Lord of the Desert

Chapter 465: Prankster

August 12, the 31st year of Zhenghe.

In the southern part of the capital, in the backyard courtyard.

Fist-sized gravel was suspended in the air, surrounded by a scarlet shawl-like inner energy.

More than a month after arriving in Beijing, Hong Fan, who had settled down, seemed to be forgotten by the Zhangwu Academy; fortunately, he was not in a hurry, and apart from occasionally gathering with good friends such as Shi Yuanwei, he just honed his killing skills every day.

Gravel is more heat-resistant than ordinary metals, and ordinary magma is not enough to shake it; fortunately, the power of the blazing fire essence far exceeds the flame flow force, and it is not difficult to create a high temperature of more than 2,000 degrees in a small area with the cultivation of the innate three-in-one.

This process is similar but different from glass firing.

First of all, although silicon dioxide is the main raw material for firing glass, auxiliary materials such as borax, boric acid, barium carbonate, and limestone must be added in the process. Secondly, the temperature for firing glass is not higher than 1,600 degrees Celsius.

From 1,600 to over 2,000, this difference of 400 degrees Celsius has a lot to do with it.

When the temperature exceeds the critical point, the covalent bonds between each silicon atom and four oxygen atoms in silica gradually break, and the particles first enter a free state and then recombine during the cooling process.

This reorganization was originally random and would bring about unpredictable changes in physical properties, but through the power of the Fate Star Sand World, Hong Fan was trying to intervene in the direction of the change.

More regular, purer, harder...

The high temperature radiation dissipated, and Hong Fan, with his collar burnt yellow, felt the coolness of the evening breeze again; behind the shady veil, the sand mass had taken on a highly translucent crystalline appearance.

The honeycomb structure of silicon and oxygen atoms is clearly displayed in the spiritual perception of the sand world.

Hong Fan flicked the sand crystal with his finger, and only a short crisp sound was heard, but the smooth surface of the crystal boundary was not damaged at all.

"After all, with the blessing of the life star, the hardness is far beyond that of black iron."

He nodded with satisfaction and casually shot out the Sand Blade.

This time the sand crystal only lasted for a few seconds before being destroyed.

"Although the hardness is high, the toughness is insufficient. If it continues to be impacted, it will quickly become fatigued..."

Hong Fan complained and then laughed.

"I'm too greedy."

Materials are the basis of physical applications.

The new high-performance material can be used as both a spear and a shield, bringing Hong Fan many new ideas for killing.

At the same time, more than a month of research and development has honed his sand-control ability to a higher level - now he can control a single grain of sand to engrave official script on a wood board from several meters away without visual sight, and MRI and CT are enough to clear blood clots for people.

After a short rest, Hong Fan continued to dredge the fourth meridian of "Hand Taiyang and Hand Shaoyin", but there was no progress after a quarter of an hour.

"Unfortunately, my physique is too weak. Innate is the limit of my own practice."

Just when he was feeling a little depressed, he heard Shen Hong's signature heavy footsteps outside the yard.

"Second Young Master, someone from the Military Department of the Military Academy came and said they have something important to discuss. Please come over tomorrow!"

The voice was tense and exciting.

The next morning, August 13th.

Hong Fan was dressed in a purple silk robe with cloud patterns and thick-soled martial arts boots, stepping on the undried night dew on the bluestone slabs in the martial arts academy.

Under the eaves, chalcedony bells are suspended every ten feet, and they make clear, vibrato sounds whenever someone passes by.

In the huge Shenjing City, there is only one address for Zhangwu Academy. However, when you pass through the main gate, there is a huge plaque with only three words "Zhangwu Academy". In fact, there are two parts inside.

The Dahua Martial Arts Academy is on the left, and the Shenjing City Martial Arts Academy is on the right.

The former manages all departments in Jiuzhou, while the latter manages the daily affairs in Shenjing City. In terms of territory, the former occupies a larger area, but the latter actually has more people.

For example, "Yuhua Zhenjun" Tian Huai is the third-rank deputy supervisor of the "Shenjing City Martial Academy". Although he is trusted by Guan Qimai, his rank is actually lower than the third-rank Shenjing admiral "Bi Hai Chao Sheng" Li Zhuoying.

The draft brought the smell of pine soot and ink onto Hong Fan's face.

The main hall of the Dahua Martial Arts Academy's Martial Arts Department is a thousand square meters wide. Outside the entrance sits a majestic iron xiezhi. Below the hall are seven bronze crane incense burners that puff out green smoke. A deep sniff can give you a sense of peace and concentration.

