I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 213 A Different Kind of Burning
The port of Tianjin is bustling with people from all walks of life, and there are many extraordinary people among them. But if we're talking about the most outstanding one in the fireworks trade, it has to be Li Erlengzi from Jiushaogou.

Li Erleng is said to be a descendant of Li Zhusheng, the patriarch of the fireworks industry.

Li Erleng also had two nicknames: Li Erxiang and Li Lao Er.

He is called Erxiang because he can make a kind of double-bang firecracker, which is said to have been invented by his ancestors.

As for the second son, it was because Li Erleng was the second oldest in the family, but the eldest son had already passed away three years ago.

In a physical sense, it went to the sky.

Li Erleng said that his older brother was sleepy at noon and fell asleep on the bags of sulfur and gunpowder in the workshop. As a result, for some reason, the dozen or so bags of gunpowder suddenly exploded for no reason.

But outsiders said that the eldest son of the Li family loved to smoke a pipe, which was the worst thing in the fireworks business. The eldest son of the Li family should not have made such a small mistake, but he was confused when he fell asleep and lit the pipe bowl.

The subsequent tragedies are best left unsaid; in short, the sound of the eldest son of the Li family ascending to heaven could be heard for miles around.

As for whether this rumor is true or false, no one knows. After all, the eldest son of the Li family didn't even leave behind a complete corpse. Everyone can only speculate and treat it as a joke before or after dinner.

But jokes aside, no one in Tianjin has ever doubted that Li Zhusheng was the ancestor of the Li family.

The reason was simple: the Li family's firecrackers were indeed formidable. Even the musketeer battalion had consulted the Li family patriarch about the long-lost method of making iron fire cannons.

To repay the trust of the battalion commander, Mr. Li secluded himself for two years to study.

Two years later, a deafening roar suddenly echoed from Jiushaogou. When Li Erleng returned to the village, he found that his home was gone and his father was gone too.

But the Li family’s reputation spread throughout Tianjin. People said that the old man of the Li family made a real iron cannon in the moment before he died. Otherwise, how could an ordinary firecracker blow up the ancestral home that covered half an acre?

Li Erleng's father and elder brother both died because of his most skilled skills. Logically, he should have learned his lesson and stayed away from this line of work to preserve the Li family line. But Li Erleng did not do that. Instead, he devoted himself even more to studying the iron cannon.

During this time, many fireworks craftsmen from other places came to visit, but Li Erleng turned them all away.

Li Erleng was arrogant and never took other fireworks workshops or cannon factories seriously.

In his eyes, those were just things children would mess around with. In the eyes of the patriarch, the noise they made was less than a fart!
However, what Li Erleng didn't know was that there are always people more capable than him, and there are always things beyond his understanding.

Besides Tianjin, the artillery workshops in Liuxian, Shangping, and Lijun have also changed dramatically.

About two years ago, in the twelfth lunar month, Li Erleng, as usual, brought his own firecrackers and large strings of firecrackers to the firecracker market at the port to sell his own firecrackers.

To prevent injuries from fireworks, the fireworks market and the New Year's market were divided into two areas: one on the port and the other in the frozen riverbed.

That year, many colleagues from other places came, but Li Erleng didn't care. His family's firecrackers were always the first to go off at the end of the year! No matter how good other people's firecrackers were, they were like an old ox farting when they came to him, weak and powerless.

But in that same year, a "fire immortal" came to Liuxian. This man was wearing a brand-new Taoist robe and had a goatee. He didn't compete with the Li family in terms of the loudness of the firecrackers. Instead, he took a different approach and improved the firecrackers. Although the two sounds weren't earth-shattering, they were still crisp and bright. Most importantly, the second sound could create a large, colorful umbrella in mid-air!
This amazed the people of Tianjin. No wonder they called him "the fairy in fire." His amazing skill with colorful fireworks was beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Li Erlengzi was truly stunned this time. When did this country bumpkin from Liuxian manage to come up with something so trendy?

But he wasn't worried. Although these double-bang firecrackers looked pretty, they weren't loud enough. During the Lunar New Year, everyone loved to compare whose firecrackers were the loudest.

However, before Li Erleng could think any further, the ground beneath his feet suddenly trembled violently. When he realized what was happening, his ears were ringing, as if a hundred cicadas were chirping inside.

He covered his ears and turned his head to look. He saw a young man from Li County lighting one firecracker after another. Without exception, all the firecrackers were as thick as a forearm and looked like big radishes with both ends cut off.

Is it related to the meeting place?
Li Erleng didn't sell a single firecracker that day and slunk home. The onlookers were puzzled. In previous years, the Li family's firecrackers were always the grand finale, making a spectacular appearance. Why didn't they come this year?
Moreover, the Li family's firecrackers didn't just disappear for one year; they also vanished from the Tianjin firecracker market the following year.

