Another seven days passed.
Yu Lie stayed in his stone house, completely focused on a small urn in front of him.
Beneath the urn, instead of burning charcoal, a specially made candle was lit.
The flame was a steady blue, neither flickering nor jumping.
Inside the urn, bubbles gurgled, and a sweet, fragrant aroma wafted out.
If anyone else had been there, they might have thought Yu Lie was brewing tea or cooking soup, enjoying a leisurely life.
But in reality, the opposite was true.
Yu Lie was wrapped in thick cotton clothing, with a layer of iron and copper armor over it.
He wore a mask on his head, making him look like a bulky, strange iron bear, squatting motionless on the ground.
After a full half-hour, Yu Lie carefully extinguished the candle.
He waited for the water in the urn to evaporate completely, then glanced inside to confirm the contents were correct.
Quickly, he took the urn and placed it in a basin of saltpeter, pouring water over it.
The sizzling sound indicated the rapid cooling of the basin and urn.
Only after completing these steps did Yu Lie finally relax.
He removed the iron mask from his head and the heavy armor from his body, which was now soaked in sweat, as if he had been drenched in water.
What Yu Lie had been refining was the secret explosive powder known as "Fire Dragon Emerges from Water"—Fire Dragon Powder.
The process was intricate and extremely dangerous, forcing Yu Lie to protect himself with layers of armor.
Even with the armor, if something went wrong, he couldn’t guarantee he wouldn’t be seriously injured, though he hoped it wouldn’t be fatal.
After half a month of practice, Yu Lie’s skill in refining the explosive powder had become proficient.
Moreover, the materials he used were of high purity, almost free of impurities.
This not only made the explosive powder more powerful but also reduced the chances of accidents during the refining process.
Freed from the armor, Yu Lie looked at the crystalline grains in the urn with both joy and regret.
"It’s a pity I haven’t found the Cold Silver Microalgae in the black market yet. With its essence, the danger of refining 'Fire Dragon Emerges from Water' could be reduced by seventy percent, and the powder would be more stable and easier to store."
Over the past half month, Yu Lie had been focused on refining the explosive powder, while Old Yu and the others had been scrambling to make money.
The news of the upcoming large-scale military draft had leaked, and although the town officials hadn’t confirmed it, prices in the town had been skyrocketing day by day.
In just the past seven days, Yu Lie and his companions had made a profit of two to three hundred thousand talisman coins—pure profit! Since Yu Lie had contributed less capital and only part of the living creatures in the poison pit could be used, his share was smaller.
However, because he had provided the initial information, he still received fifty to sixty thousand coins.
And this was just the beginning.
Old Yu and the others still had a large stock of goods they were holding back, waiting to sell them in the ten days leading up to the draft when prices would be at their peak.
They planned to make a killing in the town.
Old Yu had estimated that, under favorable conditions, Yu Lie could expect to receive at least another two hundred and fifty thousand coins.
For Yu Lie, who was currently on a mid-level salary, this amount was equivalent to twenty to thirty years of income.
It was a windfall, more than enough for him to prepare for his upcoming journey.
And the best part was that Yu Lie didn’t even need to show his face or take any risks.
He could just sit back and collect the money.
Despite this, Old Yu kept lamenting that he was only getting the scraps, unable to feast like the others.
Aside from the money, Old Yu and his partner had also managed to offend a few unlucky individuals while opening up new trade routes and building some connections.
The medicinal ingredients Yu Lie used to refine the "Fire Dragon Emerges from Water" had been procured by Old Yu and his team.
Otherwise, even though Yu Lie was in the alchemy chamber, it would have been difficult for him to obtain the materials quickly without drawing attention.
In the quiet room, Yu Lie carefully stored the crystalline grains from the urn into a narrow-necked iron bottle, sealed it, and then placed it inside a blood clam pouch.
After finishing this, he finally relaxed completely and thought to himself:
"The remaining batches of 'Fire Dragon Emerges from Water' can wait until Old Yu and the others find the Cold Silver Microalgae. Without it as a stabilizer, the explosive powder is too dangerous and difficult to store. The half batch I’ve refined should be enough for now."
With this in mind, Yu Lie felt a surge of excitement and turned his gaze to a corner of the stone room.
There, a pile of egg-shaped shells—some smooth, others covered in spikes—lay stacked.
Alongside them were arrows and a basket of finely crafted iron crow shells.
These were the fire weapons Yu Lie had prepared while refining the explosive powder.
The shells were his own handiwork, while the more intricate mechanisms had been crafted by apprentices from the weapon workshop.
Yu Lie walked over to the corner, sat down cross-legged, and began filling the shells with the explosive powder.
After some time, he had finished loading all the fire weapons he could.
Next, he picked up the "Fire Dragon Emerges from Water" device, which was as thick as a human leg, and hesitated for a moment.
But after some thought, he set it aside and instead took out an empty "Divine Fire Crow."
He loaded the refined Fire Dragon Powder into the Divine Fire Crow.
The reason he was loading the powder now was that he planned to test its power soon.
However, he wasn’t planning to use it against a high-level demonic beast—just the Black Snake Fish King in the Black Water River.
The half batch of Fire Dragon Powder was enough to fill two specially made Divine Fire Crows, with some left over.
That would be more than enough for his needs.
After making all the preparations, Yu Lie rested in the stone house for a few more hours.
By the time his energy had recovered, the sky had darkened.
The night was perfect for hunting.
Yu Lie slung a fishing rod over his shoulder, packed his gear, and strode toward the Black Water River.
This time, he wasn’t alone.
Accompanying him wasn’t Radish Head or Old Hu, as he had originally planned, but a chubby, black-feathered myna bird.
The myna perched on Yu Lie’s shoulder, its head swiveling left and right as they left the town.
It looked extremely excited.
Ever since Yu Lie had brought it back to the town, it had rarely been out of its cage, let alone outside.
Now, it finally had a chance to stretch its wings!
But the myna was well-behaved.
It didn’t try to fly away or make any unnecessary noise.
Yu Lie had fed it a Beast-Taming Pill a few days ago, and after several days of feeding, he felt a faint connection between them.
He had brought the bird along to see if it could serve as a lookout and test its usefulness.
Before long, the man and the bird arrived at the riverbank.
With his fire weapons and the myna by his side, Yu Lie ventured to the edge of the town, just a cliff away from leaving it entirely.
The area was sparsely populated, making it ideal for fishing and minimizing the impact of any explosive noise.
The mountain wind howled as Yu Lie released the myna into the air.
He then took out a thick iron rod, about the size of a human arm, from his blood clam pouch and drove it into the ground.
A long chain with a large, sharp hook dangled from the rod, its claw as big as a human head and menacingly sharp.
Standing at the edge of the cliff, Yu Lie tossed out some bait and began fishing as usual.
His eyes gleamed with anticipation, waiting for the Black Snake Fish King to take the bait and become the first living creature to fall victim to his Thunderfire Alchemy.
At the same time, he thought to himself, "I’ll have to be careful later. I hope I don’t blow up the fish king’s gall bladder. I still need it to break through to the Bone Poison level in my poison cultivation."
Splash!
The fishing rod tightened as a fish bit the hook...
(End of Chapter)