NOVEL NEXT Chapter 92: Thunder Bomb
Duan Gujin placed the Thunderfire Stones into the storage ring, then requested a separate Forging Room from the Seventh Imperial Uncle to forge the Thunder Bomb.
"What is this Thunder Bomb? The name sounds incredibly badass!" the Seventh Imperial Uncle asked, puzzled.
Duan Gujin explained, "The Thunder Bomb is a type of super explosive! Although it can't help us turn around the battle situation, the stronger we are on this side, the better!"
"Right! Right! Just give me a moment!"
The Seventh Imperial Uncle wasn't sure if there were any spies from Cao Dingtian in this forging room, so he just gave the Artifact Refiners a break.
Soon, Duan Gujin got a forging room that was over a hundred square meters.
Though small, the forging room had everything necessary.
Duan Gujin quickly found some Refining Materials inside and began to forge the Thunder Bomb.
The greatest difficulty in forging the Thunder Bomb lay in refining the Thunderfire Stones.
Now, with limited Refining Materials available and knowing he definitely couldn't refine a very high purity Thunder Bomb here,
He meticulously calculated all the Refining Materials he possessed and finally estimated that he could refine a Thunder Bomb with one percent of the true purity.
In other Advanced Planes, such explosive power would be like tickling.
But for Duan Gujin, if he could produce a Thunder Bomb of this purity, it would already be his limit.
Thus, Duan Gujin first placed the Thunderfire Stones into the furnace, then lit a fire and pulled on the bellows to slowly heat the stones until they glowed reddish.
Seeing Duan Gujin's actions, the Seventh Imperial Uncle was full of astonishment; he hadn't thought that Duan Gujin could forge aside from refining elixir.
Thinking of Duan Gujin's Master, he then understood.
While the Thunderfire Stones were still heating up, Duan Gujin took the opportunity to inquire more information about them.
The Seventh Imperial Uncle did not know much about it, so he sent his men to gather information on the Thunderfire Stones.
A while later, the Seventh Imperial Uncle finally learned the truth.
"My men told me that those Thunderfire Stones were found together with the Sun-shooting War Chariot!"
One of the Seventh Imperial Uncle's confidants managed to clarify the origins and history of the Thunderfire Stones, revealing that a stirring event had occurred in Country Gulai thousands of years ago.
As recorded in the classics, in a small town of Country Gulai one day, a ball of fire fell from the sky, quickly engulfing the small town with tens of thousands of people and causing at least ten thousand casualties.
After the fire had burned out, the soldiers of Country Gulai found a stone chariot and several scattered stones in the area.
The stone chariot was sent to the Imperial Palace, and some Artifact Refiners determined that it had energy within it, but they did not know how to operate the stone chariot, and it had been placed in the treasury of the Imperial Family.
Those stones on the ground had been sent to the secret forging chamber of the Imperial Family.
Although it was an accidental chance that the Artifact Refiners of Country Gulai discovered these stones could be used to make explosives, exactly how to do so was beyond their knowledge.
Thus, those stones had been kept in the secret chamber.
According to the records in the classics, those stones were the Thunderfire Stones that Duan Gujin had found.
Duan Gujin carefully reviewed the records and deduced the situation back then.
"It seems that years ago there must have been a powerful figure from another continent who entered Country Gulai!"
The Seventh Imperial Uncle wasn't very interested in how Duan Gujin would forge the Thunder Bomb and soon left.
While in the secret chamber, Duan Gujin worked day and night to forge, and quickly, he had made the first Thunder Bomb.
Duan Gujin took a deep breath, looking at the freshly forged Thunder Bomb in his hands, his heart surged with excitement.
Duan Gujin then infused the Thunder Bomb with Primordial Power, before throwing it forward.
Around five breaths later, he heard a loud boom, and buildings within a hundred meters in front were completely destroyed.
"The power is a bit weak!"
Duan Gujin touched his nose, realizing he had overestimated the power of the Thunder Bomb he created.
"What a pity!"
Duan Gujin felt a great sense of regret, but what else could he do at this point?
After pondering for a while, he knew why the power of the Thunder Bomb he made was much weaker than he initially thought.
"It must be a problem with the Refining Materials!"
Duan Gujin was unwilling to accept this, but he hadn't found any higher-grade Refining Materials yet.
Therefore, he had to accept this reality.
So, over the next day, he continued to refine Thunder Bombs.
By the end of the second day, he had finally refined over a hundred Thunder Bombs.
At that time, the Seventh Imperial Uncle came to the forging room, wanting to know how Duan Gujin was doing.
Duan Gujin first taught the Seventh Imperial Uncle how to use the Thunder Bombs, and after teaching him, he had him throw one.
Seventh Imperial Uncle followed Duan Gujin's instructions and threw the Thunder Bomb. Moments later, he heard a thunderous boom ahead and saw the ground within a hundred meters in front of him nearly leveled.
Seeing this, Seventh Imperial Uncle gasped in shock. He had not expected the Thunder Bomb given to him by Duan Gujin to be so powerful.
