Cultivation is just so scientific!

"He's been here for a long time!" Shi Ximing sensed, thanks to the hints from the Intermediate Tracking Talisman, judging by the intensity of the spiritual energy.

Before him was a rockery, quite a secluded spot within the garden.

A moment later, a puzzled expression appeared on his face.

Because he only sensed the spiritual energy of Chief Escort Wang here, and did not sense the spiritual energy of Chief Escort Wang leaving.

Normally, Chief Escort Wang should still be here.

Even if Chief Escort Wang had died, his body being moved would still leave behind traces of spiritual energy.

But the spiritual energy here suggested that Chief Escort Wang had, after staying for two days, vanished into thin air.

Although Shi Ximing was filled with confusion, finding Chief Escort Wang was not the most important thing; finding that item was.

He waved his hand, and a streak of green light flashed.

He hadn't been very successful in the Cultivation World, but he did have skills, with his strongest being in cultivation.

This was a garden, filled with various flowers and plants.

The wood spiritual energy he stimulated could easily sense the state of the surrounding plants.

This was more convenient than using a large server IBMz15 for analysis, as proven by the smile that quickly appeared on his face.

"Found it!" he exclaimed as he reached the spot where the wooden box was buried.

The spiritual energy of a small patch of grass here was off; after stimulating the wood spiritual energy, this small area stood out like a beacon in the night.

He dug through the topsoil with his hands and saw the wooden box.

Upon seeing the wooden box, his smile widened.

The box looked ordinary, but the patterns on it were commonly used in the Cultivation World to isolate spiritual energy.

The contents of such a box would definitely not belong in the Mortal World.

He did not take any protective measures; on one hand, this was the mundane world, where a small box could only trigger limited power in hidden weapons, and at Qi Refining Third Level, he was immune to mundane poisons; on the other hand, he was poor.

A Basic Defense Talisman was worth three to four attack talismans, and he really couldn't afford to waste one.

Upon opening the wooden box, he found it filled with a liquid that looked like water, and a white powder that caught fire from his opening the box.

If Shi Ximing knew what the box contained, he would have run as far as possible and used all the protective talismans he had been reluctant to use.

But due to a different knowledge system, he recognized neither the liquid in the box nor the white powder.

He even thought it was a small trick used by Chief Escort Wang, meant to destroy the contents of the box should it fall into wrong hands.

In his urgency, he quickly tried to retrieve the visible objects from the box.

He indeed saw two books, made of materials commonly used in the Cultivation World, designed to last a thousand years without decay or damage.

Li Shiming had filled the wooden box with nitroglycerin, and regarding the white substance, it was white phosphorus.

This wooden box, of unknown craftsmanship, had excellent sealing properties.

Li Shiming, upon coming here, had placed some of the nitroglycerin from the server room into the box, then closed the box, moved the excess air from inside the box into the server room, and added a bit of white phosphorus on top of the nitroglycerin inside the box.

Nitroglycerin is an extremely sensitive explosive, prone to detonation with even slight movement.

When white phosphorus comes into contact with air, it burns.

Shi Ximing faced the consequences of it burning on nitroglycerin.

And it happened right before his eyes, with no small amount of nitroglycerin involved—about one kilogram was stored in the box.

The power of one kilogram of nitroglycerin releases 715L of gas while emitting heat—approximately 3980J of energy, with a pressure about 9000×105Pa.

Such an explosion occurring right in front of him, even using defense talismans, basic defense talismans were out of the question, and even the intermediate defense talismans had limited effect.

The moment the explosion occurred, Shi Ximing also reacted, but it was already too late.

"Which fellow set up this trap? Why is there not a trace of spiritual energy revealed?" Filled with doubts, his body was blown to pieces by the terrifying explosion.

The explosion did not only result in Shi Ximing's death but also instantly cleared a five-meter radius around the epicenter, turning the unfortunate rockery into a sky full of rubble.

In the small study, Li Shiming only felt the entire room shake, and the loud explosion made people's ears ring nonstop.

"Young Master!" Si Qin screamed outside, crying out for the young master.

In Si Qin's heart, the young master was her everything.

"Si Qin, don't be afraid, I'll go see what happened!" Li Shiming reassured Si Qin.

"Young master, don't go, let's wait for the government soldiers!" Si Qin begged as she clutched Li Shiming.

"Don't worry, I won't be harmed!" Li Shiming said as he patted Si Qin's head.

Stepping out into the courtyard, he saw the utter mess everywhere, although the explosion occurred in the middle of the garden, the range of the rubble was much greater.

Many flowers were damaged by the flying stones, and dust swirled in the air, forming a grey fog.

He knew very well, the only possibility that someone could trigger his secret trap was that someone had found that wooden box.

Such a hidden location, so well concealed, plus being in the back garden of the magistrate's residence, ordinary people, even if they knew something was there, could not find it silently.

The trap he had left was meant for that cultivator; it seems the one who was blown up this time was that cultivator.

As for whether the cultivator was killed by the explosion, the horrific scene in front of him was telling enough.

Under such a powerful explosion, if that cultivator could still survive, Li Shiming would doubt if they were human at all.

At this moment, the guards and servants from the magistrate's office and back courtyards were all busily running towards the garden.

The huge incident in the garden where the magistrate resided was more serious than the massacre of over thirty people at Weiyuan Escort Agency.

Unlike those who were aimlessly floundering like headless flies, Li Shiming knew exactly where the center of the explosion was, and he quickly headed towards the rockery.

The closer he got to the rockery, the more horrified he felt about the explosion he had caused.

That full box of nitroglycerin had caused such devastating destruction; the original location of the rockery had turned into an empty plot of land.

The ground even had a deep hole one meter deep, with plants in a surrounding area reduced to shreds.

Li Shiming's gaze grew sharp; he saw human flesh and blood on the ground, torn apart by the explosion.

This discovery gave him a moment of relief; no matter how large the damage was, as long as the cultivator was killed, the biggest trouble was resolved.

Then he saw a leather waist pouch on the ground; despite the powerful explosion, this leather waist pouch was not damaged at all.

Li Shiming walked forward and picked up the leather waist pouch; it must have belonged to that cultivator.