hint of thunderous might. It also produced almost no smoke or dust as well[1].

After the demonstration, Sun Yu waited for the group’s feedback. This was also a crucial part of the research process in the Palace of Absolute Beginning. The other mountain's stone can polish jade; sometimes, even comments from laymen could spark new ideas or help identify shortcomings.

Wei Yuan had a basic understanding of the Dao of pillmaking and apothecary, so he had little to say about the formula or the properties of the ingredients. If he tried, he could only come up with the exact same phrase as Xu Wenwu: “Holy shit.”

However, Wei Yuan’s focus lay elsewhere. While the new gunpowder had significantly improved potency, it was also over ten times more expensive than the old gunpowder.

The original gunpowder, after mass production, had dropped to a few hundred catties per tael of immortal silver. Wei Yuan reckoned that a tael of immortal silver could only purchase five catties of the new gunpowder.

After watching Sun Yu’s demonstration, Yu Zhizhuo remarked, “If we’re only aiming for explosive power, then there is still some room for improvement. If you refine it like this....”

Yu Zhizhuo scooped up a handful of the new gunpowder and, using his Dao energy, compressed it into round, sand-like granules. The interior of the granules was loose and not compact. Upon retesting, its destructive power had indeed increased by 20%.

Sun Yu continued, “This formula can be improved in two directions. One, we can enhance the quality of the Thunder Sand, Inch-Gold Charcoal, and Fire Gel to increase the potency. We can even take it a step further and replace the Thunder sand with Profound Thunder Stone for greater power.

“On the other hand, we could align it closer with the original formula to yield cheaper gunpowder. Finding the optimal balance between potency and cost will require extensive experimentation.”

Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. The previous battles had shown that the quantity of firearms was the key to turning the tide of battle, not its quality. Firearms inherently lacked sufficient firepower—an elite force armed with powerful firearms were simply no match for a force of powerful cultivators capable of dishing out far more powerful Dao spells.

Thanks to all the wars he had fought, Wei Yuan had become exceptionally sensitive to the dynamics of the battlefield. The reason firearms were capable of changing the course of a war was because it allowed mortal humans to take the field and fight effectively as well. It was a strategy that could fundamentally turn the tides of a battle.

Without firearms, less than 20,000 of the realm’s 100,000 plus inhabitants would be fit for battle. With them, everyone would be fit for battle. Combined with Life is a Flash, Wei Yuan effectively—albeit temporarily—commanded 100,000 elite troops. Even without it, he still had 100,000 ordinary soldiers.

Assuming that an ordinary mortal human kept to an ordinary diet, it would take them at least two or three years to reach the flesh-tempering stage. Training them into an archer would require an additional three years of training, or two-and-a-half years if they were to become a saber-and-shield warrior. Out of all the occupations, training a spearman was the easiest, requiring just one year of training.

However, training a steel-barrel gunner took only three days. In desperate times, even one hour of training was enough! A steel-barrel gun could hit a target the size of a door panel from ten zhang away, and just pointing their weapon in roughly the right direction was enough to hit a target. If anything, there was little point in aiming precisely.

The new gunpowder packed a wallop, and everyone was quite excited. Inspiration overflowing, they offered numerous suggestions and discussed many potential improvements in just two hours.

For example, Yu Zhizhuo had suggested that the Thunder-Struck Wutong[2] could be used as a substitute for the Profound Thunder Stone. There was a thunder tree right here at Qingming. If they placed a Phoenix Blood Wutong next to it and subjected it to daily lightning strikes, it could transform into a Thunder-Struck Wutong within half a year’s time. While its properties were slightly weaker than those of the Profound Thunder Stone, it cost only one-tenth the price.

Finally, there was the matter of the optimal ratio for the formula. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any good way to do this besides testing bit by bit. Previously, Sun Yu had divided each ingredient into ten small portions and tested them one by one. For example, he tested one set of gunpowder with eight parts Thunder Sand and one part Inch-Gold Charcoal, another set with eight parts Thunder Sand and two parts Inch-Gold Charcoal... Using this laborious method, it took him over 1,700 tests before he arrived at the current ratio.

Wei Yuan finally understood why Sun Yu kept complaining about a shortage of manpower, even though he’d already assigned a dozen people to assist him.

Speaking of which, Sun Yu turned to Ji Liuli and requested, “Senior Sister Ji, I’m afraid I’ll need to borrow your Devil Suppressing Pagoda when the time comes. It’ll save me some effort.”

Ji Liuli’s Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda also possessed the power to emulate the heavenly mysteries. After discussing the matter at length, Ji Liuli set up an array on the spot and placed the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda at its center. Half of the spirit objects she used had been exchanged by Wei Yuan; he couldn’t always let her pay for his work and not the other way around.

Beneath the pagoda, Sun Yu used his Dao energy to simulate the physical properties of several raw materials before sending them into the array. The two of them would continuously adjust and fiddle with the array until finally, a ball of fire swelled from beneath the Devil Suppressing Nine Level Pagoda—the raw materials Sun Yu had simulated with his Dao energy had ignited successfully!

