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Chapter 20: Cannonballs
The will-o'-the-wisp fire had gone out. Xu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, and felt a numbness in the wound on his back. Xu Yuan picked up the cage containing Mr. Qiao's body and left quickly.

This place is still closer to the old locust's territory.

After walking another ten miles, Xu Yuan found a sunny hillside to sit down, took off his shirt and turned his back to the sun.

I don’t know if it’s useful.

Then Xu Yuan pulled Mr. Qiao's body over and felt around to see if there was anything else on his body.

There were several pieces of calligraphy hidden in the clothes of the corpse. When Xu Yuan unfolded them, he saw that they were all words like "腾云" (soaring clouds) and "程风" (ride the wind). The ink looked very new, and they were newly written by Mr. Qiao.

Xu Yuan didn't know that Master Qiao had no use for this kind of calligraphy in the past because he always had a carriage when he went out.

But the day before yesterday I went into the mountains to gather information.

Of course, the people that Mr. Qiao inquired about information from were all the powerful and strange creatures in Ghost Witch Mountain.

But all those weirdos wanted from Master Qiao was blood food.

Mr. Qiao went in a hurry this time and did not have time to prepare enough blood and food. If he wanted to find out the news, he could only leave his servant, coachman and draft horse to Guiyi.

The coachman had worked for the Qiao family for twelve years, and the servant had been with him for five years.

Without the horse and the driver, it would be impossible for Mr. Qiao to pull the carriage back by himself, so when Xu Yuan met Mr. Qiao on the official road the day before yesterday, he was standing with the calligraphy of "腾云" and "程风" pasted on his legs.

Under a pile of copybooks, there were a few pages of paper, on which were recorded in tiny handwriting the practice and application methods of a kind of "Taoism".

The Taoist method is called "Entering the Body Game". Xu Yuan took a quick look and found that it was exactly the same move as Chang Xunbei's.

"They are all good things for me." Xu Yuan quickly put them away and continued to touch the corpse.

There were a few taels of loose silver in the purse, a ten-tael gold ingot, and two two-hundred-tael silver notes!

Xu Yuan's breathing quickened. He had never seen so much money in his life!

The Xu family’s most valuable property is the old stage in Hegong Lane and the several houses connected to it in the backyard.

All together, it would not exceed one hundred and fifty taels.

Practitioners are also human beings. They need to wear clothes and eat, receive guests and see them off, and have interpersonal relationships.

Moreover, the expenses of practitioners are much higher than those of ordinary people.

Xu Yuan quickly stuffed the money into his arms while muttering, "Master Qiao shouldn't carry so much money on him."

Under normal circumstances, Mr. Qiao would bring loose change and gold ingots, but not the two silver notes.

Mr. Qiao's "Yifangting" inn also serves as a money house in the town. Merchants who come and go and need to exchange large-denomination silver bills always come to the inn for convenience.

These two silver notes were recently exchanged, and Mr. Qiao is planning to take them back to the city this time.

After making a fortune, Xu Yuan felt refreshed and even felt that the numbness in the wound on his back was relieved a little.

He continued to touch down and reached Master Qiao's waist, where he felt something hard.

When he took it out and looked at it, he was shocked: "Why doesn't he use this treasure?"

This is a short-barreled three-barreled gun with two stamps clearly engraved on the barrel: "Made in Nandu" and "Chen Wutong".

"Made in Nandu" indicates that this is a product of the Nandu Ministry of Industry's craftsman workshop.

"Chen Wutong" is the name of the maker.

This thing is called "three-eyed cannon" among the people, and the best ones are especially those made by craftsmen from government offices.

And the one owned by Master Qiao is even more extraordinary, it is a craftsman's creation!

Just one shot from this thing would blow Xu Yuan's head off.

Master Qiao was able to subdue the entire Qihetai Town. It turned out that he had a hidden treasure, and it was not just the strength of a ninth-rate scholar that counted.

This treasure can kill a seventh-rate cultivator!
——But why didn’t Mr. Qiao take it out and use it at the critical moment of life and death?
Xu Yuan checked and found out: "It turned out to be a bad one."

Something had gone wrong with the components inside and it was no longer usable. Xu Yuan felt disappointed.

The three-barreled gun was placed in a leather bag, which contained a small gourd filled with gunpowder.

It is said that this kind of gunpowder is different from the one used in firecrackers set off during the Chinese New Year, and its power is many times greater.

"Take it back and see if my stepmother can fix it." Maybe it will be of great use if it is repaired.

Xu Yuan was about to put the three-barreled gun and the powder gourd back when he suddenly stopped and stared at the gourd with a strange look.

"I have a bold idea!"

"This cannonball... can it be used as bait?!"

Xu Yuan’s first idea was to refine the cannonballs into external elixirs, but refining the elixir required the use of abdominal fire.

If the gunpowder comes into contact with fire... I'm afraid my belly will explode on the spot.

But on second thought, eating bait is also a way of practicing.

For alchemists, it is not just a means of collecting raw materials for alchemy.

My alchemy practice is currently at the ninth level, and I can be promoted to the eighth level by condensing my inner elixir.

For alchemy practitioners, inner elixir is the "great medicine" and the most fundamental basis for their own cultivation.

Before an alchemist can condense his inner elixir, he must first find a precious object as a "fetal medicine".

It can be a thousand-year-old precious medicine, a natural treasure, the essence of a spiritual object, and so on.

Xu Yuan remembered that when his father was alive, he once told him that the most peculiar alchemist used a mysterious craftsman-made artifact to make his "fetal medicine"!

But using artillery powder as abortion medicine...

"Isn't that too bold?"

However, Xu Yuan was full of expectations for the inner elixir that could be cultivated from this fetal medicine.

The disadvantages of being alone outside were exposed. There was no one around to give guidance. If he were at home, his stepmother could always give him some advice.

But after only a brief hesitation, Xu Yuan unplugged the gourd and poured the gunpowder into his mouth.

Master Qiao is dead, but there is still Saint Auntie. It would be the same death if he fell into Saint Auntie's hands.

Xu Yuan could not find another more suitable "fetal medicine" in a short period of time, and had no choice. Since there was an opportunity to enhance his strength, he must not hesitate.

Unexpectedly, compared to those natural treasures, cannonballs were much easier to digest! After Xu Yuan consumed the cannonballs, in less than half an hour, he had condensed a gray inner elixir.

It's about the size of a soybean.

Just this tiny thing meant that Xu Yuan's level of alchemy had been raised from ninth to eighth level.

Xu Yuan secretly thought that Dan Xiu was indeed one of the strongest fighters in the early stage.

And this little piece of cannonball inner elixir of mine... really brings some special benefits!
The eighth-rate alchemy practitioner can inject certain "properties" of the inner elixir into the outer elixir.

"After returning to the city, we must secretly go to Master Qiao's house and search it."

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

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

The corpse rolled over the weeds and fell into the darkness at the bottom of the ditch, followed by a sound of tearing and chewing.

Xu Yuan shuddered and left quickly.

After running for more than ten miles, a faint smell came with the mountain breeze. Xu Yuan suddenly felt some uncontrollable instinct in his body. He rolled to the ground with a thud, his eyes confused and dazed, crawling in a certain direction like a flesh worm!

(End of this chapter)