Braised Dragon with Soy Sauce

Chapter 253 Improvement

When Mo Yuming learned that the number of new troops could not keep up with the demand, he thought of forming a special operations team. This team would focus on surprise attacks, and in the event of a battle between two armies, they would strike unexpectedly, disrupt the enemy's formation, and demoralize the enemy.

Mo Yuming plans to divide this thousand-strong force into five squads of two hundred men each, named the Crimson Shadow Guards. They will be independent units, uniformly equipped with Xuan Tie Strong Bows, Wind-Chasing Arrows, Demon-Slaying Crossbows, and Demon-Slaying Bullets.

Rides a crimson cloud horse and wears light armor made of crimson dragon skin. Can act alone or in a team during combat. Normally, they remain hidden like the Falcon Guards, swiftly striking when a mission is received and immediately withdrawing from the battlefield after completion.

Unlike the Falcon Guard, the Red Shadow Guard belongs to a special operations force, deployed by the military, and primarily deployed as surprise attack troops. Their mission is to strike quickly and disrupt the enemy's main force.

The Falcon Guard was Mo Yuming's personal army, not under the jurisdiction of the regular army. They were commanded by Mo Yuming himself.

There are currently fewer than a thousand people, but each of them is a master of profound martial arts at the fifth level of the Earth rank or above. Their equipment mainly consists of Xuan Tie swords and Demon-Slaying crossbows. They wear Fire Earth Pig Inner Armor and Illusion Lizard Demon Dragon Bodysuits with the function of concealing their aura. Fire Earth Pig is a unique magical beast in the Valley of Heartbreak. Its tanned hide can be stretched very thin, is extremely flexible, and is not afraid of water or fire, and can block ordinary sword and knife attacks.

The Falcon Guards primarily engage in stealth, assassination, and surprise attacks, carrying out special missions deep behind enemy lines. They avoid direct combat with the enemy.

Now that Mo Yuming has mastered the basics of weapon crafting, he can slowly try out some of the strange and unusual ideas in his head. After Elder Huo left, Mo Yuming started crafting weapons again. This time, it was no longer a simple ordinary iron cannon barrel, but a more difficult piece of black iron.

The forging of Xuan Iron is much more difficult and complex than that of ordinary iron. Originally, Mo Yuming could directly obtain the refined Xuan Iron material from the factory's blast furnace. After the blast furnace melts the ore, it extracts a continuous stream of Xuan Iron billets under high temperature. The weapon refiners then use molds to press out the shapes of various weapons as needed, and then forge and hammer them.

Mo Yuming wanted to experience the iron smelting process and improve his weapon crafting skills, so he chose to start directly with ore.

After lighting the fire in the cauldron, Mo Yuming increased the input of spiritual energy, greatly increasing the firepower in the cauldron. When the flames in the cauldron turned golden red, he began to put in the black iron ore.

The dark red ore was quickly engulfed by the scorching flames. Mo Yuming slowly circled the cauldron, constantly changing his hand gestures and steps, evenly channeling streams of spiritual energy into the cauldron in eight directions. The flames within the cauldron split into eight streams, rotating and enveloping the ore suspended in the center of the cauldron, thus calcining it.

Time passed second by second, and after a quarter of an hour, the dark red ore began to turn bright red and slowly began to shine.

Fifteen minutes later, the ore began to soften and deform, and then began to melt and solidify into a sphere. The bright red ore sphere slowly turned into golden-red molten iron, constantly writhing and rolling under the influence of eight blazing fire snakes.

Fifteen minutes later, a layer of powdery impurities separated from the molten iron. The combustible impurities were burned away in the fire snake, while the non-combustible impurities fell to the bottom of the furnace.

Time flew by, and an hour later, the molten ore in the cauldron shrank by half, and the impurities in the ore decreased. The black iron ore in the cauldron began to transform into high-quality black iron.

At this point, over 90% of the impurities have been melted away. According to the Huo family's refining secrets, it's time to add a mixture of several crushed minerals. The amount must be precise—neither too much nor too little—one part per hundred of the amount of ore in the furnace.

Mo Yuming took a handful of medicinal powder from his storage bag and wrapped it with spiritual energy before sending it into the molten iron. As soon as the powder entered the molten iron, it began to churn violently, with sparks flying from its surface like dazzling fireworks.

More and more sparks flew like fireworks, continuing for nearly fifteen minutes. When the last spark fell, Mo Yuming quickly stopped the fire, opened the furnace, and poured a mass of golden-red molten iron into a long, rectangular mold. As the temperature dropped, the molten iron solidified.

