Blade - Unbound

Chapter 81: New-Style Explosives

It’s the man who destroyed the bandit stronghold!

Li Yan immediately arrived at a conclusion. The secret behind the massacre at Gushui Village had finally begun to reveal itself. Master Lu's family had been fugitives from the capital; their background was undoubtedly extraordinary. More importantly, he had carried a certain treasured painting that was clearly no ordinary object.

Someone in the capital had issued orders, mobilizing powerful outlaws from both the Guanzhong Plains as well as the Shandong Bandits to seize it, while staging the illusion of a village massacre to cover their tracks.

Moreover, there had been more than one faction after the treasure. Master Lu's concubine had been a Yan Sect Black Enchantress who had infiltrated them. During the chaos, she stole the painting for herself. The older man had then followed close behind, unleashing a Crowned Serpent Spirit to slaughter the bandit stronghold.

Had Li Yan not stumbled onto these clues by chance, he never would have figured it out. With so many lives involved, that painting must conceal an enormous secret! Of course, none of that mattered to Li Yan. What mattered was the middle-aged man.

He was unquestionably a master of the mystic path. If he released that Crowned Serpent Spirit, nobody present would survive.

Realizing the situation they were in, Li Yan quietly edged closer toward Sha Lifei while simultaneously forming his hand seal, hoping to use his divine sense to determine what preparations the man had made.

Suddenly, the middle-aged man seemed to sense something and looked directly toward him.

He can detect divine abilities?!

Li Yan's heart trembled and immediately let his hand seal drop. He was certain the middle aged man was the most formidable practitioner of the mystic path he had encountered so far. Even if Luo Mingzi was present, he probably would not be a match.

Meanwhile, the scar-faced youth finally moved. The courthouse runners drawing their weapons had apparently infuriated him. With a low growl, he charged forward with his bone mace.

Guan Wanche gave the order without hesitation. “Fire!”

He had already concluded these two men were definitely not ordinary travelers. Furthermore, the youth had openly admitted to skinning people alive and exterminating entire families. Anywhere in the dynasty, such crimes would be major cases worthy of direct review by the Ministry of Justice.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three crossbow bolts were fired. Crossbows and bows each had their strengths. A master archer was naturally more powerful and would be treasured by any faction or government office. However, any archer required talent and years of training.

Crossbows, on the other hand, had a lower barrier of training to use while maintaining high accuracy and tremendous killing power. Thus, against ordinary jianghu fighters, crossbows were often more practical.

That was how they had become standard equipment for the Xuan Dynasty’s constables and courthouse enforcers. At such close range, almost nobody could dodge. Yet the scar-faced youth showed no fear. He lifted the bone mace in his right hand and flicked it twice.

Bang! Bang!

Two bolts were instantly knocked aside. His eyesight and reflexes far exceeded those of ordinary martial artists. What was even more astonishing was that his left hand never stopped moving.

With a reverse-gripping motion resembling the Silkhand technique, he actually caught the final crossbow bolt barehanded. Holding it in his hand, he sprang into the air.

With a beautiful twist of his body, his arm whipped around, hurling the captured bolt toward Zhou Pan with a shrill whistle.

The entire sequence was so clean and precise that it flowed like water.

However, Zhou Pan was no ordinary man. He casually raised a hand and caught the incoming bolt aimed at his forehead. Clenching his fist, he snapped it in half and tossed it aside. The moment he snapped it, a vicious gleam appeared in his eyes and he pushed off with both legs, leaping forward at incredible speed.

It was the same Ape Leap technique used by Yuan Qu, but when Zhou Pan displayed a proficiency that was at an entirely different level.

In mountain forests and cliffside heights, monkeys often leaped and played among the trees. As the saying went: "A thousand apes leap among the cassia trees, finding a path through the narrowest opening in the heavens."

Such creatures were extraordinarily agile. When Zhou Pan leaped, hidden force erupted through both his legs. The explosive power launched him forward like a projectile.

Monkeys naturally leaned forward and extended their arms while leaping from branch to branch, and Zhou Pan mirrored the motion. It took him but an instant to cross the stairs and meet the charging scar-faced youth. Forming a claw with his right hand, he slashed at the youth's face.

