Crafted Bronze Cannon

Xu Yuan had already run more than ten li when he was inexplicably "captured" and brought back.

Saint Aunt looked smug. "You killed one of our people and thought you could run? Not so easy!"

The cannon swung around and aimed at Xu Yuan.

"I'll ask the questions, and you'll answer. Tell even half a lie, and I'll blast you to pieces."

Xu Yuan still said nothing. Saint Aunt had already begun her interrogation, certain that the boy was fish on the chopping block.

"Where is June Bug?"

Xu Yuan surveyed his surroundings. Accountant Liu was bound from head to toe in iron chains, his head hanging in dejection. Clearly, he was no help.

Everyone around him belonged to the other side.

This altar—thankfully, it was only an altar. There were no other restrictive measures to trap him.

Seeing that the boy was still pretending to be deaf and dumb, Saint Aunt laughed angrily. "You think I'm afraid to kill you because I don't want to hurt the rat?"

The bronze cannon atop the sedan chair blazed with red light! Once she killed the boy, she could seize the maid's soul and refine her into a Yin Soldier. Then she could ask whatever she wanted, and the maid would answer.

Zhao Yong and the others turned pale and hurriedly retreated several zhang.

The guild's bronze Crafted Cannons could fire several kinds of ammunition, including explosive shells and solid shot.

They should have loaded solid shot to deal with one person, but if they had loaded an explosive shell by mistake, anyone standing too close would be caught in the blast.

Xu Yuan spun around and darted into Master Qiao's study.

But as soon as he moved, the Crafted Cannon's barrel turned with him, automatically tracking its target.

Xu Yuan paid it no mind. He ducked into the study, zigzagged through it, and slipped out through a small gate in the side courtyard.

Only the inn's staff knew about this small gate.

The red glow of the bronze Crafted Cannon grew brighter and brighter, but it still didn't fire.

The cannon's belly began to bulge. Someone shouted, "Oh no, it's going to explode!"

Saint Aunt realized something was wrong. With a crash, she flew through the sedan chair's smashed back panel and dashed toward the courtyard gate.

Zhao Yong and the others were even more terrified. Some vaulted over the wall, others scrambled through the gate, and all fled the courtyard as fast as they could.

Bound in chains, Accountant Liu stared wide-eyed and hopped desperately...

Boom!

The bronze Crafted Cannon exploded.

The side courtyard was ravaged as if by a storm. The bamboo, plum trees, flowers, and plants were instantly reduced to splinters!

Chunks of artificial rock were blasted into the air. Seven or eight flew more than ten zhang and crashed into the street outside.

The courtyard walls collapsed in neat sections. The study's front doors and windows shattered, and its walls were riddled with holes.

The sedan chair was blown to pieces, and a crater half a person deep appeared in the ground!

Accountant Liu was blasted away. A huge, tile-shaped fragment of the cannon barrel impaled him against a section of wall that hadn't fallen. His eyes were wide open, but he was already dead.

Outside the courtyard, several wood splinters were caught in Saint Aunt's hair. She had never been so utterly disheveled.

She was ablaze with fury. "After him! I want him dead!"

Zhao Yong and the others immediately sprang off like wild beasts.

"When did that brat sabotage it!?" Saint Aunt demanded angrily.

The maid lowered her head behind her, guessing it had been the previous night.

But how could that boy have sabotaged a creation of an Artisan Cultivator?

Even if he really had eaten June Bug, he was still only a Fate Cultivator. Each trade was a mountain apart. Forget sabotaging the cannon—he shouldn't even have been able to understand how an Artisan Cultivator's creation worked.

Xu Yuan had originally only hidden in the sedan chair. He hadn't planned to sabotage it.

But when he saw that the Yin Soldiers' master was in the front courtyard, he figured it couldn't hurt to be prepared and casually made a few "modifications" to the sedan chair.

While working on it, Xu Yuan discovered that the Artisan Cultivator who had made the sedan chair was nowhere near as skilled as his stepmother.

