Blueprints, the Transition to Soul Tools!

Lin Xia wiped the sweat from his forehead. Seeing Lou Gao's face flushed red with excitement, he knew this was the perfect moment to bring up that idea.

Lin Xia took a deep breath, eagerness gleaming in his eyes as he spoke.

"Teacher, don't be so quick to praise me. Looking at this Forging Hammer and Fine Iron, I suddenly thought of... well, an entirely new approach to making weapons."

Lin Xia paused, a trace of barely concealed excitement in his tone.

"I want to try making it, but I'm afraid I'll need your full support."

The moment Lou Gao heard that Lin Xia had come up with an idea for a new weapon after only just learning forging, one of his thick brows rose. His interest was instantly ignited, burning hotter than the furnace flames. With a Wave of the Hand, he boomed, "Oh? A new weapon? Hahaha, good kid, you've got plenty of ideas! Tell me, tell me! What do you want to make? An improved saber, spear, sword, or halberd? Or some exotic weapon? Axes, polearms, hooks, forks? So long as you can draw it, this old man can forge it!"

But Lin Xia shook his head, a mysterious smile at the Corners of the Mouth.

"None of those, Teacher. It's a... weapon unlike anything anyone has ever seen."

With a thought, Lin Xia took out paper and a pen from the dark-silver Space Soul Tool on the ring finger of his Left Hand.

Under the curious yet reverent gazes of the surrounding blacksmith apprentices and several intermediate blacksmiths, Lin Xia sat directly on the ground, spread the paper across the relatively level floor, and began to draw.

Lin Xia moved incredibly fast, his pen flying across the page without the slightest hesitation, as though those complex diagrams had long been etched deeply into his mind.

Lou Gao immediately leaned over. His massive body nearly enveloped Lin Xia as he crouched down, his burning gaze fixed on the lines forming beneath Lin Xia's pen.

At first, Lou Gao had worn an expectant smile, but as one blueprint after another was completed, his expression gradually froze. His brows drew tighter and tighter, and even his thick beard began to bristle.

The first drawing showed a cylindrical main body with a grip. Its lines were cold and hard, and its interior seemed to contain intricate grooves and holes.

The second showed a metal block with strange protrusions and notches—the Slide and Action.

The third showed tiny springs, catches, and needle-like parts—the Firing Pin...

The fourth showed several metal tubes of varying thickness—the Barrel—and a compact Trigger assembly...

Blueprint after blueprint spread across the floor, leaving Lou Gao more and more bewildered. What in the world were these things?

They were bizarrely shaped and scattered into pieces, bearing no resemblance to any weapon parts he knew!

They didn't look like sabers, nor did they look like swords. They didn't even have a proper blade edge.

No matter how he looked at them, they resembled a pile of intricate... toy parts?

Or the internal components of some complicated mechanical device?

A feeling of being toyed with rose in Lou Gao's heart.

This kid—after I just praised him, he comes up with all this incomprehensible nonsense to fool this old man?

The surrounding craftsmen only dared to observe the strange blueprints on the floor from afar, whispering among themselves with equally puzzled expressions.

However, as the blueprints under Lin Xia's pen continued to take shape, more and more parts emerged: the Slide, Barrel, Recoil Spring, Trigger Bar, and even the prototype of a Magazine...

Lou Gao's keen eye and spatial imagination as a Divine Craftsman began to come into play.

He stopped looking at each individual part in isolation. Instead, he instinctively began trying to combine and assemble those scattered pieces in his mind.

The puzzle pieces spun and came together rapidly within Lou Gao's powerful mind!

Gradually, the outline of a bizarre creation unlike anything he had ever seen—compact in structure and formed from countless precision parts nested together—began to clearly emerge in his mind!

Though he still had no idea how this thing was used, the exquisite, complex mechanical beauty of every interlocking component was already making his Scalp Numbness!

The confusion and irritation in Lou Gao's eyes had long since vanished without a trace, replaced by an ever-brighter gleam. He stared fixedly at the final blueprint beneath Lin Xia's pen, his Adam's Apple bobbing as his breathing grew somewhat heavy.

When Lin Xia finally put down his pen and placed aside the last drawing—a small cylinder marked with saltpeter 75, sulfur 10, charcoal 15 (gunpowder ratio)—Lou Gao's gaze locked onto it like that of a hawk.

"Teacher, I'm done."

Lin Xia raised his head and looked at Lou Gao.