Hong Fan stepped over the threshold.

Although it was his first time here, everyone in the hall recognized him. "Hong Zishou, please wait a moment. Liu Chenshi will be here soon."

The leading clerk said respectfully.

Hong Fan nodded.

A ray of morning light is filtering through the glazed tiles on the palace roof.

Dozens of ebony bookshelves are lined up like a wall, with bronze crane-shaped lamps interspersed between them - the lamp oil burns in the hollow crane heads to prevent fire to the greatest extent.

The hundreds of wooden grids hanging on the east wall caught Hong Fan's attention.

These boxes are filled with cards with different names, and there are brief introductions under the names.

He took a closer look and found that it was a list of evildoers.

The names of the top and second on the list have not changed since Hong Fan first looked at the list four years ago. They are also the only two celestial beings on the evil list.

[“Jue Tian Zang Dao” Chen Dan Ning, a second-level celestial being, was from the Qingzhou family Chen. He practiced the family tradition “Martial Tribulation Divine Mark Code”. Due to his short stature and cleft lip, he suffered humiliation since childhood. After breaking through the celestial realm, he destroyed his own clan and joined the giant spirit.]

[Human demon, real name unknown, a celestial being in a different world, origin unknown, martial arts unknown, fond of combining human and animal body parts for experiments, causing many people to be disabled or killed, violating the moral principles of nature and humanity.]

After the two great demons are the seven elemental magnets.

There are one hundred and nine innate masters on the list, and the highest ranked one, nicknamed “Iron Demon”, is ranked tenth.

[“Iron Demon” Zhou Yaowu, peak Xiantian, born into the powerful Zhou family of Hanzhou, practiced the family tradition of “Iron Melting Skill”, lost his sight in childhood due to playing with his peers, merged two earthly divine weapons in his youth, has an extreme and violent personality, likes to dig out people’s eyes, once fought with “Liuyun Zanxue” Qiao Yubai (who was at the first level of Yuanci at that time) for an hour, only to be injured but not killed, and escaped through a cave.]

Just as Hong Fan finished reading the biographies of the first ten people, he heard a deep male voice coming from outside the hall.

"Awaited."

He looked in the direction of the voice and saw a tall official in his prime striding in. His sleeves were stretched tight by his arm muscles and half of his short hair was white.

"I am the assistant military officer of the Dahua Military Academy."

The assistant clerk surnamed Liu laughed.

"Every Zishou who comes to Xiezhi Palace for the first time will first look at the evil list. I see Hong Zishou's face, does he seem to have some doubts?"

His sharpness amazed Hong Fan.

"Yes; I saw that there were only two celestial beings and seven Yuanci on the Ji Evil List. Compared with the total number of 67 celestial beings and over 500 Yuanci in Dahua, the ratio is very low."

Hong Fan originally wanted to pass it over casually, but suddenly he thought of Guan Qimai and restrained himself from speaking frankly.

"Haha, few people would speak directly about this in the Xiezhi Palace."

Liu Chenshi laughed generously.

"Even Feng Jianke from three years ago was not on the evil list, so this ratio is naturally not valid - punishment is not given to the innate, and courtesy is not given to the common people - even the innate warriors who occasionally do evil are not punished, let alone the Yuanci Celestial Beings?"

"Hong Zishou, the warriors who climb this wall do so not only because of 'evil', but also because of 'aloneness'."

He spoke meaningfully, led Hong Fan to a compartment in the corner of the hall, and placed a booklet on the table.

The booklet was wrapped in yellow silk, with the words "Guiyou" written in cinnabar and sealed with fresh red wax. Below it was confirmed in small calligraphy with ink pen every step of the filing procedure, and finally the signature and seal of the person filing the file.

Hong Fan took a glance and saw the signature was "Liu Guyan, Assistant Commander of the Siwu Department".

Liu Guyan was obviously the name of the Liu Chenshi in front of him - this was quite strange, as no parents would give their children such a bad name.

"Hong Zishou, don't be surprised."

Liu Chenshi's tone was relaxed.

"Liu was not a civilian from the beginning. He changed his name out of anger after his colleagues died one after another and his wife passed away due to illness."

Hong Fan remained silent.

After Liu Guyan finished speaking, he stopped smiling, opened the yellow silk and took out the booklet inside.

The cover had fresh ink marks, obviously freshly excerpted, and it said the nickname of the 49th person on the collection's evil list - the Prankster.

(End of this chapter)