Heaven's Punishment!

The deafening roar was like a thunderclap out of a clear sky, shaking everyone on the street to their core.

For a moment, the entire ghost market fell into an eerie silence.

The people kneeling on the street stared blankly at the "Immortal" falling from the sky, seemingly unable to believe what they were seeing.

An Immortal who had achieved enlightenment and ascended was struck down by lightning... Could this be Heaven's Punishment?

This was certainly not Heaven's Punishment!

Su Wuming, who had been standing beside his cousin, saw it clearly: what struck Yin Shirou down was "Truth" in his cousin's hand!

However, with Su Wuming's current wisdom, he couldn't comprehend why this object possessed such power.

He only knew that Su Haoming had simply raised it, and a flash of fire had erupted from the front of the wrought iron, striking down the so-called Immortal above like lightning!

Sensing the mixed gazes of stunned disbelief, shock, and awe from the people around him, Su Haoming, who had been so proud moments ago, immediately began to regret his actions.

He had acted on impulse and fired at Yin Shirou. He felt a moment of satisfaction, but the consequences that followed were no joke...

There was no other way. The guy was just too arrogant. And not only was he arrogant, but he was also floating about ten meters off the ground, moving as slowly as a snail. He was practically a sitting duck. Anyone would have been tempted, right?

Su Haoming first consoled himself, then his mind raced as he thought about his next move.

The next second, he suddenly turned and knelt down. To Su Wuming's bewildered gaze, he spread his arms wide and shouted fanatically:

"The Demonic Daoist is immoral, falsely claiming ascension! An Immortal has manifested, delivering Heaven's Punishment!"

"Elder Brother! General Lu! A true Immortal has descended!"

As soon as he said this, the crowd on the street was drawn to him.

"An Immortal has manifested, delivering Heaven's Punishment!"

"An Immortal has manifested! An Immortal has manifested!"

The eyes of the crowd gradually grew fervent. They all rose and surged towards the mansion, seemingly intending to enter and pay their respects to the true Immortal.

They had all been kneeling and worshipping Yin Shirou as he "ascended." They only knew the loud noise came from that direction and hadn't seen Su Haoming fire his weapon.

Taking advantage of this information gap, Su Haoming shifted the source of the gunshot sound to the mansion behind him. The unsuspecting crowd, seeing his actions, naturally assumed that the deity enshrined in the mansion had manifested.

The crowd surged forward madly, performing the ritual of three kowtows and nine bows even before they got close.

Witnessing this, Su Wuming's heart tightened. He quickly pulled his cousin aside and whispered, "What are you doing?"

Su Haoming didn't reply. He merely turned to Lu Lingfeng and said, "General Lu, what are you waiting for? The Demonic Daoist has been struck down by an Immortal. Hurry and arrest him!"

"..."

Lu Lingfeng finally came back to his senses.

He glanced at Su Haoming with a complicated expression, then gritted his teeth, raised his hand, and waved. He led the other three Jinwu Guards towards the direction where Yin Shirou had fallen.

Seeing this, Su Haoming breathed a sigh of relief and quickly whispered, "Elder Brother, let's slip away in the chaos!"

Although Su Wuming had many questions, given the current situation, he could only go along with it.

Not long after, the three servants and masters of the Su family finally escaped the ghost market and returned to the County Lieutenant's residence.

Upon entering the room, Su Wuming gave Su Qian a meaningful look.

The latter nodded slightly, cast a worried glance at his young master, then turned and exited the room, closing the door and standing guard in the courtyard.

Seeing this, Su Haoming knew it was time to lay his cards on the table.

As expected, looking at his calm cousin, Su Wuming's expression was complex.

"Su Haoming, do you know what you've done?"

"Of course," Su Haoming said with a smile. "I saved you all."

This statement wasn't just referring to what had just happened.

According to the great Lin Yu, in the near future, Uncle Qian would die at the hands of that Yin Shirou.

The reason Su Haoming had shot at Yin Shirou, besides acting on impulse, was also his constant worry about this future.

But he couldn't possibly reveal such things to Su Wuming, so he understood his cousin's reaction.

Su Wuming frowned and said softly, "Although I don't know how you got it, an innocent man is guilty if he possesses a treasure. How dare you flaunt such a powerful weapon in front of Lu Lingfeng?"

"He's from the Fan Yang Lu Clan and is the Crown Prince's man. Who knows what he might do?"

