Book 1 - Chapter 115: Explosive Medicine

Chapter 115: Explosive Medicine

That night in Northface City, Su Chen’s final problem was burned away.

Lin Yemao had died.

Died to a criminal organization.

Rumor was that Lin Yemao had colluded with some criminal organization. He had taken some of their benefits and was unwilling to give them up, which caused him to receive such a retaliation.

The truth of the situation was not very important. More importantly, the Lin Clan had expended all their manpower yet were unable to find the black-clothed individuals who had carried out the raid.

This matter eventually became an inconclusive, unsolved case. In the beginning, there was quite a commotion surrounding it, but interest began to die down and in the end it had merely become a topic for conversation on the streets.

It was already the peak of midsummer. The greatly-anticipated Hidden Dragon Battle was also drawing near.

The institute envoys from Long Coiling City had already entered Northface City. Next, they began to mobilize forces to lay down a giant formation and lock down the entire Red Peak Range. Outsiders were not allowed to enter or leave. There were even higher-ups who used their soul to scan the sealed mountain range to prevent any existences outside of the specifications from affecting the Hidden Dragon Battle.

Of course, creating such a large formation was not just for the selection of Northface City’s four most talented individuals.

This place was the location for the Hidden Dragon Institute’s entrance exam for the entire Three-Mountain Region.

The Hidden Dragon Battle was split into two portions. One was competition within the same city, and victors would obtain an invitation to enroll in the Hidden Dragon Institute. Secondly, the victors would then participate in another competition to determine their ranking in the institute.

Because of this, there were many subregions in the Red Peak Range, and the Spirit Burying Terrace was not located in the Northface City subregion, but rather in the Flowing Cloud City region.

This implied that if Su Chen wanted to enter the Spirit Burying Terrace, he would need to cross into a different subregion. That was very bad for his attempts to obtain a spot in his own region.

According to the agreement that Su Chen had made with the Immortal Temple, he needed to take out everything inside of the Spirit Burying Terrace when he entered before returning to participate in his own region’s battle to ensure that he would put in the necessary effort.

In reality, with this prerequisite in front of him, the difficulty of Su Chen obtaining a spot had greatly increased. The Immortal Temple had already prepared comforting words for Su Chen after he failed in the Hidden Dragon Battle. Only Su Chen himself was unwilling to give in.

Thus, in the days before the Hidden Dragon Battle, Su Chen was also making his last preparations.

However, while others were furiously cultivating their Origin Skills, Su Chen was practicing in front of a research bench.

After killing Master Feng, Su Chen had obtained his workbench and experimental recordings. After reading them, he received great enlightenment, and began to open up many different avenues of thought when performing experiments.

Thus, Su Chen decided to continue his own research, but this time he was not researching the Soaring Serpent Bloodline but rather another item.

Within the stone room in the Dustsift Courtyard.

Su Chen carefully held a beaker in his hand.

The beaker had been split by a thin partition into two. A red and blue liquid were stored separately in it.

Su Chen carefully pulled out the partition and sealed the beaker’s opening. The two liquids began to mix and bubble.

The beaker began to shake. As the bubbles increased, it shook more and more violently until it finally exploded with a “BANG!”.

The shards from the explosions flew everywhere, landing on Su Chen. However, Su Chen had made preparations beforehand, and a Meg’s Guardian easily blocked these flying fragments.

“I’ve finally succeeded!” As he gazed at the shards on the ground, Su Chen laughed with satisfaction.

“What did you succeed in?” Iron Cliff didn’t understand.

“Explosive Medicine, didn’t you see? There was an explosion! I finished the Explosive Medicine!” Su Chen replied.

“It doesn’t seem that powerful,” Iron Cliff replied.

The noise and smoke that the explosion made was quite solid, but its force was pitifully small. Iron Cliff could forcefully resist it using his own skin.

“That is because I diluted it!” Su Chen replied. “The true Explosive Medicine’s strength will increase as I increase the concentrations of the liquids. Its power is slightly lower than the Blood Aura.”

“Then it isn’t weak at all.” Iron Cliff understood what Su Chen was thinking. “You’re planning on using it during the Hidden Dragon Battle?”

The Hidden Dragon Battle forbade the usage of Origin Tools, Origin Talismans, and Origin Scrolls – any weapons using Origin Energy. However, one could carry normal armaments and other items that did not have direct usage in battle.

This was because the Hidden Dragon Battle was a test of one’s innate talent and strength, not one’s wealth.

Although Su Chen dared to say that every Origin Tool he possessed he had earned, he had no way of explaining that to the Hidden Dragon Institute or to other students.

Thus, he could only find an alternate approach, instead focusing on the Explosive Medicine.

“That’s right,” su Chen replied. “It was invented by Master Feng; I just made a few changes and improvements to it so that it suits my own needs a little more.”

If Master Feng was still alive and heard these words, he would’ve been shocked and said that Su Chen was a genius in this aspect.

Improving medicines was not something that could be done by just anyone. After all, innovation was built on a foundation of a thorough understanding of older objects.

Su Chen could improve this medicine firstly because he already had a foundation in place, secondly because his eyes made it much more convenient, and thirdly because he truly did have quite a bit of talent in this aspect. Finally, he also had some luck

Ulrich and Master Feng’s research shared some similarities, allowing Su Chen to understand Master Feng’s recordings much more efficiently.

Su Chen’s improvements to the Explosive Medicine were mostly focused on its stability.

The original Explosive Medicine was not very stable. It exploded very easily, and was hard to store.

Su Chen’s method was to separate the Explosive Medicine into two different kinds of liquids. Before they came into contact with each other, they were both safe and wouldn’t explode. However, once combined, they would quickly react and release a large amount of energy, finally producing an explosion.

Most importantly, most of its ingredients could be found in the Red Peak Range.

Even if he used up all of the medicine, Su Chen could find a substitute.

After completing the Explosive Medicine, Su Chen began to search for an appropriate carrier for this explosive. Placing it in a vial just like that and tossing it out wouldn’t be possible. He needed to find a carrier that could contain two liquids simultaneously yet prevent them from contacting until the moment that he wanted them to mix.

For this, he had already sent Mingshu and Zhou Hong out to search for a long time.

In the end, it was Zhou Hong who discovered the item that he needed.

It was a very specific kind of wine jug. The jug contained a spacer that allowed for storage of two kinds of wine. Upon drinking, as long as one rotated the jug’s handle, one could easily change the type of wine. It had been used by road bandits to scam and drug travellers and were commonly sold by mobile peddlers. As long as he made some slight modifications, it would be suitable for Su Chen’s needs.

Thus, Su Chen commanded the gathering and modifications of large quantities of these kinds of wine jugs. Most importantly, the opening for pouring wine was to be plugged up, and the lid of the jug was to be fixed in place.

Time flew by very quickly.

Finally, the day of the Hidden Dragon Battle had finally arrived.