While it was still hot, the black iron blank, as soft as dough, was taken out of the mold, and Mo Yuming began to forge it with an iron hammer.

Ordinary iron needs to be forged to become hard refined iron, but black iron requires even more forging to improve its quality. Black iron is many times stronger than ordinary iron, so the difficulty of forging it is also many times greater.

Mo Yuming unleashed the 'Blazing Sun Hammer' martial skill. The iron hammer tumbled through the air, the massive hammer whistling as it struck the black iron block with each blow, sparks flying everywhere, the crisp sound of the impact ringing out incessantly.

The black iron blank was repeatedly compressed and deformed under constant impact, and then compressed and deformed again.

Another three hours passed. Mo Yuming had forged three small iron pipes, each about the thickness of a finger and six inches long. It took him twice as long to make three thin black iron pipes as he had to make ordinary iron cannon barrels, demonstrating that black iron was much more difficult to refine than ordinary iron. After finishing, Mo Yuming was drenched in sweat and completely exhausted.

It was nearly evening when Mo Yuming sat in the large bathtub in the bathhouse, washing away the sweat and grime from his body. Then he changed into clean clothes and went to the hall.

Master Huo also came over for a visit. Following Mo Yuming's instructions, he selected two assistants, one of whom was a Huo family disciple who had studied under him for many years and was already a level two weapon refiner.

The other one is Master Dian. Master Dian once studied weapon crafting under Zhang Tieqiao for a period of time, and he is also a Heaven-level expert. Even if he did not go to the Weapon Crafting Association for assessment and certification, his actual weapon crafting level should not be lower than that of a Level 2 Weapon Crafting Master.

This residential area behind the factory was never inhabited by many people. Apart from Lei, Dian, and Bao, only Master Huo usually stayed here, and Huo Chengfang and Huo Chenggang, who managed the mine, also stayed here occasionally. So, these ten or so small courtyards were very quiet and secluded.

Cultivating here, it's hard to be disturbed. Master Huo chose the last small courtyard as the location. All that was needed to make the Demon-Slaying Bullet was a workbench for engraving runes and a small assembly room, so the three of them could make the Demon-Slaying Bullet in a small courtyard, which was enough space.

Early in the morning, Elder Huo sent people to make molds according to Mo Yuming's design to replicate the outer shells of the Demon-Slaying Bullets. They were put into use in the afternoon, and by evening, nearly a hundred rough outer shells for the Demon-Slaying Bullets had been produced.

"Young Master is starting to forge Xuan Iron artifacts today?"

Old Master Huo took a sip of the spiritual tea and said.

"I tried it, and after a whole day of forging, I only managed to forge three small iron pipes. It's definitely much harder than ordinary iron, and I almost couldn't keep going," Mo Yuming replied.

"Could we take a look at that black iron pipe?" Old Master Huo's apprentice couldn't help but ask curiously. Master Dian then looked at Mo Yuming. They were going to start refining the Demon-Slaying Bullets in this small courtyard tomorrow, so they had all moved here to live.

The two courtyards were right next to each other, so the two of them came with Old Master Huo to pay their respects to Mo Yuming.

“No problem at all.” Mo Yuming smiled and took out a black iron tube.

"As expected, nothing is surprising when it happens to the young master!"

After carefully observing, Huo's disciple exclaimed in admiration. This disciple of Huo was one of the more talented disciples in the clan. He was in his thirties and had been selected by Huo to be his disciple since childhood. He had been following Huo in weapon forging for almost twenty years.

This disciple was extremely diligent in his studies. Within three years, he was able to control the spiritual energy sensing furnace. Five years later, he successfully forged iron independently. Eight years later, he passed the Refiner Association's examination. Four years later, he was promoted to a Level Two Refiner, becoming the youngest Refiner in the Huo family. He is the most likely Huo family member to succeed Elder Huo in his position.

This diligent and conscientious weapon refiner from the Huo family naturally knew that some geniuses were indeed extremely monstrous, but even so, he held this young man in high regard.

But I underestimated it. At the same age, I had just learned how to smelt iron, and it took me several years of hard work to be able to produce even a decent piece of ordinary iron.

Even the simplest ordinary ironware couldn't be forged, let alone mystical ironware. Yet this young man could not only forge ordinary ironware, but also mystical ironware.

What's even more outrageous is that he never received any basic training and went straight into weapon forging. And he immediately produced a piece of black iron. Moreover, his technique was highly skilled, and the finished product was exquisite, in no way inferior to someone who had been forging weapons for over twenty years.

"Yu Ming has been a freak since he was a child; there's nothing that can stump him!"

Grandpa Dian was used to it.

"Young Master, what do you intend to use this black iron pipe for?"