Some say that Li Er was afraid that making firecrackers was unreliable and that one day he would be destroyed, ending the Li family line. So he retired from the business, got married, and had children.

Some people say that Li Erleng was afraid of being outmatched by his counterparts from other places, and was too scared to show his face.

Some people say that when Li Erleng was making firecrackers, just like his father and brothers, he accidentally burned them all!

The Li family's firecracker business was thus cut off, and no one came to sell them anymore.

But is that really the case? If Li Erleng didn't die, then where did he go in the meantime?
Xu Qing, who had seen Li Erleng's revolving lantern, knew better than anyone else.

The rumors are unreliable. During this time, Li Erleng did not run away or die as outsiders said. Instead, he traveled light and went to Liuxian, Shangping, and Lijun alone.

He stopped working in isolation and instead traveled around, learning from advanced experiences everywhere. Two years later, Li Erleng returned to Jiushaogou.

The villagers were curious and asked him where he had gone, and why he hadn't been seen for two or three years.
Li Erleng, with his dark skin and face soaked in gunpowder oil, said nothing. He simply opened the backpack on his back, revealing a dark, unremarkable object.

The thing was about the size of a head, with a round belly and a long tail, like a watermelon with a stem and pith.

Someone asked what it was. Li Erleng laughed and said three words—"Thunderclap!"

Going back a few dynasties, there was one dynasty with the most powerful firearms, and among those firearms, the iron fire cannon used for defending cities was the best!

This object is shaped like a gourd with a small opening, cast from pig iron, and is two inches thick. Even the smallest iron cannon contains two liters of gunpowder. When this object is fired, the city walls shake, and within half an acre of land, people and cowhides are shattered without a trace.

The iron cannon also has another name: Thunderclap!
"Our ancestors used to wield iron lumps that killed people. Now we've switched to making fireworks to please people. It's a waste of talent. Just you wait and see. When I present this thunderous firework to the imperial court, the whole world will hear the sound of the Li family!"

People from Tianjin are competitive, value their reputation, and have an inherent stubbornness that is impossible to sway.

Li Erleng was one of the best among them. Holding the iron cannon like he was holding his own child, he arrived at the musket camp with great enthusiasm and passion.

However, seven or eight years had passed since his father was alive, and the musketeer battalion was no longer under the control of Prince Changting. The funds allocated by the court to the musketeer battalion were also decreasing year by year.

Now, let alone creating new firearms, even the muskets carried by the musket battalion soldiers are old items from several years ago, some of which are even rusty and damp.

If we were really on the battlefield, even a fire poker would probably be more useful than these things!
Li Erlengzi was unaware of these things. When he arrived at the musket camp, he wanted to find the former camp commander, but he couldn't even get through the camp gate.

The veteran soldiers of the musket battalion looked at him and laughed. "Just that lump of iron, and it's a thunderbolt?"

If you're so capable, try setting it on fire and give everyone a good laugh. Maybe we'll even applaud you. But if you want to sell this thing to the imperial court...
The imperial court is too lazy to even manufacture firearms, so why would they be willing to spend money to buy this lump of iron?
Li Erleng's face turned pale and then red. He really wanted to take out a tinderbox and light the thunderbolt. But he couldn't do that, because he knew the power of that thing. If it were lit, everyone present would be sent flying!

After leaving the musketeer camp, Li Erleng was disheartened. However, at this critical moment, someone placed two small yellow croakers in front of him.

"I've heard that your ancestors were cannon makers. Although our Cangyi Group can't offer you an official position right now, we have money and manpower. As long as your Thunderclap Bomb is really as powerful as you say, we will definitely treat you well!"

Li Erleng didn't understand the hidden meaning in the man's words, or perhaps he did understand but pretended not to.

"Can you really make my thunderous roar shake the entire world?"

"real!"

Xu Qing, whose network of informants was spread throughout Linjiang County, had never heard of the thunderclap or any earth-shattering noise.

He only saw, from Li Erleng's perspective, the scene of the Cangyi Group's branch leader planning to go to the capital to assassinate the emperor, but being betrayed by a low-level henchman, resulting in their arrest and Li Erleng's betrayal.

As Li Erleng was about to be beheaded, he was still acting erratically, shouting as if he were suffering from hysteria: "It rang! It rang! The whole world heard it, everyone heard it!"

At the mortuary, Xu Qing returned the bodies with owners to their families, and the unclaimed bodies were placed in the small garden and buried in the Shuimenqiao villa on an inauspicious day.

Once he finished his business, Xu Qing had some free time, so he rode a fast horse all the way to Jiushaogou.

There aren't many people in Jiushaogou. Those who are timid and afraid of death can't stay. Those who can stay in the village are all fearless and have the guts to die!

Here, five out of ten families are in the fireworks business, while the remaining five families were wiped out when they were making cannons, so the village's population was naturally reduced by half.

