Chapter 333 — The Cannon's Might Shakes the Heavens
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 4
Shan Youxin, Vice Minister of Works, came forward, saluted the Jingping Imperial Preceptor, and then said in a low voice to Shen Mu, "Sect Master, the tower ships' cannons have been through a great battle and need repairs. May I ask the Sect Master to come and take a look?"
Shen Mu asked doubtfully, "Your forging skills are not much inferior to mine. What do you need me for?"
"There is a problem with the formation seals inscribed in the cannon barrels. After the cannons aboard the ships have fired eight or nine times, they burn red-hot; then the high heat interferes with the formation patterns inscribed within, the power of the formation drops greatly, and the barrels burst."
Shen Mu shook his head. "It is not fatigue of the mystic metal. It should be heat attenuation brought on by a problem in the formation itself. I will go and see."
"Heat attenuation?"
Shan Youxin's eyes lit up. "That is quite possible! But the design from the formation hall is already very refined; I fear it will be hard to improve upon."
The Jingping Imperial Preceptor raised his brows, watching the two of them walk off into the distance, and said in surprise, "The Sect Master actually understands the way of refining treasures? Even Vice Minister Shan must consult him!"
The Lame Old Man laughed. "Shen'er has learned to forge iron."
The Jingping Imperial Preceptor glanced at him, then remembered again how this shameless old shadow thief had relieved himself in his bed and pissed in his teapot, and his face turned somewhat green. And his treasured Sword God Carrying His Sword painting had been stolen by the man as well!
Shen Mu and Shan Youxin came aboard a tower ship. Many officials of the Ministry of Works were busy repairing the damaged parts of the vessel; several cannons had burst, their muzzles split apart and splayed outward, the barrels still stained with blood.
Cannons of this kind were called true-essence cannons; merchant ships did not carry them. Fan Yunxiao had very much wanted to get his hands on a few, but they simply could not be bought on the open market.
Shen Mu first examined the places where the barrels had burst, scrutinizing closely what force had caused them; then he studied the cross-sections of the metal, and went to look at the intact gun mounts. After pondering a moment, he said, "Beyond the problem in the forging, there is indeed a problem with the formation. But the formations on these mounts are very hard to alter; the fighting is tight now, and there is no time to re-forge the mounts and re-inscribe the formations. So we must work on the barrels themselves. In my view, we should add ring-shaped treasures at the muzzle and deep in the bore, to gather the light."
He cut a large chunk of metal from a cannon barrel, melted it directly with his own vital essence, and refined it there on the spot, in full view of everyone.
A crowd of Ministry of Works officials gathered around to watch him refine the treasure, praising him again and again, and hurriedly pulling out paper and brushes to record his refining methods.
Before long, Shen Mu had refined two rings and inscribed formation patterns upon them.
The patterns he inscribed on the rings were the Shenxiao Heaven formation patterns from the Nine Heavens Gaze Art that the Blind Old Man had taught him. The two rings looked like the irises of eyes, only without pupils.
One ring he placed deep in the bore, and the other he set over the muzzle.
The true-essence cannon drew its power from the tower ship's elixir furnace, and Shen Mu had improved the ship's elixir furnace, enough to provide the cannon with the most powerful fire.
Shan Youxin immediately gave the order for the soldiers to fire the furnace and lift off. The tower ship floated in midair, and then he ordered a shot fired toward Duck Tongue.