Lu Chenxing had already prepared his explanation.
"Grandpa Patriarch, you can think of this as an attack from a Law Artifact. Though it made quite a spectacle, it should actually only be comparable to an attack from a Golden Core True Person."
Only?
That was a Golden Core cultivator's power.
But as Lu Changfeng and the others looked at the mushroom cloud blooming beneath the night sky,
they could not help wondering.
Could the Golden Core Stage really cause such terrifying destruction?
Taking advantage of this lull, Lu Chenxing extended his Divine Sense to carefully examine his surroundings.
A nuclear explosion would produce extremely powerful radiation, causing extremely severe damage to mortal bodies.
Nourished by Spiritual Qi, cultivators' bodies were far stronger than those of mortals.
But whether they could withstand radiation without fear had never been tested.
No one knew.
Lu Chenxing wanted to see whether he could capture a radiation particle and find out just what it was.
When his Divine Sense entered a radiation particle drifting through the air, he immediately sensed a force filled with a savage, destructive presence.
That force suddenly surged toward Lu Chenxing's Divine Sense.
Frightened, Lu Chenxing hurriedly severed part of his Divine Sense.
His little face immediately turned deathly pale.
His unusual reaction immediately drew the attention of the other members of the Lu Household, and the three old men looked at him with concern written all over their faces.
"Little Chenxing, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine!" Lu Chenxing continued, "That Law Artifact's attack produces an extremely powerful explosion. After the explosion, special particles containing a savage, destructive presence drift between heaven and earth."
"Just now, I sent my Divine Sense inside one to take a look. I didn't expect the presence inside to try to latch onto my Divine Sense. I was a little scared, so I severed part of my Divine Sense."
So that was it.
Just as Lu Chenxing finished speaking,
a scream suddenly rang out from the crowd.
"Ah!"
Lu Changfeng immediately realized something and shouted.
"Everyone, withdraw your Divine Sense and Spiritual Sense! Don't carelessly touch anything unknown!"
After speaking, he rushed to the disciple who had screamed. The disciple had already collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Lu Changfeng's brows knitted tightly.
After some thought, he still directed his Divine Sense into the disciple's body to examine him.
Fortunately, nothing unusual happened.
The disciple's condition, however, was terrible.
He had probably sent his Spiritual Sense into one of those particles before hearing all of Lu Chenxing's warning, suffering an invasion by that unknown force.
His physical body was unharmed.
But his soul seemed to have suffered a grievous injury and was extremely weak.
"That force targets the soul. His life isn't in danger, but his soul has been severely injured. He can only recover by taking pills or heavenly materials and earthly treasures that nourish the soul."
It targeted the soul!
Lu Chenxing was startled.
According to his existing understanding, nuclear radiation particles damaged the human body.
No.
It probably wasn't that simple.
It was difficult for Lu Chenxing himself to get to the root of these radiation particles.
But he could send all his discoveries to Great Xia by letter and have them conduct analysis and research.
In the past, Great Xia had always used technological means to observe nuclear materials.
Now it seemed that, under technological examination, the internal energy structure of radiation particles remained static.
Cultivators' Divine Sense, however, could trigger certain changes in them.
This change
might allow Great Xia to unravel nuclear materials at their very root, beginning with an understanding of their essence and progressing to deeper applications.
Rather than merely making simple, superficial use of them as they did now.
Their explosive power depended entirely on increasing the yield.
At this thought, Lu Chenxing's eyes lit up.
"Perhaps one day, Great Xia's absolute truth will become absolute truth in the cultivation world too."
Lu Chenxing no longer dared to send his Divine Sense into the radiation particles floating in the air.
He tried a different approach.
He attempted to direct his Spiritual Power to envelop and move a radiation particle.
It actually worked.
Moreover, the radiation particle showed no unusual reaction this time, allowing Lu Chenxing to manipulate it at will.
So he took out a jade bottle.
He drew the particle inside.
The entire process went smoothly, without any accidents.
This filled Lu Chenxing with delight.
Using nuclear weapons had been a desperate act forced upon him.
Powerful enemies had come knocking, the Lu Household was about to be wiped out, and he was about to croak. How could he spare any thought for the consequences of detonating a nuclear weapon?
Lu Chenxing had originally thought cleaning up the radiation afterward would be very troublesome.
Now it seemed that ordinary cultivator methods would suffice.
They only needed to collect those radiation particles with Spiritual Power and place them in containers.
After successfully capturing one radiation particle after another, Lu Chenxing began calling on Lu Changfeng and the other members of the Lu Household to help.
They would cleanse the radiation and restore clear skies to heaven and earth.
Once everyone had become proficient, Lu Chenxing asked Lu Changfeng to take him to the center of the explosion.
He wanted to see whether that group of mysterious black-robed people had left anything behind.
Lu Changfeng also wanted to know just what mighty figure the Lu Household had offended.
They had actually sent twelve Foundation Establishment cultivators to attack their home.
They had simply left them no chance to resist.
If not for the powerful Law Artifact Lu Chenxing had brought out, the Lu Household would probably have suffered grievous casualties after a bitter battle.
In any case, Lu Changfeng certainly could not have survived.
The closer they went to the center, the denser the radiation particles between heaven and earth became.
Lu Changfeng and his grandson were also extremely careful.
They kept their Spiritual Power shields raised at all times to protect themselves.
When extending their Divine Sense, they also skirted those particles, not daring to probe inside them again.
They searched for a long time but found little.
The earth was bare and scorched black. Beneath Truth, not a blade of grass survived.
Such was the price of nuclear peace.
"Huh? Wait, Grandpa Patriarch, there seems to be something over there!"
Lu Changfeng looked in the direction Lu Chenxing was pointing, then dug a fragment out of a pile of black ash.
"Is this a fragment of some mirror?"
"That shouldn't be possible. How could anything survive such terrifying power?"
Lu Changfeng was just about to send his Divine Sense into the mirror fragment in his hand when he suddenly remembered something and hurriedly withdrew it. He only dared turn it over and examine it with his own eyes. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed to be an ordinary mirror fragment.
Lu Chenxing was also full of curiosity. "Grandpa, let me have a look."
"All right. Be careful. Don't let there be something nasty inside this too." As he spoke, Lu Changfeng placed the mirror fragment in Lu Chenxing's hand.
Lu Chenxing likewise turned it over and over but could make nothing of it.
Still, anything that could survive at the center of a nuclear explosion was certainly extraordinary.
After pondering for a moment,
Lu Chenxing, whose skill gave him courage, sent his Divine Sense inside.
Then a stretch of primordial chaos appeared in his mind.
An ancient bronze mirror suddenly appeared within the chaos, and scene after scene began flashing across its surface.