Although it wasn’t quite an explosion yet, Ji Liuli remarked after a close examination, “It possesses eighty percent of the essence of a true combustion. This method is viable!”

Watching the visibly excited Sun Yu, she added, “The cost of renting my pagoda is one thousand taels of immortal silver per hour, by the way.”

Before they knew it, dawn had broken.

The Palace cultivators dispersed, some to eat breakfast, while others to perform their morning rituals. Wei Yuan tried to leave, but Yu Zhizhuo grabbed him by the arm and asked, “Where do you think you’re going, Realm Lord Wei?”

Wei Yuan struggled futilely as he replied, “I have books to read....”

Yu Zhizhuo started dragging him toward a certain direction. “It is said that there are golden houses and beauties as fair as jade beneath the earth, and it so happened that I just found some lovely, lovely things in the underground. Let’s go take a look together, shall we?”

Four hours later, Wei Yuan didn’t find a single goddamn thing he would consider lovely, but he had seen another million catties of various ores.

Yu Zhizhuo beamed with delight. While directing the cultivators to install support pillars and crossbeams in the passage Wei Yuan had cleared, he praised him, “Since you advanced to the middle-stage, your Dao energy has improved dramatically, Junior Nephew! Me and a dozen of my junior brothers combined still wouldn’t be enough to match you! It’s a pity you can’t be in two places at once. That is why I have no choice but to catch you from time to time.”

The remark sparked an idea in Wei Yuan’s head. He materialized a faceless warrior and asked, “What do you think of this?”

A ring of light appeared before the faceless warrior, followed by a jet of water. It was none other than the Rushing Water Blade spell. However, it was nowhere as powerful as Wei Yuan’s; only about equivalent to a full-powered strike from an ordinary Human-tier Dao Foundation. Still, it was enough to cut through stone.

Since Wei Yuan had advanced to the middle-stage of the Dao Foundation stage, the scope of the Dao techniques these faceless warriors could employ had expanded as well. What was once a simple Water Stream spell now had Water Blades in it, finally turning it into a true Rushing Water Blade spell[3].

The faceless warrior kept unleashing a jet of water, chipping away at the rock layer bit by bit.

At first, Yu Zhizhuo’s brows were furrowed. A teatime later, his expression grew stern. An incense stick later, he looked astonished, and two incense sticks later, he looked positively speechless.

If an ordinary Human-tier cultivator were to cast a Dao spell like this, they would run out of Dao energy in just a teatime. Only an earth foundation could sustain it for the duration of an incense stick, but two incense sticks would likely result in their death from exhaustion.

“How long can this puppet spell last, Junior Nephew?”

Wei Yuan replied, “From sunup to sundown.”

He then condensed a speck of light and handed it to Yu Zhizhuo. “This is the mental technique to control it.”

Yu Zhizhuo accepted the mental technique and tested it briefly. The faceless warrior withdrew the Dao spell, walked to the other side, and continued digging as per his command.

The Daoist was still hesitating when two more faceless warriors appeared before him. Wei Yuan said knowingly, “I have two more. You can have them all, Senior Uncle.”

A smile instantly spread across Yu Zhizhuo’s face, and he gave Wei Yuan a hearty pat on the back. “Go on about your day!”

Obviously, three puppet cultivators capable of working from sunup to sundown were far more useful than Wei Yuan, who came and went as he pleased and was never sure when he could be called upon. From now on, Yu Zhizhuo could properly plan the underground excavation in its entirety and progress much faster than he had up until this point. Wei Yuan would only be needed for the most difficult sections.

The Dao energy fueling the three puppet cultivators still came from Wei Yuan. Would he run out of Dao energy then? Long story short, his natural Dao energy regeneration equaled that of three human foundations. Therefore, these three faceless warriors could work from sunup to sundown, and his energy reserves would remain the same as before.

“By the way, Senior Uncle,” Wei Yuan said, “let’s adjust the output a bit. For every three portions of iron and copper, set aside one portion to make various tools.”

“No problem. Now follow me, I’m going to show you another lovely thing.”

Wei Yuan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Yu Zhizhuo was walking upward, not downward. To be honest, he admired his senior uncle for his single-minded love for geology. He could spend over twenty hours a day underground and never get bored or feel suffocated. In fact, he found rock veins to be more alluring than even the most stunning beauties.

After the two made their way back to the surface, Yu Zhizhuo led Wei Yuan to his private workshop.

The courtyard was small, but seven different arrays had been set up within. There were over a dozen anvil stands and workbenches of various kinds, along with hundreds of tools. There were more than thirty hammers of all sizes alone—the smallest as tiny as an ant, while the largest weighed several thousand catties. Every single hammer was at least an upper-grade mystic artifact. There were even two mystic treasure-grade hammers among them.

Yu Zhizhuo solemnly produced a steel tube glowing with a deep blue light and handed it to Wei Yuan, chuckling. “I’ve had to dip into my personal stash quite a bit to make this.”

