Above the Great Dao
Chapter 109 - 66: The Cannon’s Mother is Furious

Chapter 109: Chapter 66: The Cannon’s Mother is Furious

Chen Shi, with the bookcase on his back and a red barbarian cannon over a person tall on his shoulder, moved forward as Li Tianqing followed quickly, carrying a large basket on his back filled with black iron bullets as big as human heads.

Ahead, Chen Shi’s bookcase also contained three or four black iron bullets.

Each of these things weighed over twenty pounds, stuffed with black gunpowder and painted with a Five Thunders Talisman on the outside, their power extremely strong and aggressive!

Whether it was the black gunpowder or the Five Thunders Talisman, both were extremely unstable and could explode with the slightest carelessness.

If one were to explode, the other bullets would surely follow suit, and not only would they, as small cultivators in the Divine Embryo Realm, be blown to bits, but even a Great Cultivator in the third stage of the Divinity Transformation Stage, the Divinity Transformation Realm, would have their Primordial Spirit annihilated. And for a cultivator in the fourth stage, the Divine Descent Realm, it would be a tragic end indeed!

Yet Chen Shi and Li Tianqing walked with light steps, showing not the slightest hint of readiness to take to the skies, chatting and laughing as they went.

They were so nonchalant because Chen Shi had affixed a Calming Talisman on top, rendering the Five Thunders Talisman and the black gunpowder somewhat less dangerous. Still, Li Tianqing felt that the Calming Talisman could not settle the spirit of the artillery shells. Oddly enough, it did have a calming effect on his own emotions.

From the distant mountains came thrilling pulsations. Upon climbing to the top of a mountain, they could faintly see a bright light, likely the divine radiance formed by the outbreak of Spell power, reflecting from the valley, and shimmering through the porcelain-like tree leaves of the mountain, creating a colorful sight.

"Once this job is done, I’m heading back to my hometown." freёNovelFire-com

Li Tianqing set down the basket on the mountaintop and said, "Little Ten, before I leave, I’ll give you a few sets of books, old books I brought with me on this trip. Poems, books, Rites of Zhou, Doctrine of the Mean, The Great Learning, mainly the sages’ works."

Chen Shi set down the red barbarian cannon, took off his bookcase, and took out a black iron bullet from it, asking, "Will they test on this during the county examination?"

"They will."

Li Tianqing licked his finger and held it in the wind to roughly estimate the wind direction and speed, saying, "I passed the Scholar rank last year, and it was included in the Literary Examination. If you pass the Scholar rank this spring, we might be able to take the imperial examination together in August. The examination for Scholar happens only once every three years; if one doesn’t pass this autumn, they’d have to wait another three years."

Chen Shi wrapped the gunpowder in a rag and stuffed it into the long barrel of the cannon, then picked up a stick to poke it down firmly, saying, "But the provincial examination is for Scholar, you would take it in Quanzhou, and I in Xinxiang; too bad we can’t sit it together."

Li Tianqing inserted the fuse into the red barbarian cannon, saying, "It is indeed a pity. However, if one passes Scholar and goes further, one can take part in the imperial examination. By then, we’ll all have to travel to the Western Capital for the examination."

Chen Shi, excitedly, said, "At that time, let’s see who can become the top scorer!"

He felt full of confidence, with Zhu Xiucai’s teachings, he was certain to make a name for himself!

He loaded the bullet into the barrel and took out two Yellow Turban Warrior Talismans. Accompanying the burning of the talismans, two Golden Armored Gods gradually appeared, becoming clearer and clearer.

Li Tianqing praised, "This is really bloodcurdling! The blood of the Black Pot used for the talismans creates ones several times more powerful than those made with other dog blood, truly clear!"

Chen Shi arranged the two Golden Armored Gods properly, with the red barbarian cannon propped on their shoulders, and had them hold the barrel of the cannon with their hands to stabilize it.

Li Tianqing took a small notebook and started sketching and writing, Chen Shi leaned in to look, and saw various strange patterns and numbers written on the paper.

"I learned a bit of Skill calculations from the red barbarians."

Li Tianqing calculated while explaining, "The red barbarians, also called the Red-haired Ghosts, with red hair and green eyes, descended from Europeans, came to the West Bull New Continent with the fleet of the three treasure eunuchs. The red barbarian cannon was made by them. The red barbarian who taught me, surnamed Li and named Gen, was a Skill master hired by the Li Family. He told me that to fire a cannon, one must calculate the amount of gunpowder, the weight of the bullets, the wind direction, the distance to the target, and also adjust the angle of the cannon mouth."

"Is it that complicated?"

Chen Shi had thought firing a cannon merely involved stuffing in gunpowder and bullets before igniting it; he hadn’t expected calculations to be required.

Fortunately, Li Tianqing understood these things and quickly completed the calculations.

Li Tianqing brought a ruler and a measuring tape, meticulously measuring and checking against the data on the paper, saying, "If you pass Scholar but don’t succeed in the imperial examination, you can try for the Divine Mechanism Camp. The Divine Mechanism Camp requires knowledge of Skill. Their cannon fire must be unfailingly accurate. If this shot hits, after I pass Scholar, I’ll try for the Divine Mechanism Camp! The Divine Mechanism Camp pays well, and with many people having died this time, it should be easy to enter!"

Chen Shi adjusted the cannon mouth position and the stance of the two divine beings according to his directions, shaking his head, "Xiao Jin won’t like you. Xiao Jin likes men like me."

Li Tianqing snorted softly, saying under his breath, "I think Xiao Jin looks at me differently."

Chen Shi laughed as he took out a lighter, saying, "You’re mistaken. I think there’s a light in Xiao Jin’s eyes when she looks at me..."

Just then, the sky suddenly darkened, a column of darkness shot out from the mountains, piercing high into the sky, forming a great curtain of darkness that enveloped the heavens.

Everything around became pitch black, their hands invisible before their eyes, with only the faint glow from the two Golden Armored Gods still visible.

The two of them felt a mix of shock and uncertainty, suddenly feeling an overwhelming surge of violent energy within them, their inner demons chaotically dancing.

They hadn’t yet encountered Heart Refinement, so naturally, they had no idea that this state was extremely dangerous.

If their minds were seized by inner demons, they would undergo Demon Transformation, becoming muddled and only able to act on instinct!

The evil Bodhisattva’s influence on the Demon Domain was such that everything alive was slowly transforming into porcelain.