The Ancestral Legacy Begins in the Wild West

Chapter 198 Alchemy Techniques: Gunshots and Blades

A short, crisp gunshot rang out. One after another, crimson streaks flashed from the muzzle into the crowd.

Moonlight streamed in through the window on the side of the corridor, illuminating Zhang Chang'an.

The hem of the trench coat fluttered slightly in the shock of the gunshot, and the feathers on the hunting hat trembled slightly.

He slightly raised his hat, revealing his eyes hidden by the brim, his gaze fixed intently on the guards before him.

"Bang bang bang bang." The muzzle flashes flickered continuously in the darkness, like a light being switched on and off rapidly, illuminating the corridor in alternating flashes of light and shadow.

"Bang!" The first bullet exploded in the chest of one of the guards at that moment.

What's puzzling is that the bullet didn't release the explosive energy of a gunpowder explosion; instead of the guard's blood, it produced a burst of blue-white light.

"Boom!" A large amount of fire erupted from the center of the explosion. The orange-red flames, along with a scorching heat wave, instantly knocked several guards to the ground.

"Ah!!!" The firelight illuminated the figures of those people, who were rolling on the ground, their clothes ablaze, flames leaping from their cuffs and collars.

Some people were lying motionless on the ground, their clothes burned through, revealing their charred skin underneath.

But that wasn't the most terrifying part. After the firelight disappeared, the large amount of tiny orange-red particles that had filled the air were finally visible.

The fine particles resembled a cloud of orange-red mist, enveloping this section of the corridor in an eerie, warm halo.

The guards behind them saw these things by the moonlight and firelight, but they didn't understand why.

"Ah!!! My hand!"

"It's so hot! Quick, help me peel this off!"

Only when the screams rang out again did they look around at those who hadn't been hit by bullets.

The metal parts of their equipment, once exposed to the orange-red particles that diffused in the air, immediately began to melt!

"Sizzle!"

As a guard tried to raise his musket, the barrel collapsed in his hand like a cooked noodle, the trigger guard jamming his finger and melting into it.

Others wore extremely protective half-body armor, but at this moment, that armor became a huge threat.

The heavy armor plates turned into molten iron, the inner side sticking to the clothes, while the outer side dripped down the folds of the clothes and onto the ground.

A small ball of sparks flew up from above.

Some people tried desperately to remove the armor, but their fingers got stuck as soon as they touched it, and when they tried to tear it off, they immediately pulled off a layer of skin.

Screams, the sizzling of melting metal, and the faint crackling of phlogiston particles burning in the air mingled together, making the corridor sound like a pot of porridge boiling.

"Boom boom boom!"

Several more alchemical bullets pierced the crowd, and huge flames erupted again and again in the dimly lit corridor. The guards who were not initially affected by the pyrotechnics began to scream and scatter in all directions.

Zhang Chang'an continued to move forward silently. The guard in front of him made no attempt to stop him; he simply threw his half-melted sword to the ground and turned to run away.

The rest either crawled into the side rooms, climbed out of the windows, or hid behind the pillars, their shoulders exposed as they panted.

In the corridor, more than a dozen corpses lay scattered about, many with half their bodies covered by melted armor, or charred black and still smoking.

Most of the rest held their heads in their hands, their shoulders hunched over, not even daring to look up.

only----

"What's happening over there!"

"Damn it! Shoot! Shoot!"

Outside, a large number of torches were surrounding this area. It was during the revolutionary years, and there were many guards in the palace, not to mention those in the surrounding palaces and those coming from the patrol routes.

With such a commotion here, a large number of reinforcements are naturally on their way.

"Perfect—it'll be good preparation for what's to come." Zhang Chang'an remained calm, holstering his revolver back into its holster and instantly placing his hands on the other side of his waist.

With a click, the Bingzi Jiaolin sword sprang from its sheath, the hilt falling into the palm of the hand. The five fingers closed, and the gleaming straight blade once again revealed its sharpness in this foreign land.

"Da da da————"

Zhang Chang'an did not sit idly by and wait for his death. He turned to jogging, his boots making a series of short, sharp sounds as they stepped on the gravel and wood chips.

