Chapter 20: Gunpowder

The ghost fire had already extinguished; Xu Yuan let out a breath, a numb sensation spreading from the wound on his back. Xu Yuan lifted the cage containing Old Man Qiao's corpse and fled swiftly.

This place was still too close to the Old Locust's territory.

Moving another dozen li away, Xu Yuan found a sunny slope, sat down, took off his shirt, and turned his back toward the sun.

He didn't know if it would work.

Then Xu Yuan pulled Old Man Qiao's corpse over and felt around his body to see what else he had.

Hidden in the corpse's clothes were several sheets of calligraphy; Xu Yuan unfolded them and saw they were all "Soaring Clouds" and "Riding the Wind" and the like. The ink was still fresh; Old Man Qiao had written them recently.

What Xu Yuan didn't know was that Old Man Qiao had no use for such calligraphy sheets in the past; whenever he went out, he had a carriage.

But two days ago, he entered the mountains to gather information.

The targets Old Man Qiao sought for information were, of course, the powerful and eerie entities within Ghost Wushan.

But what those eerie entities wanted to obtain from Old Man Qiao was only blood food.

Old Man Qiao had gone in a hurry this time and hadn't prepared enough blood food; to get the information, he could only leave his book boy, coachman, and carriage horses to the eerie entities.

The coachman had worked for the Qiao family for twelve years, and the book boy had followed him for five.

Without the horses and the coachman, Old Man Qiao couldn't possibly pull the carriage back himself; so when Xu Yuan met Old Man Qiao on the official road two days ago, he was walking on his legs with "Soaring Clouds" and "Riding the Wind" calligraphy sheets pasted on them.

Underneath a stack of calligraphy sheets lay a few pages of paper, on which a "Dao Method" cultivation and usage technique was recorded in tiny fly-head script.

The Dao Method was named "The Body-Entering Formation"; Xu Yuan glanced at it roughly and realized it was exactly that move of Chang Xunbei's.

"These are all good things for me," Xu Yuan said, quickly putting them away, then continued to search the corpse.

In the purse were a few taels of loose silver, a ten-tael gold ingot, and besides that, two silver notes of two hundred taels each!

Xu Yuan's breathing quickened; in his entire life, growing up this big, he had never seen so much money!

The Xu family's most valuable property was that old opera stage in River Works Alley, along with the few rooms connected to the rear courtyard.

All added together, it wouldn't exceed one hundred fifty taels.

Cultivators are also human; they must wear clothes and eat, must welcome guests and send off visitors, and have social exchanges.

Moreover, a cultivator's expenses are much greater than those of ordinary people.

Xu Yuan stuffed the money into his chest while muttering: "Old Man Qiao shouldn't have carried so much money on him."

Under normal circumstances, Old Man Qiao would carry loose silver and gold ingots, not those two silver notes.

Old Man Qiao's "Yifangting" inn also functioned as a money shop in the town; traveling merchants needing to exchange large-denomination silver notes would seek convenience at the inn.

Those two silver notes were recently exchanged; Old Man Qiao had intended to bring them back to the city this time.

After making a windfall, Xu Yuan felt refreshed and clear-headed; he even felt the numbness from the wound on his back had lessened a bit.

He continued searching downward, reaching Old Man Qiao's waist, where he felt something hard.

He pulled it out and was startled: "Why didn't he use this treasure?"

It was a short-barreled three-eyed gun, with two stamps clearly carved on the barrel: "Nandu Craftsmanship" and "Chen Wutong".

"Nandu Craftsmanship" indicated this was a product of the Nandu Ministry of Works' Craftsmanship Workshop.

"Chen Wutong" was the name of the maker.

This thing is commonly called a "Three-Eye Cannon" among the people, especially those made by official workshops are considered superior.

Moreover, Old Man Qiao's one was even more extraordinary; it was a Craft Cultivator creation!

With just one shot from this thing, Xu Yuan's head would explode.