His timing was impeccable, striking at the moment the opponent's weapon was out of position. If the youth reacted too slowly, his eyes would be gouged out, or his skull would simply be crushed. If he defended, Zhou Pan would simply seize his arm or weapon and transition into tendon-severing, bone-dislocating grappling techniques.

Zhou Pan preferred the second outcome for a simple reason. The traveling physician stood behind the youth. Though Zhou Pan lacked abilities of the mystic path, his martial intuition was exceptional. He could clearly sense the danger posed by that middle-aged man. Taking the youth hostage would provide valuable leverage.

Both sides moved with lightning speed, forcing the exchange to happen in a single breath.

Everyone in the hall could see that the young man was highly skilled from the way he controlled his hidden force. They could tell that the young man was close to the peak of the Dark Jin Realm. Yet it still should not have been enough against Zhou Pan. Old Monkey Zhou was a master at the Jin Transformation Realm. His mind and body had already become one.

His movements appeared casual, but there were endless variations of how he used his force beneath the surface. His qi traveled through his body like flowing water, transforming endlessly to his needs. When he needed it to be soft, the power he unleashed was as gentle as a breeze. When he needed to strike, it transformed into endless power.

After all, the essence of the Jin Transformation Realm lay in the transformation of one’s force. No matter how powerful an attack from a Dark Jin Realm expert, it could be neutralized.

Yet the youth was utterly fearless as Zhou Pan's claw neared him. Suddenly, he ducked into a crouch, tucking his head in and hunching over as he exposed his back to Zhou Pan.

What kind of bizarre technique is this?

The back was a vital weakness! A single palm strike could shatter the spine. No martial art was practiced this way. Was this not an elaborate form of suicide?

The spectators were bewildered, but Zhou Pan's expression changed dramatically. He was close enough to see how unnaturally the youth’s back was bulging. It resembled a hunchback, but the shape was too rigid and square. Something mechanical was hidden beneath his clothing!

A sense of mortal danger surged through Zhou Pan. Unfortunately, he was already airborne and could no longer change direction. He could only cross both arms to protect his vital points.

It was too little too late. The youth's left hand had already hooked a hidden ring concealed inside his sleeve. He yanked it hard. A deafening explosion erupted as gunpowder smoke filled the air. Countless needles were blasted out from the strange mechanism, peppering Zhou Pan.

The youth had indeed concealed a strange item on his back! An iron plate had protected his body from the gunpowder that launched spring-loaded needles. The explosion launched a cloud of smoke and a deadly rain of projectiles.

Li Yan immediately sensed something wrong from the smell and shouted a warning. “There’s poison, get back!”

The crowd had never witnessed such vicious tactics before. Everyone's expressions changed as they retreated.

Unfortunately, several nearby courthouse runners reacted too slowly. After inhaling the poisonous smoke, their faces instantly turned crimson. They clutched their throats and coughed violently while blood streamed from their noses.

The unluckiest person, however, was naturally Zhou Pan. He had grown up in a traditional martial arts school. Though he had spent years in the jianghu, he had always operated according to the old rules.

After becoming president of the Divine Fist Association, he had enjoyed comfort and prestige, rarely fighting others himself. He had never encountered this kind of desperate outlaw tactic. Even a Jin Transformation Realm master was made up of flesh and blood. At such close range, the vast majority of the needles pierced into his body. From the speed at which the courthouse runners were affected, it was easy to tell how deadly the poison contained in the needles was.

It seemed the poison was also not immediately lethal. Instead, it assaulted the nerves directly, leaving the opponent feeling like thousands of red-hot steel spikes being driven into his flesh.

“AAAAAHHHHH!”

Even Zhou Pan could not suppress a scream. As he howled, he felt his body growing powerless as he inhaled an even larger amount of poisonous smoke.

The scar-faced youth was also injured by the blast as blood leaked from his mouth. Despite that, the ferocity in his eyes only intensified.

Hidden force erupted from both legs as he rushed straight for Zhou Pan. His bone mace thrust out in a motion resembling the sword technique: Chasing Stars, Catching Moon.

No one noticed that he was simultaneously pressing a hidden mechanism within the weapon's shaft. As the strike landed squarely on Zhou Pan's chest, the already poisoned man could not resist. The strike carried hidden force, the impact filling the air with the sound of bones snapping. His sternum had been shattered, but it was not over.

The garlic-shaped hammerhead of the bone mace suddenly collapsed inward from the impact, revealing a dark opening.