His stepmother had drummed the craft into him day after day. Though Xu Yuan wasn't an Artisan Cultivator, he actually understood its ins and outs quite well.

"This thing looks fancy, but it's really nothing special. All show and no substance."

That made it easy to sabotage.

Xu Yuan hadn't heard Saint Aunt threaten Accountant Liu.

Could something good enough to be purchased by the Northern Capital's Divine Machine Camp really be so shoddy?

Zhao Yong and his men knew the town well. They caught up to Xu Yuan before he had gone very far.

Xu Yuan darted through the alleys, turning and doubling back, but he still couldn't shake them.

Zhao Yong was anxious too. Saint Aunt had suffered a humiliating blunder. If he couldn't catch Xu Yuan quickly, he feared he'd be blamed for it next.

He carefully studied Xu Yuan's route, then sprang up the wall and onto a nearby rooftop.

Martial Cultivators were exceptionally nimble.

He raced across the rooftops, cleared two courtyards, then leaped like a great roc and landed squarely in front of Xu Yuan.

It was a narrow alley, with two more people chasing behind him.

Zhao Yong rose to his feet, radiating confidence. "You can't get away."

Xu Yuan saw Zhao Yong blocking his path, but didn't slow down at all. Zhao Yong gave a cold laugh, shook both arms, and crack! His sleeves burst apart, revealing arms thicker than Xu Yuan's thighs!

Xu Yuan suddenly opened his mouth. Ptooey!

A pill glimmering gold and silver shot toward Zhao Yong at high speed.

Zhao Yong looked surprised. "A Pill Cultivator?" Then he sneered. "A low-level one."

He stepped forward and reached out to meet the pill. Exhaling sharply, he cried, "Hah—!"

The pill could snap a tree as thick as a bowl in two, yet he caught it in one hand!

The pill spun rapidly in his grip. Zhao Yong squeezed hard, producing a grating squeal as white smoke curled from his palm.

Then Zhao Yong opened his hand. The pill had come to a stop in his palm.

Clear palm lines were imprinted on it!

"Accept your fate," Zhao Yong said coldly.

But he saw a strange grin creep across Xu Yuan's lips.

Xu Yuan was already charging straight at him. Zhao Yong reached out to seize him, certain of his success. He had already decided that once he caught the boy, he'd crush two of his collarbones to teach him a little lesson.

But halfway through extending his hand, his arm suddenly drooped, powerless. Zhao Yong felt his life force rapidly draining away!

Xu Yuan rushed past him, brushing against his arm. Zhao Yong crashed to the ground.

"Merchant Law... Life-Buying Money..." Zhao Yong swallowed his last breath, finally understanding.

"Boss!" The two men chasing Xu Yuan were horrified. They rushed to Zhao Yong's body, shaking him and calling out to him again and again.

Why keep chasing? Their boss had been killed. If they caught up with Xu Yuan, they'd only be throwing their lives away.

And so, a tale of deep master-servant devotion played out in the alley.

Xu Yuan darted through the streets like a nimble, agile leopard, twisting and turning until he burst out of town and sped into Ghost Witch Mountain.

By the time Saint Aunt and her party arrived, Xu Yuan had long since vanished.

Saint Aunt's face had turned livid with rage. The maid braced herself and examined Zhao Yong's corpse, then retrieved the pill and presented it to Saint Aunt. "Life-Buying Money."

"He probably found it on Huang Wanliang and refined it using the Pill Cultivator's methods."

"Zhao Yong was caught off guard and fell for his trick."

Saint Aunt pinched the pill, flattening it like dough. "A low-level trick!"

The people from Zhao's Furs Shop were clearly taken aback. If they'd known the boy was only at this level, they would have chased him down no matter what, to prove their loyalty to Saint Aunt and avenge their boss!

Saint Aunt cursed inwardly: What a fool—and the cowards he's brought along with him!

Her cold gaze swept over them. In her mind, she had already labeled them "bait."

"Wu Haishan!" Saint Aunt called. "You're a Pill Cultivator too. Is there any way you can catch him?"