Exploded Again

The two sturdy horses let out long neighs, their powerful hind legs standing straight as their front legs raised their entire upper bodies high into the air. Then they bolted forward madly.

They were so fast that even the carriage equipped with a shock-absorption system kept shaking. Inside, Jiang Ming felt as though he were on a roller coaster, unable to stop at all!

"Young Master Jiang, hold on tight! The horses have been startled. I need to calm them down quickly, so I might not be able to look after you!"

The coachman shouted loudly, afraid Jiang Ming inside the carriage would not hear him.

This young master was the Young City Lord of Clear Water City. Nothing could happen to him!

The carriage interior was completely empty. The books and Metal Blocks that had originally filled the entire carriage had been put into Jiang Ming's Storage Soul Tool the moment the accident occurred.

Jiang Ming braced himself against the carriage wall. His powerful physical strength allowed him to keep his body steady amid the violent jolting, preventing him from being thrown around.

Yet Jiang Ming's eyes were filled with contemplation and confusion.

"That shouldn't have happened. How could I have made a mistake? Could the book have been wrong?"

Jiang Ming murmured softly, his sword-like brows tightly furrowed beneath his forehead. He thought of the Metal Block he had just inscribed, his handsome face full of incomprehension.

He was certain he had followed the patterns described in the book. His hand was absolutely steady; the chances of making an error while inscribing were minuscule!

But why had this thing exploded?

That shouldn't have happened.

It was not until the horses gradually calmed under the coachman's control and the carriage slowly steadied that Jiang Ming finally realized the cause of the mistake.

Perhaps the material's purity was wrong!

The Metal Block he had just carved might not have had the same purity as the one described in the book.

Most likely, it was this tiny difference that had caused deviations while he inscribed the patterns!

"I'll try again!"

A glint of wisdom flashed through Jiang Ming's eyes. He immediately took out another Metal Block and prepared to try once more.

Outside, the coachman, who had finally managed to stabilize the carriage, let out a sigh of relief and cautiously asked through the curtain,

"Young Master Jiang, are you all right?"

After a long while without hearing Jiang Ming's reply, the coachman's heart skipped a beat. No longer caring whether he might disturb him, he directly lifted the curtain.

"Young Master Jiang, you—"

When the curtain was lifted, the scene the coachman feared did not appear. Jiang Ming had not been knocked unconscious by the carriage's violent shaking. Instead, he sat cross-legged inside, quietly using a Pale Gold Thin Long Knife to carve a Metal Block.

"Young Master Jiang, what are you doing?"

The coachman could not help asking curiously.

Jiang Ming did not answer immediately. He only stopped after completing the final stroke of the pattern.

He raised his head and looked at the coachman, a satisfied smile of success on his face.

"I was studying Soul Tools just now. I couldn't stop, so I didn't answer. My apologies."

"St-studying Soul Tools? Young Master Jiang, you're a Soul Engineer too?!"

The coachman was genuinely stunned.

Ever since Soul Tools had developed, the status of Soul Engineers had risen accordingly. Even the most basic first-rank Soul Engineer was an extremely distinguished figure in the eyes of ordinary people!

"Oh, I suppose so. I just tinker with them for fun."

Jiang Ming smiled, then pointed behind the coachman.

"More importantly, I think you should pull the carriage back first. We've gone off course."

The coachman was startled and quickly turned around to look.

Sure enough, while he had been talking to Jiang Ming, the carriage had already veered off the main road and was charging wildly in another direction.

The coachman hurriedly returned to the front of the carriage, drew out his whip, and struck one side of the horses, quickly correcting the carriage's direction.

"Young Master Jiang, I never expected you to be a Soul Engineer too. That's incredible! You really are a genius!"

Perhaps because Jiang Ming seemed rather approachable, the coachman began chatting with him on and off after steering the carriage back on course.

After carving Metal Blocks for so long, Jiang Ming was somewhat tired as well. He lifted the curtain and sat beside the coachman, intending to rest for a while.

"A genius? There are plenty of geniuses. Shrek Academy, where we're headed this time, is full of them."

Jiang Ming did not care much for the word genius. There were too many geniuses in the world; the term was far too cheap.

"By the way, how much longer until we reach Shrek Academy?"

Jiang Ming turned his head and asked. He was already growing impatient.

He knew about Shrek Academy, but that knowledge was limited to Shrek Academy from Ten-Thousand-Year ago.

Who would have thought that Ten-Thousand-Year later, Shrek Academy would become the continent's number one academy!

"Young Master Jiang, we've only been traveling for half a day. Clear Water City is over a thousand li from Shrek Academy. We still need at least four days."

The coachman said with a smile.

"Four days..."

Upon hearing that, Jiang Ming narrowed his eyes and leaned against the carriage frame, deep in thought.

Four days should be enough for him to make that thing.

As Jiang Ming thought, his palm unconsciously brushed over the Storage Soul Tool at his waist. He took out the Metal Block he had just finished carving and infused it with Soul Power.

As Soul Power flowed into it, a Pale Gold glow rose from the Metal Block, extending roughly half a meter.

However, the Pale Gold glow did not seem very stable. It flickered in and out, while its length rose and fell unpredictably.

Jiang Ming looked at the unstable glow, and his brows slowly furrowed again.

The unstable glow meant there were still problems with the Core Magic Array inscribed on this Metal Block.

But where exactly was the problem?

Jiang Ming examined it from every angle but could not find any clue. His mood could not help growing irritated.

Suddenly, Jiang Ming accidentally sent a little too much Soul Power into it. The Metal Block abruptly emitted a blinding flash!

"Not good!"

Jiang Ming inwardly cried out in alarm and hurriedly threw away the Metal Block in his hand!

"Young Master Jiang, you... you threw—"

Seeing Jiang Ming throw away the object in his hand, the coachman was about to say something when another tremendous explosion rang out beside him.

His heart trembled, and he hurriedly turned to look.

Beside the stretch of road they had just passed, a huge Explosion Pit had silently appeared, with several wisps of smoke still lingering above it.

"Th-this... this is..."

While steadying the startled horses, the coachman looked at Jiang Ming with a stammer.

Jiang Ming looked somewhat dejected. He glanced at the coachman and muttered,

"It exploded again. Is this thing really that hard?"

Again... again?

The coachman immediately recalled the previous explosion. He could not help looking back at the Explosion Pit, which was already growing farther and farther away, his heart still pounding with fear.

With that power, it could have blown his carriage—and him along with it—to pieces!

And besides, it had already exploded! Why was Young Master Jiang acting like nothing had happened?!