BOOM!

Another explosion rang out as smoke erupted once more. As he stood frozen, Zhou Pan could no longer feel his body. Looking down in disbelief, he saw a bloody hole the size of a fist in his chest.

The youth snorted and turned away. “Remember the name of the one who killed you. I am Chang'an’s Fire Ghost.”

The sheer brutality of the assault left everyone in stunned silence. Though the poisonous smoke had already dispersed, no one dared pursue him. They could only watch as the scar-faced youth and the traveling physician departed.

Thud.

Zhou Pan collapsed stiffly onto the ground. His face had already turned black and he was no longer breathing.

Zhang Shitong felt his scalp go numb. Unable to resist, he turned toward Zhang Yuanshang. “Father, have you ever seen techniques like this?”

The old man frowned. “I have not.”

Meanwhile, Li Yan picked up a bloodstained iron pellet from the ground and felt his eyelids twitching. “Damn, even these things have appeared now...”

***

“My goodness, you should have seen it!” Sha Lifei gestured animatedly as he recounted the story. “Gunpowder, poison needles, poison smoke; every single thing was designed to kill. Using those tricks, a mere Dark Jin Realm fighter turned Monkey Zhou into a human pincushion.

“Monkey Zhou thought he was clever. He spent all his effort buying off the major factions and trying to fool Little Brother Yan. Too bad he never imagined he would end up dying at the hands of another victim seeking revenge.”

Wang Daoxuan sat on the heated brick bed and listened to the baldy droning on and on. Though he had recovered consciousness, his complexion remained pale.

Eventually, he sighed. “The sun and moon exist because they follow Heaven's way. The four seasons come and go because they follow their proper cycle. When virtue fails to match one's position, calamity inevitably follows.”

Sha Lifei snorted. “With the kind of people serving under him, trouble was bound to come sooner or later.”

He turned toward Li Yan. “Little Yan, what are you looking at?”

Li Yan stared at the iron pellet in his hand with a solemn expression. Slowly shaking his head, he replied, “Nothing much, I simply underestimated how dangerous the jianghu really is. It seems I'll have to be much more careful from now on.”

Explosives.

He should have anticipated he would run into them. Ever since the empire opened its seas, merchant fleets had crossed the oceans constantly. Cannons were used everywhere. The existence of explosives was hardly surprising.

Of course, gunpowder was still prohibited for civilian use. In a world where martial arts flourished, ordinary explosives were little different from powerful concealed weapons when facing true experts.

However, things seemed to be changing. The mechanism hidden on the scar-faced youth's back had used ordinary black powder, but the powder inside his bone mace was different.

It was stronger and much more volatile. Even the smell was unusual. When used in tandem with martial techniques and hidden weapons, it became nearly impossible to defend against. Even Zhou Pan had failed to detect it and defend himself.

Judging by everyone's reactions, this was their first time seeing such a thing. That meant that the new type of gunpowder had only appeared recently.

After the incident, Chang'an had immediately dispatched a massive force. The city gates were sealed and searches were conducted throughout the region. Even Qing Yangzi from the City God Temple had been asked to use his mystic arts to track the culprits. Unfortunately, the two men had vanished without a trace.

From all appearances, the imperial court already knew about the new explosive. It might even have originated from within the government itself. Otherwise they would not be reacting so aggressively.

If Li Yan's suspicions were correct, the world was about to change. Explosives capable of killing Jin Transformation Realm masters... If the imperial court equipped them on a large scale, its control over the jianghu would become even stronger.

Also, secrets never remained hidden forever. Since the weapons had already entered the jianghu, others would eventually acquire them. Many things would inevitably change.

Take their recent rescue mission as an example. Chen Fakui had utilized both explosive charges and sophisticated puppets. If he had possessed the new type of explosive and hidden it inside the puppets, Li Yan and Luo Mengzi would have been the ones lying in some godforsaken patch of the mass grave!

Also, there was one more thing Li Yan discovered. The true culprit behind his father’s death was actually the Maitreya Sect!

Just thinking about it made his head ache.

Seeing the deep frown on Li Yan’s face, Sha Lifei quickly changed the subject and laughed. “Anyway, Zhou Pan's dead now, we can finally sleep peacefully! We should head back to Xianyang today!”

“Let's head back to Xianyang today!”