Ming Dynasty: I am truly not the Emperor of Longevity

Renshou Palace, East Side Hall.

Lu Chen walked to the window, where a crystal resembling rock candy slowly rose and hovered in mid-air, rotating gently.

Sunlight shines through it, making the entire crystal appear crystal clear, with some reflections at the edges.

The transparency is unbelievably high!

This bag of "ice" weighed a good five ounces, nearly two hundred grams. If it were in the world before Lu Chen transmigrated, it would have been enough to get him shot four times.

To Lu Chen's surprise, the crystals of these "ices" were very well-crystallized and appeared quite transparent.

Before transmigrating, Lu Chen went to the prison on business and, by chance, chatted with several drug dealers who were serving time. He heard them talk about the quality levels of "ice".

The higher the purity of "ice", the more valuable it is, but the more difficult it is to produce.

Truly pure ice is almost colorless and transparent, like broken glass or pure rock candy.

However, products with such high purity circulating in the market are extremely rare!

The most common type is yellowish-white or grayish-white crystals, which are already considered mid-to-high-end products, but they are not pure enough and basically do not contain any other substances.

Lower-end varieties come in pink, light blue, light green, or even yellowish-black. Some contain impurities such as narcotic drugs or other medicinal powders mixed in during crystallization.

In short, adulteration is done to increase the weight, and regular customers can tell at a glance that it's just a cheap, low-grade product.

Ever since discovering that the "ice" used by Duan Chao was provided by the mysterious time traveler from Blackwood Cliff, Lu Chen has been trying to confirm one thing.

Were these "ice" objects brought by the other party when they traveled through time, or were they created by hand in this dimension?

If it is the former, then this "ice" is non-renewable and will eventually run out.

If it was synthesized in this plane, the "ice" would be of endless use, needless to say, and this person also possesses extremely abnormal chemical knowledge and hands-on skills.

If you have the ability to knead "ice" by hand, you can also manufacture many other modern chemical reagents, such as mercury fulminate, smokeless gunpowder, and explosives.

If that's true, this person has been secretly developing in Pingding Prefecture for at least a decade. Who knows what terrifying weapon they've created?!

Lu Chen carefully observed the inside of the crystal against the sunlight. It was so pure that there was almost no trace of yellowing or whitening.

This batch of "ice" is extremely pure; it's truly top-quality!

With a thought, the "ice" that was spinning in the sunlight instantly turned into powder, which was then scattered without a trace by a gust of wind.

I can finally relax!

Producing such high-purity "ice" in a modern laboratory is not easy, as it requires extremely high purity of all raw materials and reagents.

These high-purity raw materials are simply not available in this dimension!

No matter how proficient the mysterious time traveler was in chemistry or how strong his hands-on skills were, he was still limited by physical conditions.

This batch of "ice" was not synthesized in this dimension; it was brought directly from another dimension!

Since the items were brought along, this mysterious time traveler doesn't need to possess any special skills, and may even just be an ordinary person!

For an ordinary person to pursue technological advancement in the Ming Dynasty would have been extremely difficult.

Many things in later generations required advanced technology, which was simply impossible to develop in the Ming Dynasty.

The only option was to rely on the existing technology of the time for improvements, such as changing the musket into a flintlock musket, or at most adding rifling.

The propellant was still black powder.

Without flammable propellants like mercury fulminate, fixed bullets and automatic weapons simply cannot be made.

It is unlikely that the Ming army encountered overly advanced, epoch-making weapons when attacking Black Cliff.

With only slightly more advanced firearms, it was impossible to gain an overwhelming advantage over the Ming army!

At least my first encounter with that mysterious time traveler wasn't a complete disaster!

. . .

Shuozhou, the residence of the Censorate.

"Your subordinate greets the Master."

A young man dressed in the uniform of a low-ranking Ming army officer was kneeling on one knee in front of Zhang Yin.

"Now that I see that the leader is well, I can finally put my mind at ease."

"Why did Li Tong send you to Shuozhou?"

Zhang Yin immediately recognized that this person was neither an important subordinate of his in Taiyuan Left Guard, nor a key member of the Maitreya Cult on Blackwood Cliff, but a trusted follower of his grandson Li Tong.

Unlike his son Li Dali, Li Tong, although already in his twenties, has never achieved much.

Zhang Yin had never thought much of this grandson and never expected him to be capable of inheriting the Li family's legacy.

Zhang Yin even considered finding a capable young man to marry his granddaughter, who was being raised on Blackwood Cliff, when she was a few years older, so that she could inherit Li Dali's position as the leader of the sect.

Of course, Zhao Xixian, who was ambitious and harbored ulterior motives, was definitely not being considered.

Making verbal promises to him is just empty talk, dangling the carrot in his mouth to get him to do things for you.

Now that Li Tong's concubine, the courtesan named Chu Nanyin, is pregnant, it would be even better if she could give birth to his great-grandson.

Seeing that the person who came was sent by Li Tong, Zhang Yin didn't think it was anything serious.

Given this kid's character, he might just be sending someone to inquire after me and curry favor.

"Master, the young master sent his subordinates to request that you leave Shuozhou immediately and return to Taiyuan."

The young man quickly replied.

"The Protector Zhao and Elder Bai, who were stationed at Blackwood Cliff, sent an urgent message. Since neither the leader nor the Left Protector was in Taiyuan City, the messenger had no choice but to hand the letter over to the young master to open and read."

The day after the leader left Taiyuan, the Zhen Ding Guard, Dingzhou Guard, and Baoding Right Guard stationed at Jingxing Pass sent out a team of night spies who sneaked up to Blackwood Cliff under cover of night.

Protector Zhao and Elder Bai deduced that the three guards' invading army had already set their sights on Blackwood Cliff and would soon be pressing in with their full force. They hoped the sect leader would return to oversee the situation.

"What?!"

Zhang Yin, who had been calm and collected, suddenly changed his expression.

"So, Fan Jizu's summons of me to Shuozhou to report my achievements was all a trap!"

No wonder!

During my stay in Shuozhou these past few days, the Ministry of War official in charge of inspecting heads has been finding fault with everything, but he hasn't been too forceful. It turns out he's just deliberately stalling for time!

I never would have guessed that old scoundrel Fan Jizu would play such a clever game, using a diversionary tactic!

"Master, I feel there's something strange about this matter."

Wan Juehai, the commander of the guards standing to the side, spoke up.

"If this was indeed planned by Fan Jizu, we should have been caught in a trap as soon as we arrived in Shuozhou City."

However, Fan Jizu kept having the Ministry of War officials find excuses to delay us, without any intention of arresting and questioning us directly.

That doesn't make much sense, does it?

"Fan Jizu probably just heard some rumors, or even received a report from someone."

He then devised a plan to use the pretext of inspecting my head to keep me in Shuozhou City.

At the same time, he instructed the three guards stationed at Jingxing Pass to send men to probe the strength of Blackwood Cliff!

Zhang Yin suddenly stood up from his chair.

"Fan Jizu had absolutely no idea whether I truly had a problem!"