"Boom!"
"Haha, it worked!"
After a loud bang, a plume of black smoke rose, and a crater was blasted into the ground. Mud splashed everywhere, drenching Ge Rufeng, a young Taoist who had just turned a year older. Unconcerned, Ge Rufeng raised his hands in triumph.
Ge Rufeng was obsessed with "explosives," almost to the point of madness. After a year, the "explosives" he made had begun to take shape, at least enough to be intimidating.
"General Zhou, how is it?" Ge Rufeng walked up to Zhou Fugui, looking at him provocatively.
"Not very good..." Zhou Fugui scoffed, "At most, it's a large firecracker."
"A large firecracker?" Ge Rufeng crossed his arms in anger, "Are large firecrackers this scary? Do they have this much power?"
"There's no power to speak of, but it can be intimidating," Zhou Fugui said dismissively. "What I want is lethality, mass casualties. Can your broken thing do that?"
"What's so difficult about that?" Ge Rufeng suddenly realized. "Alright, Zhou Fugui, you scoundrel, your true colors are finally showing! So you wanted this Taoist priest to make a killing weapon? Zhou Fugui, I am a man of the cloth! You, you, you... you're causing immense harm!"
Zhou Fugui, having let slip his intentions, hastily explained, "Killing is also saving. Killing one can save thousands. What's not to like about that?"
"Don't try to trick me again! My old man said I have great spiritual roots," Ge Rufeng said indignantly.
"Haha, I know you're a Daoist of great virtue and purity..." Zhou Fugui laughed heartily. "Great Daoist Ge, let me ask you, if the person killed is wicked and unforgivable, isn't killing them saving people? Isn't it saving the common folk of the world? Wicked and unforgivable people are killed with knives, swords, or your broken thing. What's the difference? Buddhism says saving one life is better than building seven pagodas. Killing one evil person is better than building eighteen pagodas!"
"What broken thing? It's still your formula?" Zhou Fugui was so eloquent that Ge Rufeng became dizzy and unknowingly fell into his trap again... Ge Rufeng mumbled, feeling bewildered.
"Hmm, there's still a crucial part. Come, come closer," Zhou Fugui said, nodding.
Zhou Fugui also wanted to create this unprecedented killing weapon in one go, but it was impossible. One must eat one bite at a time, and walk one step at a time. One cannot become plump in a single gulp.
So, one taught, and the other listened. The teacher was like a master, and the listener like a disciple. This teaching continued for a long time. After a long while, Pi E, the commander of the personal guards, led over three hundred men to Zhou Fugui.
"Master, the men have arrived," Pi E reported cautiously, having waited for a long time with his men, as Zhou Fugui and Ge Rufeng had been whispering endlessly.
"Hmm..." Zhou Fugui nodded at Pi E, then continued to Ge Rufeng, "This thing will surely have great use in the future. Why don't we give it a grand name today? I've been thinking all night, how about 'Pants-Soiling Thunder' or 'Crawling Thunder'?"
"You thought all night and came up with these ridiculous names?" Ge Rufeng said with a wry smile. "This broken thing... bah, this divine artifact came from my hands. I, this Taoist priest, shall name it."
"Good, good, little Taoist priest, you do it. What do you intend to name it?" Zhou Fugui asked with a smile.
"Hmm..." Ge Rufeng thought for a moment and replied, "How about 'Qian Kun Lei'?"
Pi E, Hu Jue, and the other personal guards were immediately invigorated. They all felt that "Qian Kun Lei" was indeed much more imposing than "Pants-Soiling Thunder" or "Crawling Thunder"... Their faces showed disdain for Zhou Fugui.
Seeing this, Zhou Fugui glared at Pi E, Hu Jue, and the others, then smiled and said, "As Daoist Ge wishes."
Ge Rufeng was immediately overjoyed.
Zhou Fugui then took a Qian Kun Lei, held it in his hand, and looked askance at the more than three hundred strong men brought by Pi E, asking, "What are their skills?"
"Master, they are from the Potian Camp, chosen by Pi E. They are all skilled in throwing stones," Pi E replied.
The over three hundred strong men behind Pi E were all tall and broad-shouldered, looking exceptionally imposing.
"Potian Camp? Skilled in throwing stones?" Zhou Fugui nodded. He walked up to the tallest and longest-armed among the strong men and asked, "What is your name? Are you skilled in throwing stones?"
"Great General, your humble servant is He Li Lang. I am from the Chisha people and am your servant," replied the strong man named He Li Lang, who was from the Chisha tribe, with a hint of humility. "My three hundred tribesmen and I have used stones for hunting since childhood. After joining the Potian Army at the border, we were assigned to the catapult camp."