Old Man Qiao could subdue the entire Seven Grain Terrace Town; indeed, he had a bottomless treasure, relying not merely on the strength of a Ninth-Rank Literati Cultivator.

This treasure could blast a Seventh-Rank cultivator to death!

—Yet at the critical moment of life and death just now, why didn't Old Man Qiao bring it out to use?

Xu Yuan inspected it and discovered: "So it's broken."

Some component inside had gone wrong; it was unusable now.

Xu Yuan felt a wave of disappointment.

The three-eyed gun was in a leather pouch, and inside was also a small gourd for holding gunpowder.

It is said that this gunpowder is not the same as what is used in firecrackers set off during the New Year; its power is many times greater.

"Take it back and see if the stepmother can repair it." If repaired, it might prove very useful.

Xu Yuan was about to stuff the three-eyed gun and the gunpowder gourd back in when suddenly he stopped, his eyes staring strangely at the gourd.

"I have a bold idea!"

"Can this gunpowder... be used as a Fodder?"

Xu Yuan's first thought was to refine the gunpowder into a Longzhu Waidan, but refining pills requires using the Fu Zhong Huo in the belly.

Gunpowder meeting fire... he feared his belly would explode on the spot.

But then he thought again; Fodder is also a method of cultivation.

For a Rank Dan Xiu, it is not merely a means of refining pills and gathering ingredients.

His Rank Dan Xiu is currently Ninth-Rank; condensing an internal pill would allow him to advance to Eighth-Rank.

For a Rank Dan Xiu, the internal pill is the "Great Fodder," the most fundamental basis of one's own cultivation.

Before a Rank Dan Xiu condenses an internal pill, they must first find a precious thing to serve as the "Fetal Fodder."

It could be a thousand-year treasure herb, a heavenly material and earthly treasure, a spiritual essence, and so on.

Xu Yuan remembered that when his father was alive, he once told him that the most peculiar Rank Dan Xiu used a mysterious Craft Cultivator creation as the "Fetal Fodder"!

But using gunpowder as the Fetal Fodder...

"Isn't that too bold?"

Yet Xu Yuan was full of expectation for the internal pill that such a Fetal Fodder could cultivate.

The disadvantage of being alone away from home was exposed; there was no one nearby to offer guidance. If he were at home, the stepmother could always help him consult a bit.

But he hesitated only a brief moment before Xu Yuan pulled the gourd stopper and poured the gunpowder into his mouth.

Old Man Qiao is dead, but there is still the Holy Maiden; falling into the Holy Maiden's hands means death all the same.

In the short term, Xu Yuan could not find another more suitable "embryo medicine," leaving him no choice; since there was a chance to strengthen his power, he absolutely could not hesitate.

Unexpectedly, compared to those heavenly treasures, the gunpowder was easier to "digest"! After Xu Yuan consumed the gunpowder, in less than half a double-hour, he condensed a dull gray inner pill.

It was roughly the size of a soybean.

Just this tiny thing meant Xu Yuan's Rank Dan Xiu level rose from the Ninth Grade to the Eighth Grade.

Xu Yuan thought to himself that Rank Dan Xiu was indeed one of the strongest combat forces in the early stages.

Moreover, this tiny inner pill of gunpowder of his... truly brought certain special benefits!

An Eighth Grade Rank Dan Xiu can inject certain "characteristics" of the inner pill into the Longzhu Waidan.

"After returning to Huicheng, I must secretly search Old Man Qiao's residence."

"There must be more gunpowder hidden in his mansion."

Xu Yuan packed his things and threw the corpse into a ravine nearby.

The corpse crushed through the wild grass, fell into the darkness at the bottom of the ditch, and immediately a sound of tearing and chewing arose.

Xu Yuan shivered and hurriedly left.

After running more than ten li, a faint scent drifted in the mountain wind; Xu Yuan suddenly felt some instinct within his body act uncontrollably. With a gurgling sound, he rolled onto the ground, his eyes vacant and dazed, and like a meat worm, he began to wriggle and crawl toward a certain direction!

(End of this chapter)