The others did not know what Jiang He was thinking. All they could see that his expression alternated from somberness to rage, while his killing intent was gone in a flash, convinced that Jiang He was furious about the Sky Demon Cult's Saint ambus.h.i.+ng w.a.n.g Hou.

Naturally…

Jiang He was indeed a little furious.

Be that as it may, he could keep his ferocity to himself—putting it to words was unnecessary.

On the other hand, would w.a.n.g Hou count as his scapegoat?

He most certainly would.

The saint of the Sky Demon Cult had never made an appearance and rarely appeared. No one actually knew their gender, whether they were tall or short, or fat or skinny…

After all, he had always sent his lackeys to do his bidding.

Even so, over the last month or so, Jiang He had definitely been a little brutal in his ma.s.sacre of Sky Demon Cultists. Average cultists notwithstanding, Jiang He had killed two of their divine-tier cardinals and both of their sentinels.

Their nine elders were almost wiped out.

Four of their nine Holy Children were killed by Jiang He.

He also culled a lot of their thirty-six Decans that he himself could not remember, but it was definitely upwards of a dozen. That was also why Jiang He was not bothered to count their Fiends, and it was precisely this ruthless ma.s.sacre of his that the Saint of the Sky Demon Cult would suddenly step up on his own.

Still, he did not quite understand why they would attack w.a.n.g Hou instead of settling the score directly against him.

Nonetheless, he collected his thoughts and turned to Zhou Yu, asking, “Is Minister w.a.n.g's condition serious?”

“Not really, but he would have to recover in seclusion for half a month.”

Zhou Yu replied. “I myself had just received word, and was about to rush back to Jingdu City after meeting you, Mister Jiang.”

“Anyway, what do you need, Mister Jiang?”

Zhou Yu asked, and so Jiang He did not hold back and told him about needing rice and wheat.

“Seeds of mutated rice and wheat?”

Zhou Yu murmured at that. “We do have those, Mister Jiang, but I believe the mutation is limited and they hardly count as floral spirits.”

“It's fine. Mutated seeds would do.”

Beside them, Duan Tianhe chuckled and continued the conversation, “I don't know about mutated wheat, Jiang He, but mutated rice is available here at Lingzhou City. Incidentally, it's time for the harvest in a few days, and our personnel discovered several paddy fields in nearby villages with rice that mutated to some extent. I could have my people deliver 200 catties to you tomorrow if you need them.”

Delighted, Jiang He promptly thanked them.

“As for mutated wheat, I'll contact the person in charge of the Martial Arts Department (MAD) in other base cities, and have them keep an eye out.” Zhou Yu added—being w.a.n.g Hou's a.s.sistant and representative as well as a top official at MAD headquarters, he had that authority.

“Many thanks, Deputy Zhou.”

Jiang He said in grat.i.tude, before adding, “By the way, could I use the MAD as a platform, Deputy Zhou? I want to post a WTB[1] for flying sword fragments, immortal arts text or torn scripts and the like.”

“Of course, you could provide me any information you have about such items. I will buy with high price, or exchange it with gold, Orirock, floral spirits, or invaluable medicine.”

Zhou Yu appeared stunned by Jiang He's request, although he was also inwardly hesitating.

Flying sword fragments?

Immortal arts text or torn scripts?

They just might have those in stock.

No, they definitely had those!

Those things were no different from rubbish since they were 'broken', were they not?

Why would Jiang He want them?

Still, there was no way Zhou Yu would not comply when Jiang He had spoken. Smiling, he said, “Don't worry, Mister Jiang. I'll see to it that this gets done.”

That was when Ji Dongxu, who had not spoken from the start suddenly came forward and said, “Mister Jiang, I know a person who possesses a broken sword, which might turn out to be the fragment of a flying sword. That person is connected to my clan—he is a rank-six martial artist who opened a dojo at Xi'an City.”

“Oh?”

Jiang He's interest was piqued.

Ji Dongxu was an heir to a clan from the Old Martial Era and possessed extensive knowledge, and was very trustworthy in that respect.

After some discussion, Jiang He had Ji Dongxu link him up with that person right away, which the latter agreed to with pleasure.

Zhou Yu was about to leave when Jiang He said, “Why don't you come with us, Deputy Zhou? We'll head to Jingdu City once we've settled negotiations with Ji Dongxu's contact. Minister w.a.n.g got hurt somewhat because of me even if it was not entirely because of me, so I should visit him.”

“Alright!”

Zhou Yu nodded, while Duan Tianhe stood up, ready to arrange for transport.

“No need.”

Jiang He smiled. “The road ahead is quite b.u.mpy—how long would it take for us to reach? I'll fly there with Grandmaster Ji and Deputy Zhou instead.”