Lou Gao did not respond at once. His eyes swept back and forth between the pile of blueprints and Lin Xia's face before he suddenly pointed at the strange cylinder and the formula drawing. His voice was filled with barely restrained excitement and urgency.

"Xiao Xia! These... these parts, this old man can roughly tell that they can be assembled into some... some strange thing!"

"But! How is this thing used?! How can it be a weapon? No matter how I look at it, it seems more like... like an exceptionally intricate mechanical creation! You can use it as a weapon? How? It wouldn't even be convenient for smashing someone!"

Lou Gao's tone was full of thirst for knowledge. His previous doubts had already been replaced by a feverish desire to explore.

Lin Xia smiled faintly. Picking up the Bullet blueprint and the gunpowder formula, he began to explain unhurriedly, his voice clear and logical.

"Teacher, this thing is called a Handgun. You were right just now—its core lies in mechanisms and explosive force."

Lin Xia picked up the Bullet blueprint.

"First, this special Projectile must be made. This small metal tube is filled according to the ratio I marked, with a mixture of Gunpowder—saltpeter, sulfur, and Charcoal."

"When this mixture encounters High Temperature or a powerful impact, it instantly produces an enormous amount of gas! Then, above the gunpowder, this tiny metal cone is pressed in."

Next, Lin Xia pointed at the blueprint of the main structure.

(Omitted. I'm afraid you guys will say I'm teaching you how to make guns!)

"The sparks produced by the impact instantly ignite the gunpowder inside the cartridge! The gunpowder explodes violently within the sealed cartridge and chamber, creating unimaginable pressure! This violent force has nowhere to escape, so it can only propel that tiny metal projectile out through the Barrel at a speed faster than sound!"

Lin Xia made a forward shooting gesture.

"Though the projectile is small, with that terrifying initial velocity behind it, piercing metal and stone and tearing through Flesh and Blood is Easy as Pie!"

"Its power Far Exceeds that of ordinary bows and crossbows. Its firing is discreet, its recoil is controllable, and with a little training, it can fire continuously! This is... a Handgun!"

Lin Xia's explanation struck beside Lou Gao's ears like thunder!

Gunpowder!

Explosion!

Sealed propulsion!

A hypervelocity metal Projectile!

Lou Gao's eyes widened like bronze bells, his pupils contracting violently from the immense shock!

Lou Gao stared fixedly at the gunpowder formula, then abruptly looked at the tiny Bullet blueprint before sweeping his gaze over all the precision component drawings on the floor!

As a top-tier Divine Craftsman who had spent his life dealing with fire and iron, his understanding of energy, explosions, metal deformation, and impact was ingrained in his very bones!

Every step of the principle Lin Xia described was brutally and precisely at the very pinnacle of his understanding—then mercilessly overturned it!

"Ex... explosive propulsion?! Gunpowder?! Saltpeter and sulfur... can actually be used like this?! Sealed... projectile... fired..."

Lou Gao muttered to himself, his voice trembling with excitement.

In an instant, he simulated the terrifying scene in his mind: the gunpowder erupting within a tiny space, high-pressure gas forcing a hard projectile to accelerate through a sturdy Barrel, before finally bursting free!

That form of power—Instant Burst and precise impact—completely surpassed the realm of saber slashes, axe chops, hammer blows, and spear thrusts!

"Sometimes I truly don't know what your brain is made of. To think you could come up with such a genius idea! If it really works as you described, then this weapon could change the balance of the entire continent!"

After exclaiming in amazement, Lou Gao snatched up every blueprint and carefully put them away as though they were priceless treasures.

"Exquisite craftsmanship! Unbelievable! This idea... these mechanisms... this method of harnessing explosive force! This old man has lived a whole lifetime, yet never imagined weapons could be made this way!"

Lou Gao's voice rang out like a Great Bell, filled with the wild joy of discovering a new continent and an endless desire to forge. His eyes were bloodshot, burning with the fire that only a top craftsman facing an unparalleled challenge could kindle.

"Xiao Xia! This old man is starting right now! I'll forge it myself! We'll test it furnace by furnace! I want to see whether this weapon can truly be brought into existence by my own hands! Hahaha!!"

Lin Xia merely smiled. This was far from over—firearms and the like were only a transition. Now that he had become Lou Gao's disciple, Lin Xia naturally wanted to study Soul Tools.

Brothers, if Soul Tools were created ten thousand years ahead of time, what do you think Tang San would think?

.