Chapter 211: Heavenly Thunder

Because it was made relatively small, the disturbance was not too great, and no one discovered what happened here. Baifeng casually kicked some dirt over the spot to hide the traces, then went to make a larger firecracker.

This time, Baifeng chose a piece of bamboo thicker than his arm, and at the same time, he thinned the inner wall of the Bamboo Tube. This way, it could hold more Gunpowder, and the firecracker would also burst more easily; the power might be even greater.

After Baifeng finished making this firecracker, it was even larger than his forearm. At least in Baifeng's view, the power should be astonishing. The Fuse was also made as long as the firecracker and was quite thick, because for such a large firecracker, the length of the Fuse did not really matter.

However, for just one of these, he used up all the Gunpowder he had previously prepared. But Baifeng did not care; now he had plenty of raw materials and could still make a great deal of Gunpowder.

This time, Baifeng did not intend to test it secretly; instead, he called over the main members of the tribe, which could be considered giving them a bit of a shock and also boosting their confidence.

More than twenty people gathered around to look at the strange, large Bamboo Tube in Baifeng's hands, as well as the thing hanging off the outside of the tube. In short, they could not understand it. Baifeng did not explain the principle to everyone; this was something Baifeng had to keep in his own hands, to be passed down to his own children in the future.

Furthermore, even if he explained it to them, they would not understand. If he really had to say, Baifeng himself did not understand it either; he only knew the formula, not the principle. He only vaguely remembered that Saltpeter was for combustion, while Sulfur was the main source of power.

This time, Baifeng did not intend to light the fire himself to demonstrate the item to his subordinates—would it be proper for him to be running around like a servant? So, he just found a Slave and told him to light it.

Baifeng placed the Bamboo Tube ten meters away, then piled large clods of dirt around the tube. For one, it was to make the tube stand steady, and for another, it could put on a show of force when it exploded; if he used stones, the visual effect might not be as good.

He told the Slave to take a Torch and light it, warning him repeatedly that he must light the end of the Fuse and not to light it in the middle or at the base, and that after lighting it, he should run as fast as he could and get far away. The Slave nodded to show he understood, but in his heart, he had no idea what was about to happen and was somewhat dismissive.

Watching the Torch being whipped about by the wind with a whistling sound, Baifeng was always afraid that if it did not light in the right spot, the Slave would not have time to run. Plus, the Torch was indeed inconvenient, and if he were to use it in the future, it would not be safe enough. Although he could use flint to start a fire, to light an Explosive, he needed a stable fire source. Thus, Baifeng decided that as soon as he went back, he would make a Fire Tinder; he knew how to make this, and he had all the raw materials.

The Slave was about to light it, but Baifeng felt it was still not secure enough, so he told him to stop for a moment, pulled the crowd back a few steps, and only then let the Slave light it.

The Slave straightforwardly touched the Torch to the Fuse, completely lacking the cowardly, side-lunging posture Baifeng had used to light it. However, the Slave did not know that Baifeng was gripping the ground with his toes, wanting to run for him.

It looked like the Fuse had been lit, so the Slave started to jog away with the Torch. Baifeng shouted anxiously, "Run!"

The Slave was startled, and then there was a loud bang behind him. His ears buzzed and he could not hear anything, and then, somehow, he fell to the ground, his back aching with a piercing pain.

The loud bang made the people on Baifeng's side tremble in their legs, and a cloud of white smoke rose from that spot, followed by many flying clods of dirt and dust that struck everyone.

Except for Baifeng, who marveled that the power of his large firecracker was truly not bad, the others were already trembling with fear, thinking that Heavenly Thunder had fallen here. But seeing that there was not a single cloud in the sky, they thought the gods were angry and were very terrified, thinking only that their tribe had not done anything to provoke the gods. Could it be because they had killed those Slaves in front of the gods?

Although they had been affected, they were not injured; the clods of dirt that hit them no longer had much force, mainly because they had been shattered into small pieces by the explosion.

Baifeng brushed the dirt off his body, suppressed the joy in his heart, and slowly walked toward the explosion point. Only by walking closer could he analyze the lethal range of the explosion.

At a distance of about five or six meters, fragments of bamboo were scattered. If this were replaced with broken pottery shards or iron pieces, those would be the primary means of injury. Walking further in, one could see scattered black powder, which was the mark of the Explosive.

Centered on the spot where the Gunpowder was placed, there was a black circle with a diameter of about two meters, with a large crater in the center. Baifeng was truly very satisfied with the power of this firecracker.

He stood there, laughing loudly toward the sky, and then called everyone over to look, completely ignoring the Slave who was groaning nearby. Of course, it was not that Baifeng was cruel and lacked humanity, but that based on the distance, he deduced the Slave was not seriously injured. He would let him suffer a little for now and give him a treat later.

Those people walked toward Baifeng cautiously. They saw the situation on the road, and the smell of smoke lingering in the air made them all very uncomfortable.

"What do you think of my Heavenly Thunder?"

Baifeng looked at the crowd with a grin.

Hearing this, they gradually reacted: "Tribal Chief, do you mean that the thunder just now was made by you?"

"That's right, how is the power? Is it very impressive?"

The Shaman did not speak, but knelt directly on the ground, and the others also hurriedly knelt together, all of them silent. The Shaman also wanted to speak, but had no idea what to say. The Tribal Chief had just released Heavenly Thunder, which meant he was completely like a god. Since he had released Heavenly Thunder for them, he must have something to say.

Seeing everyone kneeling, Baifeng was not surprised. It was normal to want to worship when seeing something supernatural, especially something with huge power. But he did not intend for them to worship him right now; he just wanted them to see this power and boost their confidence.

"Everyone, get up. Don't kneel. I didn't intend to hurt you. I called you here just to tell you that from now on, as long as I am here, our tribe will have such Heavenly Thunder—and even more powerful ones—to protect us. It can even be used for offense in war. So, in the future, whatever you do, do it with confidence. With me here, do you understand?"

They bowed their heads heavily before getting up, then whispered to each other in twos and threes, discussing the matter.

Seeing them like this, Baifeng felt a bit bored. No one could understand what he was doing, and he did not even have anyone to share his joy with. It seemed he would have to cultivate his children well in the future; at least then there would be someone who understood his thoughts.

Afterward, Baifeng walked over to check on the Slave. The Slave was not actually knocked down by the explosion; the shockwave at his position did not have that much power at all. He had just been startled and tripped while running, and his back was stuck with many bamboo splinters.

Now he was lying on the ground groaning. Baifeng took off his thin clothing and pulled out the obvious bamboo splinters. There were still many small barbs, but Baifeng was too lazy to pull them out, so he scraped some charcoal from the extinguished Torch nearby and wrote the word "Medicine" on his hand as a token, telling him to go find the healer for treatment and say it was arranged by him.