There was a branch of the border army called the "Potian Army," whose soldiers were skilled in using stones to injure the enemy. They were also adept at operating catapults, specifically small ones. These small catapults were mounted on camels or horses and fired fist-sized stones. Typically, three to four men operated one catapult. Catapults mounted on the backs of camels could be moved freely, making them extremely agile and lightweight, whereas other catapults were usually fixed in place.
However, He Li Lang and his men were laborers in the Yan border army, almost like slaves. Thus, Zhou Fugui had poached them... or rather, enticed them to come.
The Xue Pi Army offered generous pay and treated everyone equally, so many border soldiers came seeking them out. At that time, Hu Yan Sheng turned a blind eye, and now, no one paid any attention.
After the "dead demon" Marquis Zhong Luo seized control of the border army's military power, he held small feasts every three days and large ones every five days, entertaining friends and subordinates. During this period, apart from briefly showing his face in the barracks during roll call, he had no time to deal with military affairs.
Thinking of the "dead demon" Marquis Zhong Luo, Zhou Fugui felt inexplicably depressed. Marquis Zhong Luo had wanted to adopt Zhou Fugui as his godson, but Zhou Fugui refused. He used the excuse of needing his mother's permission to temporarily decline, but he didn't know if he could get away with it or if it had caused Marquis Zhong Luo displeasure or resentment.
Zhou Fugui had temporarily joined Marquis Zhong Luo's faction for his own plans, but he would rather die than submit to overly humiliating treatment.
"Hmm, my first order as general is that all who join my Xue Pi Army are brothers and sisters, with no distinction between master and servant," Zhou Fugui said, shaking his head and momentarily clearing his mind of jumbled thoughts. He then said to He Li Lang, "However, to join my Xue Pi Army, you must prove your worth. My Xue Pi Army does not accept useless people."
"Do you see that tree over there? There are a few sparrows on it. If you can knock one down, I'll accept you," Zhou Fugui then pointed to a tree and said to He Li Lang and the others.
They all followed Zhou Fugui's gaze and saw a large tree about a hundred paces away. Several sparrows were chirping incessantly on the tree, causing annoyance.
He Li Lang said nothing, merely nodding. He picked up a small stone from the ground, weighed it in his hand, glanced at the large tree, and with a slight exertion of his right arm, the small stone flew out with a "swoosh."
In the blink of an eye, a sparrow on the large tree fell to the ground, flapping its wings and unable to fly again.
"Good, good skill!" Pi E and the others cheered loudly.
Pi E, Hu Jue, and the others were powerful and wielded heavy weapons, but they were not skilled with stones or projectiles. While Pi E and Hu Jue could throw stones, even heavy ones, a long distance, they couldn't guarantee accuracy. They didn't know where the stone would land... especially not with the precision and ease of He Li Lang, who hit his target every time.
He Li Lang awkwardly rubbed his hands. His people had been playing such "child's play" since they were young, and they had never missed. Not to mention these simple tricks, the Chisha people, since childhood, had been accustomed to hunting wolves and tigers with stones and sticks.
Zhou Fugui was secretly delighted. He stuffed a Qian Kun Lei into He Li Lang's hand and said, "Throw this out!"
"What is this... object?" He Li Lang took the somewhat heavy Qian Kun Lei, weighed it in his hand, and asked in surprise.
"Test your courage. Throw it," Zhou Fugui said, stepping back several paces, afraid he might throw it at his own feet...
"How do I throw it? Just like this?" He Li Lang held the Qian Kun Lei, and seeing Zhou Fugui's strange expression, asked with more suspicion.
"Of course not. Little Taoist priest, go and instruct him," Zhou Fugui replied.
"Alas, this thing is called Qian Kun Lei, a divine artifact, and it's not easy to make. Be careful, don't throw it into the crowd..." The little Taoist priest Ge Rufeng rambled on for a while before lighting the fuse of the Qian Kun Lei with a burning wick.
"Chit... chit... chit..." Sparks flew from the fuse of the Qian Kun Lei, shortening rapidly. But He Li Lang still held it stupidly, not knowing what to do.
"Throw it out! Throw it as far as you can!" Zhou Fugui yelled in alarm.
Although the Qian Kun Lei's power was not enough for mass casualties, it could still kill or injure one or two people, especially if held in hand or detonated at one's feet.
"Whoosh!"
"Ah? Where did the Qian Kun Lei go?"
Only then did He Li Lang swing his arm and throw the Qian Kun Lei. The onlookers saw the black smoke billowing as the Qian Kun Lei flew rapidly into the distance, becoming a small black dot before disappearing.
"Haha, good arm strength!" Zhou Fugui finally exclaimed loudly in praise.
"Boom!"
Before Zhou Fugui finished speaking, an explosion, like thunder, sounded from behind a wall, startling He Li Lang and the other Chisha tribesmen into stunned silence.
"Ouch! It's thundering! The Thunder God is descending! Thunder God, I was just relieving myself, have I offended you?"
A scream then came from behind the wall.