"How many of these do you have?" Seventh Imperial Uncle asked.
"I'll give you a hundred for now, as that's all I've managed to make so far!"
Duan Gujin handed over the one hundred Thunder Bombs he had crafted the previous night to Seventh Imperial Uncle, and instructed him on how to store them.
Holding the Sky-shattering Thunders, Seventh Imperial Uncle's heart began to pound violently.
Seventh Imperial Uncle quickly practiced using them, and soon he mastered the knack of using the Sky-shattering Thunders.
"I didn't expect the Sky-shattering Thunder to be so powerful!"
Seventh Imperial Uncle quickly exclaimed.
"Seventh Imperial Uncle, you must make good use of these hundred Sky-shattering Thunders! If possible, you can distribute half of these Sky-shattering Thunders to your confidants! If you don't have any confidants, keep them for yourself! With these Sky-shattering Thunders, we now have the capability to counterattack Cao Dingtian!"
"Right!"
Seventh Imperial Uncle felt deeply; without Duan Gujin's intervention, their Meng Dynasty would have faltered this time.
Duan Gujin also didn't expect that Prime Minister Cao had already prepared to mobilize a large army to the Capital City.
Even with his increased strength, it was difficult to confront the large army of Country Gulai.
In an army of thousands, only someone of Martial Sect Level could move freely.
Obviously, it would not be possible for Duan Gujin to break through to the Martial Sect Level within a year or two.
Therefore, he now had to make good use of the resources in the Imperial Palace.
"Unexpectedly, Country Gulai still has such a great opportunity!"
Duan Gujin knew his next task was no longer simply saving the Duan Family; his fate was now tied with the inheritance of the throne of Country Gulai.
"Only if Seventh Imperial Uncle defeats Cao Dingtian can the Duan Family receive permanent protection!"
Duan Gujin knew he was not strong enough to confront Cao Dingtian, and he still needed to rely on the status and power of Seventh Imperial Uncle.
Currently, they were at a disadvantage compared to Cao Dingtian.
Within the Capital City, tens of thousands of Imperial Guards surrounded Cao Dingtian's residence.
At this moment, nearly half of the Capital City's military force was in Cao Dingtian's compound, tasked with protecting him.
After receiving a confidential report from his subordinates, and combining various other pieces of intelligence he possessed, Cao Dingtian knew that his coup was successful.
"Just two more months, and I can become the Regent King of Country Gulai!"
Thinking that his years of dreaming were finally coming true, Cao Dingtian felt a burst of excitement inside.
He knew the Meng Family was already on a decline, with most of the remaining Princes not being competent.
In Country Gulai, although many Princes held important positions in the court, those Princes were incompetent in his eyes and were just a bunch of good-for-nothings.
If there was one among the Princes who posed the biggest threat to him, Cao Dingtian felt the Seventh Imperial Uncle was his greatest threat.
Unlike those Princes, Cao Dingtian was very aware of the astonishing capabilities Seventh Imperial Uncle possessed in many aspects.
If it weren't for the severe poison originally intended for the Monarch catching Seventh Imperial Uncle years ago, it could very well have been Seventh Imperial Uncle sitting on the throne.
Compared to him, Cao Dingtian felt that in the Meng Family, Seventh Imperial Uncle was the most intelligent.
"Only by eliminating Seventh Imperial Uncle can I feel reassured to fulfill my role as the Regent King!"
Cao Dingtian was fully aware that Seventh Imperial Uncle must be eliminated.
After a while, a subordinate handed him a letter.
After reading the letter, the energy in his hands burst forth, instantly incinerating the letter.
After a while, the letter turned into ashes.
"Perfect! The army of 300,000 led by Xu Tianhuo will enter the Capital City in ten days! With 300,000 troops entering the Capital City, the grand scheme is set! Even if there were ten Seventh Imperial Uncles, he couldn't touch me!"
Meanwhile, as the situation became extremely critical, Duan Gujin was busy refining more Thunder Bombs.
Eventually, he finished all the forging and had crafted over three hundred Sky-shattering Thunders.
"I now have three hundred and eighteen Sky-shattering Thunders on hand. Assuming each Sky-shattering Thunder can eliminate a hundred enemies, I can at most eradicate only over thirty thousand of their men, which is only a tenth of the 300,000-strong army!"
Duan Gujin knew that while the Sky-shattering Thunder could ensure he had an advantageous position in battle, it could not help him change the outcome of the war.
As of now, Seventh Imperial Uncle had at most over 20,000 personal soldiers.
If they were to confront Cao Dingtian's forces head-on, their side would undoubtedly be defeated.
Duan Gujin knew they must avoid a direct confrontation with Cao Dingtian; if they could buy more time, he would do his utmost to secure more time for themselves.
"I should think of a way to eliminate Cao Dingtian's army first!"
With a shimmer in his eyes, Duan Gujin pondered.
After thinking for a while, he came up with a plan.