Two months later, in Huo Yuhao's courtyard in Haoyue City.
After numerous experiments, the initial design of the Godly Zhuge Crossbow Cannon had finally been settled.
The entire Godly Zhuge Crossbow Cannon took up more than a square meter of space, so Huo Yuhao couldn't even fit it into his spatial ring.
For the barrel, Huo Yuhao had ultimately used a process of casting two layers of refined iron together, engraving numerous arrays inside it to increase the Godly Zhuge Crossbow Cannon's power.
As for the ammunition, it was still the most ordinary kind of iron-cased projectile, with no special craftsmanship or attributes added. For now, it relied solely on impact to strike its targets.
As for how it worked, the sealed Milk Bottle had yet to be made. On top of that, he needed to make it look usable by ordinary people, so for now, he powered it with magic crystals.
Huo Yuhao already had ideas for further improvements; he simply needed time.
But this basic model of the Godly Zhuge Crossbow Cannon was sure to meet the terms he had agreed on with Deacon Li.
That afternoon, Huo Yuhao was polishing the barrel in the backyard when someone suddenly knocked on the courtyard gate.
Hearing the sound, Huo Yuhao knew that the people from the Magic Temple had arrived, so he released his Spiritual Power to sweep over the area outside the gate.
Just then, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm in his Sea of Consciousness interrupted Huo Yuhao's thoughts just in time.
"Yuhao, watch out. There's an expert outside. Don't release too much Spiritual Power."
After speaking, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm concealed his aura.
Huo Yuhao was a little surprised by the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's warning. The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm rarely offered warnings of his own accord, but every time he did, he had been right.
Could the Magic Temple really have sent a ninth-tier expert? They must think highly of me.
Huo Yuhao smiled, then opened the courtyard gate.
Outside, the first person Huo Yuhao saw was Deacon Li, whom he had met two months ago.
Beside him stood a plump middle-aged man who appeared to be in his forties or fifties. He wasn't tall, and his figure was somewhat round. He wore a light cyan casual robe and had a smile on his face that gave him an inexplicably approachable air.
Yet the moment Huo Yuhao laid eyes on the plump middle-aged man, his heart filled with shock.
Although the man stood right there, his Spiritual Power couldn't detect the middle-aged man's presence. Instead, he sensed wisps of a gentle breeze.
The discovery astonished Huo Yuhao. Although he had suppressed his Spiritual Power, its level was inherently extremely high, yet this had still happened.
The only explanation was that the man before him was a true expert with an exceptionally profound mastery of the wind element.
Although his strength fell quite a bit short of Yang Haoyu's, his specialty lay in controlling the elements, making him completely different from Yang Haoyu. As a result, the pressure he gave Huo Yuhao was immense as well.
Taking the man's appearance into account, along with his ninth-tier strength,
a name immediately surfaced in Huo Yuhao's mind:
Li Zhengzhi.
Master of the Magic Temple.
Huo Yuhao simply couldn't understand how he had attracted Li Zhengzhi's attention. Although he had displayed exceptional talent in alchemy, he could only craft Spiritual Demon Grade Equipment and Glorious Grade Equipment at present. How could that catch this man's eye?
While Huo Yuhao was observing Li Zhengzhi, Li Zhengzhi was also staring at him.
At first glance, Li Zhengzhi sensed that there was something extraordinary about this young man.
Huo Yuhao gave him an impression of purity, mystery, and vitality.
As for Huo Yuhao's attribute, he already knew about it: he was a rare ice-attribute knight.
With talent like that, Li Zhengzhi felt that leaving him in the Knight Temple was a wanton waste of a heaven-sent gift.
Li Zhengzhi couldn't help reflecting:
It was worth making this trip. I hope this Huo Yuhao won't disappoint me!
After they briefly exchanged looks, Deacon Li was the first to speak, making an introduction:
"Young Brother Huo, this is Senior Li of our Magic Temple. He'll personally examine the magical equipment you spoke of."
The plump middle-aged man smiled and nodded at Huo Yuhao. "Young Brother Huo, I've heard much about you. Now that I've met you, you truly are a young genius."
"Greetings, Temple Master Li. You flatter me, Temple Master. I could never presume to call myself a genius."
Huo Yuhao spoke politely, taking the opportunity to reveal Li Zhengzhi's identity.
At his words, Deacon Li and Li Zhengzhi exchanged a smile. In the end, Li Zhengzhi spoke:
"Young brother, you truly live up to your reputation as a genius who possesses the Knight Temple's Inheritance Ring. No wonder you recognized me at a glance."
Huo Yuhao smiled awkwardly, then took two steps back and gestured for them to enter.
"Please come in, seniors. I've neglected my manners; please forgive me."
Li Zhengzhi and Deacon Li entered the backyard one after the other. Both immediately spotted the conspicuous piece of equipment sitting there.
But after a single look, disappointment appeared on both their faces.
After all, the equipment looked far too crude, and its materials were rather ordinary. It was a far cry from the equipment they had expected.
"Young Brother Huo, is this the equipment you prepared?"
After composing themselves, Deacon Li asked the question.
"That's right. Two months was rather short, so this was as far as I could take my experiments."
Huo Yuhao nodded and pointed at the Godly Zhuge Crossbow Cannon as he explained:
"Although this cannon is made of ordinary materials and doesn't look particularly sturdy or attractive, its power is definitely greater than what Deacon Li and I agreed on. And ordinary people can operate it.
"If you two seniors don't believe me, we can go outside the city and test it. Hearing is believing nothing; seeing is believing."
Li Zhengzhi's interest was piqued by Huo Yuhao's explanation.
He nodded and said with a smile:
"Since you're so confident, Young Brother Huo, I'll test it myself. There's no need to go out into the wilds; let's test it right here in the backyard!"
Huo Yuhao didn't object.
As the master of the Magic Temple, Li Zhengzhi's strength was easy to imagine.
Although his Godly Zhuge Crossbow Cannon barely qualified as a Level 4 Soul Tool, it was more than sufficient to deal with members of the Demon Clan whose defenses were relatively ordinary.
He then began adjusting the Godly Zhuge Crossbow Cannon, turning the barrel and aiming it at Li Zhengzhi.
While adjusting the Godly Zhuge Crossbow Cannon, he deliberately refrained from using Spiritual Energy, relying solely on his physical strength.
Li Zhengzhi, meanwhile, went to the other end of the courtyard, putting more than ten meters between himself and the Godly Zhuge Crossbow Cannon.
Although the distance was short, with his strength, he could still estimate its maximum range by personally feeling the projectile's power.
"Come on, young brother!"
Seeing the barrel quickly trained on him, Li Zhengzhi felt a flicker of interest.
He then saw Huo Yuhao load several fragments of magic crystal into the cannon's base and press a few buttons, after which the entire barrel began to charge.
A moment later, a projectile burst from the barrel and shot straight at Li Zhengzhi.
The projectile wasn't particularly fast, and its trajectory was clearly visible to the naked eye.
It crossed the ten-odd meters in an instant.
Then, for no apparent reason, the projectile stopped a meter in front of Li Zhengzhi and hung suspended in midair. It was still spinning, but more and more slowly, as though an invisible wall had stopped it.