"If Yin Shirou escapes, I can catch him again. But if you use this thing, how can I cover for you?!"

"Yansheng, you'd better give me a reasonable explanation. Otherwise, I'll have no choice but to send you back home and live a low-profile life from now on..."

Yansheng was Su Haoming's childhood name, chosen from an event during his infant grabbing ceremony where he grasped a writing brush.

Su Wuming had always called him by this name in the past, but as he grew into adulthood in recent years, Su Wuming changed his address, only using his childhood name when they were alone.

"It's not that exaggerated!" Su Haoming said with a laugh. "Elder Brother, you underestimate your own intelligence too much and overestimate the IQ of those Jinwu Guards."

"Do you think they can think as deeply as you do?"

Su Wuming shook his head and said slowly, "Caution is paramount in all things."

Su Haoming chuckled, "When I fired, I had already confirmed it. The only one who saw me fire was Elder Brother. They only heard the gunshot. As long as I make up some excuse, it won't be a problem to fool them."

Su Wuming frowned, "Gun?"

Su Haoming explained, "Not that kind of long spear, it's a firearm."

"Firearm?"

Su Wuming blurted out immediately, "Could it be related to gunpowder?"

Su Haoming was a little surprised, then praised, "As expected of Elder Brother!"

During the Tang Dynasty, gunpowder had already appeared. The earliest record of gunpowder was in the Dan Jing written by the Medicine King Sun Simiao. Since this substance was accidentally obtained by alchemists during their practice, some people called it 'gun' powder.

In order to solve cases and conduct autopsies, Su Wuming had studied medical classics extensively, and Dan Jing was a required reading.

Coupled with the fact that he was closest to Su Haoming at the time and clearly smelled sulfur, it was not strange that he would associate firearms with gunpowder.

Su Wuming frowned, "But I still don't understand, what is the principle behind this thing..."

Su Haoming chuckled, "If you talk about the principle, it's quite simple. Elder Brother, do you know about blowguns?"

Su Wuming nodded, "Of course I do."

Su Haoming explained, "Blowguns propel darts using air. This thing is similar, but it uses the explosive force of gunpowder instead of air to propel objects heavier than darts."

"Of course, it sounds simple to say, but achieving it is not that easy..."

Su Wuming nodded thoughtfully.

He could imagine that if an explosive force propelled darts, it would indeed create a more powerful weapon than a blowgun.

However, making such a weapon would undoubtedly be extremely difficult. At least, in Su Wuming's understanding, the blacksmiths of the Great Tang absolutely could not create something that could perfectly utilize explosive force.

"How did you get it?"

Su Wuming asked the crucial question.

Su Haoming thought for a moment and whispered, "Do you remember what I said when I was a child?"

Su Wuming frowned, "Are you referring to the Immortal Bestows Teachings?"

Without waiting for a response, he shook his head, "The talk of Immortals is ethereal and illusory. Your elder brother didn't believe it back then, and still doesn't believe it now!"

Su Haoming said helplessly, "You don't believe in Immortals, but you should believe in the teachings, right? Otherwise, how do you explain the knowledge that suddenly appeared in my mind?"

"..."

Su Wuming fell into thought. After a long while, he slowly nodded, "I believe this!"

Su Haoming hadn't held out much hope, so he was a little surprised when he heard this.

Su Wuming said calmly, "My teacher said that there are no ghosts or gods in this world, only people who pretend to be gods and ghosts."

"Therefore, what you learned as a child must have been secretly taught by a master!"

"Although I don't know where this master is hiding, or how he managed to avoid my teacher's personal guards and teach you every night, this knowledge of all things in the world is definitely not fake."

Su Haoming was speechless, "So you believed it all along?"

Su Wuming shook his head, "It wasn't me, it was my teacher. I actually didn't believe it at the time, but my teacher firmly believed that you had a master behind you. The reason he didn't accept you as a disciple back then was out of respect for that master..."

"Wait!"

Su Haoming's eyes widened in disbelief, "Are you saying that Duke Di didn't want to take me as a disciple back then because he thought I already had a master?"

Su Wuming looked at him strangely, "Of course. You were an unprecedented child prodigy of our Su family when you were young. If not for this reason, why would my teacher refuse to take you as a disciple?"

"..."

Su Haoming stared blankly at his cousin.

He had lost out big time!