“By the way, Commander Chen…”

Jiang He remembered a certain matter just before he left, and took out a mung bean bullet with a flip of his hand, asking, “Look at this bullet, Commander Chen. Which sniper rifle bullet would this fit?”

Chen Jingzhou took the bean and studied it, and could not help becoming curious at the oily-green object.

He pinched it twice and found it quite elastic, before holding it in front of his nose for a sniff. “Mister Jiang,” he exclaimed in surprise, “Why does this bullet smell like a mung bean?”

What nonsense was that?

What should the bung bean bullet smell like instead, a banana?

Of course, it was too astonis.h.i.+ng to reveal the truth here, so Jiang He smiled. “I was idling, so I fas.h.i.+oned a batch of bullets out of some mung beans… but don't underestimate my mung bean bullets, it's both devastating and very eco-friendly…”

Although Chen Jingzhou had no idea how Jiang He had fas.h.i.+oned bullets out of mung beans…

But…

Are you talking to me about power?

This bullet was so soft to the touch that it would burn itself out from the rapid flight before reaching its target… No, it might not even make it out of the barrel, and blow up in the instant that the trigger was pulled.

Holding back his laughter, Chen Jingzhou said, “This bullet should be a 7.62mm caliber, which fits most sniper rifles including the Type-88, the standard-issue sniper rifle for our nation's military.”

“I'll have someone bring two of those here if you need them, Mister Jiang. The squads stationed outside the city have them.”

On the other hand, Jiang He was frowning.

'You might look serious with your introduction, Chen Jingzhou, but what is with that barely held-back laughter?'

Nonetheless, he nodded and said, “Sorry for the trouble, Commander Chen.”

The group went downstairs, and a soldier driving a military vehicle brought Chen Jingzhou a Type-88 sniper rifle in minutes. Pulling the bolt handle to kick out the bullet, he introduced, “This Type-88 sniper rifle is a speciality of the Hua Nation, and is first-rate across the globe in both stability and precision. It has two calibers: 5.8mm and 7.62mm—this one is the 7.62mm, weighing 5.8k, having a barrel of 62 cm out of its 102cm total length, while its load limit is 10 bullets and its effective range is 900m.”

Loading another bullet, Chen Jingzhou abruptly raised the rifle and pulled the trigger, firing without a single look.

Bang!

A streetlight 200 meters away blew up.

Being a pinnacle rank-nine martial artist with strong spirit, he had locked on to that streetlight even before firing even though he appeared not to have aimed.

Naturally, that fact did not escape Jiang He, who sneered inwardly.

This old dog Chen Jingzhou. Putting on airs in front of me?

Taking the Type-88 sniper rifle, Jiang He measured it for a bit and smiled. “This is the first time I've touched this stuff… by the way, how do I load bullets, Commander Chen?”

After Chen Jingzhou gave him a walkthrough and Jiang He loaded the mung bean bullet, Jiang He smiled again, “It's my first time so I don't know how to aim. Don't laugh at me if I suck.”

Jiang He then aimed at a wall of the MAD.

It was around 400 meters away, and the nearest building was 800 meters away.

He actually wanted to aim at the building but was afraid of blowing up the entire building with a single bullet—better be safe than sorry.

Meanwhile, Chen Jingzhou was staring at Jiang He and subtly shaking his head.

How could mung beans be used for bullets?

Still, he had nothing to say if this was how Jiang He wanted to play it.

In the next instant.

Click!

Jiang He pulled a trigger.

Under the moonlight, the mung bean bullet glinted in crystalline emerald radiance like a green firefly, shooting out at a high velocity to hit the wall 400 meters away with a bang.

With a dull boom, the wall that the mung bean bullet struck instantly split open with a burst of violent flame and shockwave. The green belt and trees near the wall were instantly destroyed, and the gla.s.s windows of every building up to 800 meters away shattered.

What the h.e.l.l!

There was no telling who cried out, but Duan Tianhe, Cheng Dongfeng, Zhou Yu, Chen Jingzhou, and Ji Dongxu all took a few steps back from the violent shockwave, and was forced to charge their True Qi to stop the blow.

Jiang He's mouth hung open as he stared at the shattered gla.s.s from the wrecked MAD building, and promptly pulled both Ji Dongxu and Zhou Yu to the air with a gust of True Qi while smiling awkwardly. “Sorry about that, Chief Duan. I didn't know a bullet I cooked up had that much power…”

Time to go…

Whoos.h.!.+

With those two in tow, Jiang He turned into a flash of thunder and vanished from the horizon, his voice still resonating beside the ears of Duan Tianhe, Cheng Dongfeng and Chen Jingzhou.

Chen Jingzhou: “…”

He stared at the wall that was blown into rubble for a long while, almost forgetting to breathe.

What the h.e.l.l.

Was he imagining things?

A bullet fas.h.i.+oned from a mung bean could actually explode?!

[1] want to buy