Heaven's Punishment!

The deafening boom was like a thunderclap from a clear sky, leaving everyone on the street reeling.

For a moment, the entire Ghost Market fell into an eerie silence.

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

An immortal master who had attained the Dao and ascended had actually been struck down by lightning... Could this be Heaven's Punishment?

Of course, this was not Heaven's Punishment!

Su Wuming, who had remained by his cousin's side, had seen it clearly. The one who had shot down Yin Shirou was the "Truth" in his cousin's hand!

But with Su Wuming's current understanding, he still could not figure out why that thing possessed such terrifying power.

All he knew was that Su Haoming had simply raised it, and a flash of fire had burst from the front of the refined iron, striking down the so-called Immortal overhead like lightning!

Sensing the stunned, shocked, and reverent gazes around him, Su Haoming, who had just been feeling quite pleased with himself, immediately began to regret it.

In a moment of hotheadedness, he had fired at Yin Shirou. It had felt good, but the consequences that followed would be no joke...

Still, who could blame him? That guy had been so arrogant. Arrogance aside, he had been floating roughly ten meters above the ground and moving as slowly as a crawl. He was practically a living target. Who could have resisted?

After comforting himself for a moment, Su Haoming's mind began racing as he considered what to do next.

The next second, he suddenly turned around and dropped to his knees. Under Su Wuming's baffled gaze, he spread his arms and shouted fervently:

"The Demonic Daoist lacks virtue and falsely claims ascension! The Immortal has manifested and delivered Heaven's Punishment!"

"Elder Brother! General Lu! A true Immortal has revealed himself!"

As soon as he said this, everyone on the street was drawn over.

"The Immortal has manifested and delivered Heaven's Punishment!"

"The Immortal has manifested! The Immortal has manifested!"

The crowd's eyes gradually turned fanatical. They all rose to their feet and surged toward the residence, apparently intending to enter and pay respects to the True Immortal.

They had all been worshipping Yin Shirou's "ascension" just moments ago. They only knew that the huge blast had come from this direction and had not seen Su Haoming fire the gun.

Taking advantage of this information gap, Su Haoming shifted the source of the gunshot to the residence behind him. Seeing his display and knowing nothing of the truth, the crowd naturally assumed that the deity worshipped within the residence had manifested.

The crowd rushed over frantically, beginning the formal rite of three kneelings and nine kowtows before they had even approached.

Su Wuming's heart tightened at the sight. He quickly pulled his cousin aside and asked in a low voice, "What are you doing?"

Su Haoming did not answer. He merely turned to Lu Lingfeng and said, "General Lu, what are you standing there for? The Demonic Daoist has already been struck down by the Immortal. Hurry up and arrest him!"

"..."

Lu Lingfeng finally came back to his senses.

He gave Su Haoming a complicated look, then gritted his teeth and waved a hand, leading the other three Jinwu Guards toward where Yin Shirou had fallen.

Seeing this, Su Haoming let out a sigh of relief and hurriedly whispered, "Elder Brother, let's take advantage of the chaos and slip away!"

Though Su Wuming had many questions he wanted to ask, given the situation, he could only go along with it.

Not long afterward, the three masters and servants of the Su Family finally escaped the Ghost Market and returned to the County Lieutenant's residence.

Once inside the room, Su Wuming gave Su Qian a meaningful look.

The latter nodded slightly, gave the young master a worried glance, then turned and left the room. He closed the door behind him and stood guard in the courtyard.

Seeing this, Su Haoming knew it was time to come clean.

Sure enough, Su Wuming looked at his calm-faced cousin with a complicated expression and said:

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

"Of course." Su Haoming smiled. "I saved you."

That statement did not merely refer to what had just happened.

According to Big Boss Lin Yu, Uncle Qian would die at Yin Shirou's hands in the near future.

Aside from his momentary impulsiveness, Su Haoming had fired at Yin Shirou because he had been worrying about that future all along.

But he could not tell Su Wuming something like that, so he could understand his cousin's reaction.

Su Wuming frowned and said quietly, "Although I don't know how you acquired it, an ordinary man may be innocent, but he becomes guilty by possessing a treasure. You possess such a deadly weapon—how could you dare flaunt it before Lu Lingfeng?"