Following Li Erleng's memory, Xu Qing made his way through a maze of twists and turns to an abandoned cowshed.

Pushing aside the straw pile and lifting the thin wooden board covered with white lime, they found bags full of gunpowder underneath.

Xu Qing put the bags into the landscape painting, then went to Li Erleng's house, where he found some hidden firecrackers and gunpowder in the cellar.

A cunning rabbit has three burrows. Those in the fireworks business are most afraid of "exploding their nests". As the number one gunpowder maker in Tianjin, Li Erleng's family had accumulated more than just the amount of gunpowder confiscated by the government over three generations!

After searching around, Xu Qing discovered a lot of sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal in several old houses.

Afterwards, Xu Qing roughly estimated that there were no less than 10,000 jin of gunpowder on hand!

He didn't even dare to imagine that if it were accidentally detonated one day, the entire Jiushaogou would probably be in chaos.

When Xu Qing left Jiushaogou, he also went to the Li family ancestral graves, lit incense for Li Erleng's father, and set off two firecrackers.

Finally, Xu Qing took out an iron shovel and dug into the ground, unearthing something wrapped in oilcloth.

Lifting the layered oilcloth, a giant iron cannon, larger than a winter melon, appeared before Xu Qing's eyes.

Even Xu Qing, who had extensive experience in the funeral industry, was greatly shocked!

He had seen people burn paper figures and horses for their ancestors, offer sacrifices of meat and fruit, and even cut off the heads of their enemies to place in front of tombstones as a form of mourning. But he had never seen anyone show filial piety by offering explosives and cannons as sacrifices to their ancestors.

If one day a thunderbolt strikes the earth and causes an explosion, wouldn't all of Li's ancestors ascend to heaven a second time?
Xu Qing, holding the "large firecracker" in his hand, was eager to try it out.

Others may not know, but Xu Qingmen knew exactly what the thing in his hand meant.

This iron cannon, which incorporates the strengths of many different designs, is far more powerful than the ancient iron cannons!
Xu Qing felt that this thing might even be the most powerful 'ordinary weapon' in the Great Yong Dynasty to date.

I just don't know if this thing will pose a threat to him now.

Xu Qing didn't dare to try it and decided to wait two days to control the paper figure to go to the Yinhe Ancient Road, put the thing in the Ghost King's Tomb, and test its effect.

Good grief, they're treating the tomb of the Ghost King like an anthill!
Upon returning to Linjiang County, Xu Qing did not linger. He opened the twin coffins in the shop and instantly arrived at the Yinhe Ancient Road.

The two coffins communicated with each other, and Xu Qing opened the other twin coffin hidden in the Yinhe Ancient Road and walked out.

Before them lay a desolate, gray, and apocalyptic scene, with gusts of cold wind stirring up fine, grayish-white dust.

Xu Qing knew that it wasn't sand, but rather bone meal that had been weathered for many years and was swirling around.

Although it wasn't his first time here, he was still deeply moved as he walked along the burial path.

Beneath his feet lay a gray-white riverbed of unknown depth and breadth, entirely composed of piled-up bones. If the remains buried in his villa were placed here, they would be nothing more than a drop in the ocean.

The bones of the weak turn into dust and sand, while the bones of the strong are buried deep underground. Occasionally, one or two strangely shaped skeletons are exposed, left to be eroded by the cold wind.

Xu Qing searched along the way and found a desolate tomb about fifty miles away from the entrance to the Twin Coffins.

Only after transferring all the gunpowder and saltpeter from the landscape painting to the desolate tomb did Xu Qing feel somewhat at ease.

If these gunpowder powders were to accidentally detonate inside the landscape painting, who would he complain to?
After dealing with the gunpowder, Xu Qing took the Thunderclap Bomb in his hand and then strolled over to the outer perimeter of the Ghost King's Tomb.

The Ghost King in the Ghost King's Tomb has a thousand years of cultivation and survived two calamities. When the Ghost King's Tomb was burned by the second heavenly fire, Liu Youdao took advantage of the situation and witnessed the Ghost King hiding from the heavenly fire.

Now that Xu Qing has come here again, he still does not choose to explore it in depth himself. He controls the paper figure and just sent the iron cannon close to the inner circle when a ghost general led his ghost soldiers to surround the paper figure.

Xu Qing was speechless. The paper figures were no match for the ghost general. Under the ghost general's greatsword, the paper figures could not withstand more than a few blows before turning into dust everywhere.

Seeing that only two of the twelve paper figures who had entered the Ghost King's Tomb were left, Xu Qing calmly took out a tinderbox, then controlled one of the paper figures to pull out the tinderbox plug and light the fuse of the iron cannon.

"Since we have nothing to do today, I'll cook you a different kind of bonfire."

Xu Qing said this from a distance.

(End of this chapter)