Thunder Nucleus, Prepare to Open the Box!

After the thunderous roar, the spectators slowly recovered from the deafening blast and unanimously looked into the transparent Bone Shield.

The horrific scene inside did not inspire the slightest pity. Instead, many people's eyes lit up.

"Tower Master Qin, may I ask what those two Pearls you just used were?"

Suddenly, an incomparably excited voice rang out from the audience.

Everyone turned to look, only to see a richly dressed man with delight written across his face.

Though eagerly leaping to his feet cost him a little dignity, it was enough for anyone to see that his identity was far from ordinary.

With someone taking the lead, more and more voices soon began asking the same question.

Clearly, they had all set their sights on the power unleashed by Qin Shiyuan's two Pearls.

A weapon that required no Soul Power meant that even ordinary people could injure a Titled Douluo. Its value spoke for itself.

With such terrifying power alone, this tiny Pearl was absolutely enough to become the nightmare of every Soul Master below Nine Rings.

There were only twenty or thirty Titled Douluo across the entire continent. In other words, possessing one of these Pearls—

Even if someone had been an ordinary person one second ago, the next, they would possess the ability to kill one of the continent's top experts.

Who would not want something like that?

Especially those nobles and royals whose personal strength was lacking. What they did not lack was money.

What they lacked most, however, were weapons that could safeguard their authority!

Yet that was only the thinking of some people. The gazes of the smarter ones were far more farsighted.

In an instant, that small group realized just how devastating the widespread use of such weapons would be in war.

It was no exaggeration to say that whoever controlled such a thing could determine victory or defeat on any battlefield with a single thought.

If used in large-scale warfare and deployed in sufficient numbers, its effect could be said to rival... no! Far surpass that of a Titled Douluo!

Hearing the crowd's questions, Qin Shiyuan slowly turned around as if he had expected this all along.

"It is not really a secret. There is no harm in telling you."

"However... this item has not yet been released. Even if you know, it will be of no use."

A faint curve rose at the corner of his lips. Someone had taken the bait; more than half of his objective had already been achieved.

These Pearls were actually imitations of the hand grenades from Qin Shiyuan's previous life.

Only, since this was Douluo Continent, he had directly replaced the gunpowder within them with far more powerful Soul Power.

The manufacturing process seemed incredibly simple. One only needed to forge a shell from sufficiently tough metal, then have a Soul Master inject Soul Power into it.

In reality, however, it was not that simple. Finding metal capable of withstanding highly compressed Soul Power, then forging it into shape, was no easy task.

Especially metal capable of enduring Titled Douluo-level Soul Power. After collecting for so many years, Qin Shiyuan had only found enough to make eight.

That was right. The final power of these things was actually tied to the strength of the Soul Master who injected the Soul Power.

The two Qin Shiyuan had used just now contained the Soul Power Meng Shu had injected when he had first broken through to Titled Douluo.

One Pearl was enough to kill or cripple anyone below Nine Rings. With two, even a Titled Douluo would have to think twice.

Strictly speaking, by the standards of the later eras, this could barely be considered a crude one-use Soul Tool.

The Pearls Qin Shiyuan held now were actually somewhat similar to the Soul Cannons of ten thousand years later.

The difference was that, while their power was equally astonishing, if they had to be compared, they were roughly equivalent to the Level 8 Soul Cannons of the second era.

Yet their attack range was dozens of times smaller.

The former could easily cover tens of thousands of meters, while the ones in his hands had a range of less than a hundred meters.

What was missing here was precisely a technology that would not develop on Douluo Continent until several thousand years later—the Soul Guiding Formation!

Qin Shiyuan wanted to bring about the arrival of that era ahead of time, but he himself certainly knew nothing about this field.

However, over the years, he had long since secretly cultivated quite a few talents in this area.

He provided the direction, while his subordinates handled the designs.

In the end, after several years of research, they had only managed to create several low- and mid-level formations.

The reason those Pearls had not exploded on Qin Shiyuan himself was also thanks to this.

But after all, they had been developed through their own experimentation, so the formation controlling the explosions still had major flaws.

Aside from the fact that, during normal carrying, they could not be more than a hundred meters away from a Soul Saint-level Soul Master or above—

They also needed Soul Power replenished every two or three days to maintain their energy supply.

As for the amount required, it was roughly equivalent to the Soul Power stored by a Soul Emperor.

Therefore, the scenarios mentioned earlier by the audience, where ordinary people could slaughter Soul Saints and Soul Douluos, were basically impossible.

Unless one wanted to perish together with the enemy, one needed at least the cultivation of a Soul Saint to use them safely.

Despite its many flaws, this was the current era, not ten thousand years later.

Perhaps this thing would only count as a defective product in the second era, but right now, it was a genuine divine artifact!

As Qin Shiyuan watched the brows of the crowd slowly knit together, a mysterious smile appeared on his lips.

He deliberately left them hanging for a while before lazily beginning his introduction.

"This is one of the weapons our Tower developed specifically for Soul Masters. It is called the Thunder Nucleus."

"The two I just used are the highest grade currently developed by our Star-Plucking Tower. For now, they are only available for internal members to exchange for."

The moment those words were spoken, they dispelled the thoughts of many people, but a portion of the Soul Masters' eyes gleamed brightly.

If everyone could obtain Thunder Nuclei, their deterrent power would actually be much weaker.

Qin Shiyuan's decision instead stirred the interest of many independent cultivators without a sect.

Among those who already had affiliations, some even began considering switching to another faction.

After saying those two sentences, Qin Shiyuan did not answer another question, no matter what the crowd asked.

Naturally, he had not said so much earlier without reason.

His purpose was to recruit retainers.

His things were not so easy to take. Anyone who wanted benefits had to offer something in return.

Now that his objective had been achieved, Qin Shiyuan had no need to waste more words. Saying too much would only backfire.

Sure enough, before long, the crowd gradually stopped asking questions and grew noisy.

Of the topics they discussed, eight out of ten revolved around the Star-Plucking Tower...

"Well? After all this time, have you all recovered?"

At this moment, Qin Shiyuan once again smiled and strolled back before the Shrek group.

Under Ning Fengzhi's treatment, everyone's injuries had improved somewhat.

However, although the wound on Gu Rong's palm had scabbed over, the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda was not powerful enough to regenerate broken bones.

That hand still had only half a palm left exposed to the air, looking as miserable as could be.

"What exactly do you still want to do?!"

Tang San bit his lips tightly, thin streams of blood seeping out from between his teeth.

He had already formed a guess in his heart, but that answer was one he could never accept.

"What do I want to do?"

"You are so smart. You should have guessed long ago, so why are you still asking me?"

"The unboxing ceremony is over. Next... of course, it is time to open the box..."