The corridor forked ahead, and as he turned in, he bumped into a group of guards who had just rushed out of the side door!

They held phlogiston guns, the transmutation runes on the barrels glowing orange-red. The moment they saw him, they simultaneously pulled the triggers.

Several crimson beams shot out from the muzzle, clearly composed of a large number of compressed particles—phlogiston compressed to its limit.

The difference between this thing and the alchemical bullets made by Zhang Chang'an lies in the integration and accumulation of technologies.

The bullets he produced, which he didn't actually manufacture many of, were all based on future bullet technology. These are things that can only be mass-produced in proper factories with technical specifications and a large supply of phlogiston energy.

Although it was still crimson, its heat conduction and burning effect were far superior to ordinary flames! Like several glowing spears, it pierced towards his chest with a loud bang.

Zhang Chang'an stopped walking, leaned his body to the right, and tilted his head slightly. The first stream of primordial energy grazed his left shoulder and hit the wall behind him.

"Boom!" Almost no flames spread out, but a crater the size of a washbasin was instantly blasted into the thick wall, with rubble and ash flying everywhere.

Zhang Chang'an's body continued to rotate as he tilted, and the second stream of phlogiston swept past his waist.

The attack still missed, but the scorching heat rippled against the hem of his trench coat, causing the edges of the fabric to curl and turn black.

He dodged and weaved, moving forward a considerable distance in an instant, but the attacks were still too dense. Despite his incredible speed, there were still attacks he couldn't dodge. His foot slipped on the ground.

"Buzz!" Bingzi Jiaolin's blade trembled violently as he held it horizontally in front of his chest.

The crimson beam struck the blade, and Zhang Chang'an stomped his foot, stopping in place. The phlogiston bullet, however, only exploded into a blinding white light.

"Boom!" The shockwave pushed the surrounding air outwards, creating a brief pressure trough.

"Ah!" Several guards who were very close were instantly blasted away by the shockwave.

Zhang Chang'an only slid two steps away, his tiger's mouth slightly numb. When the phlogiston torrent completely disappeared, the blade of the long sword in his hand was clearly undamaged, with only some reddish elemental residue remaining.

"He's stopped it!" a guard's voice rang out from the crowd ahead, a piercing, incredulous cry: "He's stopped the phlogiston torrent!"

Zhang Chang'an didn't give him a chance to shout a second word. He kicked off the ground with his foot, and his whole body shot out like an arrow, compressing the five-step distance to zero in an instant.

Bingzi Jiaolin slashed upwards, and the blade immediately cut into the first guard's chest with a "thud!" It entered below the collarbone and then cut out above the shoulder.

"Ah!" The man's entire right arm, along with half of his shoulder, flew into the air, blood gushing from the severed wound, shocking those around him who immediately took several steps back.

Before the guard could fall, Zhang Chang'an had already swept past him, the hilt of his sword turning in his palm, whoosh.

With a thud, he immediately swung his hand back to chop at the neck of the second guard.

The guard reacted quickly, holding his heavy phlogiston gun horizontally in front of him.

With a clang, the gun barrel instantly blocked the blade. The metal struck metal, producing a sharp sound like a nail scraping against glass.

Sparks flew in and out from the point of impact, flashing between the two.

Zhang Chang'an remained standing in place, but the guard was immediately jolted back two steps by the force of the slash, crashing into the wall and showing a pained expression, almost fainting.

Although only the gun in his hand was cut into pieces, without causing any vital injuries, and the broken gun didn't even explode, the guard was still in shock and didn't even have the courage to get up.

Under the moonlight, Zhang Chang'an appeared particularly terrifying in his eyes.

It wasn't just him; when Zhang Chang'an turned his gaze to the countless guards behind him, many people in the crowd retreated slightly, lacking the courage to continue attacking.

His eyes, hidden beneath the brim of his hat, seemed to glow red. Even though his armor was practically invisible, he was still wielding a knife against those armed with guns. Yet, the guards felt he was more terrifying than any monster.

This is naturally the fighting spirit. Previously, Zhang Chang'an was able to scatter and flee from these guards who had seen countless alchemy techniques with just a few shots, which was also due to this.