"He comes from the Fan Yang Lu Clan and serves the Crown Prince. Who knows what he might do?"

"If Yin Shirou escaped, then so be it. I could capture him again. But now that you've used this thing, how am I supposed to help you conceal it?"

"Yansheng, you had better give me a reasonable explanation. Otherwise, I can only send you back to our hometown, where you must keep a low profile and stay out of worldly affairs for the rest of your life..."

Yansheng was Su Haoming's childhood name, taken from the incident when he chose an inkstone during his first-birthday selection ceremony.

Su Wuming had always called him that in the past. Only after Su Haoming grew up had he changed how he addressed him, generally using his childhood name only when no one else was around.

"How is it that serious?" Su Haoming said with a smile. "Elder Brother, aren't you underestimating your own intelligence while overestimating the brains of those Jinwu Guards?"

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

Su Wuming shook his head. "It is better to be cautious in all things."

Su Haoming smiled. "Before I fired, I made sure that you were the only one who saw it with your own eyes. They merely heard the gunshot. As long as I make up some excuse, it won't be difficult to deceive them."

Su Wuming frowned. "Gun?"

Su Haoming explained, "Not that kind of spear. A firearm."

"A firearm?"

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

Su Haoming was somewhat surprised, then praised him, "As expected of Elder Brother!"

Gunpowder had actually appeared as early as the Tang Dynasty. The earliest record of it could be found in the Alchemy Classic written by Medicine King Sun Simiao. It had been discovered by physicians by accident while refining elixirs, which was why some people gave it the name fire "medicine."

Su Wuming had studied many medical classics while investigating cases and examining corpses, and the Alchemy Classic was among the books he had to read.

Furthermore, he had been closest to Su Haoming at the time and had clearly smelled sulfur. It was not strange that he would connect the firearm with gunpowder.

Su Wuming frowned. "But I still don't understand. What principle does this thing operate on...?"

Su Haoming smiled. "The principle is quite simple. Elder Brother, do you know about blow darts?"

Su Wuming nodded. "Naturally."

Su Haoming explained, "A blow dart uses air to propel the dart. This works on the same principle, except it replaces air with the force of a gunpowder explosion, using it to propel something heavier than a dart."

"Of course, it sounds simple, but actually making it is far from easy..."

Su Wuming nodded thoughtfully.

He could imagine that if explosive force propelled a dart, it would indeed create a weapon more powerful than a blow dart.

However, crafting such a weapon must have been extremely difficult. At least, in Su Wuming's understanding, no blacksmith in Great Tang could possibly make something capable of perfectly harnessing explosive force.

"How did you obtain it?"

Su Wuming asked the crucial question.

Su Haoming thought for a moment, then said quietly, "Do you remember what I said when I was young?"

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

After saying that, before the other could reply, he shook his head. "Stories of Immortals are illusory and unfounded. I did not believe them then, and I still do not believe them now!"

Su Haoming said helplessly, "Fine, you don't believe in Immortals, but you should at least believe in the teachings, right? Otherwise, how do you explain the knowledge that appeared out of nowhere in my head?"

"..."

Su Wuming fell silent in thought. After a long while, he slowly nodded. "That, I believe!"

Su Haoming had not held much hope, so hearing this left him somewhat surprised.

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

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

"Although I do not know where that person is hiding, nor how he avoided the guards around my teacher and taught you every night, this knowledge that explains all things in the world cannot be fake."

Su Haoming said speechlessly, "So you believed it all along?"

Su Wuming shook his head. "Not me—my teacher. I did not believe it at the time, but my teacher was convinced that an extraordinary person stood behind you. The reason he refused to accept you as his disciple back then was also out of respect for that person..."

"Wait!"

Su Haoming's eyes widened as he said incredulously, "You mean Duke Di refused to take me as his disciple because he thought I already had a teacher?"

Su Wuming looked at him strangely. "Of course. You were the most unprecedented Prodigy the Su Family had ever seen when you were young. If not for that reason, why would my teacher refuse to accept you as his disciple?"

"..."

Su Haoming stared blankly at his cousin.

He had suffered a huge loss this time!