Wei Yuan took it and examined it closely. The steel tube was six chi long, hollow on the inside, and open at both ends. It had an internal diameter of roughly a chicken egg and an external diameter of a teacup. As Wei Yuan had large hands, it fit perfectly in his grip.

The steel tube faintly emanated a chilling aura. It was, in fact, a top-grade mystic artifact. Despite its unremarkable appearance, it actually weighed over 700 catties. Even with his strength, he had to exert some effort to wield it properly.

Yu Zhizhuo then produced two spearheads, one long and one short. Attached to both ends of the steel tube, and it would become a short spear.

“I originally left behind these open ends for potential breech-loading ammunition in the future. Now that Sun Yu had developed a new type of gunpowder, many of those ideas could finally be realized. Let me first show you the original design.”

Yu Zhizhuo brought out a box filled with gunpowder sealed in oiled paper. Each sealed stick of gunpowder was exactly one chi in length, with identical dimensions in size, thickness, and length.

He then led Wei Yuan to the firing range, grabbed the steel tube, and plugged the rear end. He said, “This gun has three attributes. They are Indestructible, Frost, and Stainless.”

He understood the first two—Indestructible and Frost—the former being the advanced version of Fortify[4], and the latter preventing the barrel from overheating and damaging the internal array, while also imbuing the projectiles with frost power to slow an opponent’s movements. But what was the point of Stainless? Wasn’t it a common enchantment for Daoist robes? Robes with this attribute rarely needed washing and could ward off poisons and curses.

In fact, upon further reflection, he had doubts about the usefulness of the Frost attribute as well. After firing its shot, a steel-barrel gun like this was typically wielded like a staff. At most, he would reattach a spearhead to use as an ordinary spear. Whether the tube got hot or not was completely irrelevant.

Yu Zhizhuo wore an expression that said, “I knew you wouldn’t get it, boy,” and pulled out another box. To Wei Yuan’s surprise, it was filled with spearheads.

Yu Zhizhuo made a sweeping gesture with his hand, and five segments of gunpowder along with a spearhead flew out automatically. The columns of gunpowder filed one after another into the barrel through the muzzle, followed by the spearhead. Holding the long spear, Yu Zhizhuo aimed directly at a stone target dozens of zhang away.

There was a deafening roar, and the stone target—clad in middle-grade mystic artifact-grade armor and boasting defenses equivalent to those of an earth foundation—was pierced right through by a single shot!

But Yu Zhizhuo did not stop there. With a loud shout, all the gunpowder and spearheads flew into the air, automatically arranging themselves into a neat formation. They were then loaded and fired, loaded and fired, over and over again. As the roars merged into a continuous din, Yu Zhizhuo fired over ten shots in the blink of an eye, shattering half of a massive boulder encased in steel plates.

Seeing this, Wei Yuan finally realized that the purpose of Stainless was to ensure the smooth loading of gunpowder! His senior uncle’s imagination and genius truly knew no bounds.

This rapid-fire burst, if measured by the standards of Xu Wenwu’s world, had a rate of fire exceeding 500 rounds per minute. It was a veritable machine gun!

But of course, a muzzle-loading, one-shot machine gun had never appeared in that world before[5].

Yu Zhizhuo handed the gun to Wei Yuan and said, “This is a top-grade mystic artifact, on par with the mystic swords used by Junior Nephew Xiao Yu and Cui Yu[6]. I’ve named it Immaculate Pure Land, and now I’m giving it to you. But now that we have a new type of gunpowder, I’ll need to re-measure and repack the gunpowder accordingly. One thing for certain, its potency will increase. In fact, this gun can handle it even with a full charge.”

Wei Yuan took the Immaculate Pure Land and pondered about the meaning behind the name: Was his senior uncle wishing his enemies a good reincarnation?

With this gun in hand, killing earth foundations would be as easy as killing dogs, and even heaven foundations would not be able to withstand a single mag-dump. It was truly a weapon designed for mass combat.

Holding the gun, Wei Yuan felt a mix of pride and resignation. It was because even without this gun, he was already killing earth foundations as easily as killing dogs.

1. This is why I’m almost certain they’re talking about gun cotton. Well, this world’s version of gun cotton. ☜

2. Or Chinese parasol tree, thunderstruck version. Heh. ☜

3. If you ask me, “Didn’t Wei Yuan already use them to fire off chains of Rushing Water Blade spells against Xu Shiqi earlier? Yes he did. Why is the author making it sound like they have only gained the ability to use the spell? I have no idea. I’m just as confused as you are and searching through the Chinese comments apparently no one thought anything amiss. Maybe you can tell me why. ☜

4. You’ve actually seen this before. For example in chapter 76, there’s this line: “Although Wei Yuan’s javelins performed like mystic artifacts, he could tell that they were Fortified at most.” ☜

5. So like, imagine a musket but you reload it so fast it becomes a machine gun. Lol. ☜

6. Remember, they need a medium to channel their Immortal Swords. ☜