Old Huo also picked up the black iron pipe and looked at it, but found nothing unusual about it. If it was just for practicing techniques, there was no need to forge this small iron pipe. Other shapes of utensils would test the craftsman's skills even more.

"This is just one component. There are still several other parts that haven't been refined yet. We plan to refine them tomorrow. Mysterious iron parts are much more difficult to refine than ordinary iron parts. It will probably take several days to refine them."

Afterwards, everyone talked about other things and then went back to their rooms to rest.

Mo Yuming crafted this second weapon for the Falcon Guard. Previously, the Falcon Guard used to fight with small crossbows, and in certain special circumstances, they could only fire one bolt at a time, so there was no time to reload a second bolt.

This wastes many good opportunities for combat. The Falcon Guard operates in the shadows, like assassins, and battles often take place within the enemy's ranks. Fleeting opportunities often determine the success or failure of a battle.

Therefore, having a suitable weapon plays a crucial role in the success or failure of a battle. Moreover, when the Falcon Guard is carrying out special missions, they are often affected by the terrain and other factors, making it impossible to use many conventional weapons, such as the newly manufactured anti-magic bullets.

Inspired by the Demon-Slaying Bullet, Mo Yuming decided to create a hidden weapon similar to a sleeve dart. This hidden weapon is powered by a mechanism and does not require the use of soul power. Therefore, even if he gets very close to the enemy, the enemy will have a hard time detecting him because no spiritual power is used.

Spiritual energy is a good thing, both convenient and practical. However, because everyone is so familiar with spiritual energy, even the slightest fluctuation of spiritual energy around us will be noticed and recognized.

Therefore, those who engage in assassinations and ambushes will try their best to conceal their spiritual power to confuse the enemy and achieve a fatal blow.

After two days of refining, Mo Yuming had become much more proficient in his techniques and skills. On the third day, he was much faster than he had been in the previous two days. Due to his improved skills, he was not as strenuous as before when manipulating the equipment. When making some small parts, his techniques were more exquisite and he consumed less spiritual energy.

After a day's work, all the other parts for the three hidden arrows were completed. All that was needed was to engrave runes on the mechanism parts and then install and test them to finish.

The shipment volume on the third day was almost double that of the second day, and the structure of the parts was much more complex and cumbersome. So, by the end of the day, Mo Yuming was still exhausted. He even gave up his original idea of ​​checking on the progress of Huo Lao and the others in making the anti-magic bullet. After finishing, he hurriedly slipped into the bathtub to rest and take a bath.

Mo Yuming discovered that his body absorbed the 'water essence' much faster during bathing, and his body recovered its strength much faster as well. After a comfortable bath, all his fatigue was gone, and his mental state was quickly restored.

Upon entering the tea room, Elder Huo and the others were already seated, drinking tea and chatting. Two newly crafted anti-demon bullets were also on the table.

"Is this a newly made product?"

Mo Yuming sat down, took a sip of spiritual tea, and said.

"To be precise, there are two finished products. This one is the original shell manufactured according to the original design. And this one is our improved shell!"

Old Huo pointed to two shells that looked exactly alike and said.

The shape of the shell was designed by Mo Yuming based on fluid dynamics. The finished product looks a lot like a howitzer on Earth, but it is smaller in size. The outer diameter of the shell is only a little over an inch and the length is only about three inches.

"They don't look any different! What's the difference between the new design and the original?" Mo Yuming asked, examining the two shells in his hands.

"The appearance is not much different, but the internal structure has been greatly improved. The old design would cause the shell to explode as soon as it sensed a change in spiritual power, which could cause accidental injury. So after careful research, we added a binding pattern to the tail of the shell and a combustion pattern on the binding pattern. After experimentation, we achieved the desired result."

The redesigned shell eliminates the risk of accidental detonation, making it completely safe before firing; there's no need to worry about accidentally detonating it.

"That's what Mr. Huo explained."

"After the shell is launched, how do you control it to sense spiritual energy and detonate?"

Mo Yuming was puzzled.

"Actually, it's not that complicated. Because of the restraining patterns added to the shells, they can't be detonated until they're damaged."

After some thought, I came up with a brilliant solution—to engrave an additional rune on the surface of the shell: an explosion pattern.

However, this explosive pattern has been weakened, and its only function is to destroy the binding pattern.

As for the trigger condition for the incendiary pattern, it is the burning of flames. When the anti-magic bullet is loaded into the cannon barrel and ready to be fired, the gunpowder burning inside the barrel will ignite at just the right moment and trigger the incendiary pattern.

In this way, the binding runes will be destroyed instantly. Once the binding runes fail, when the cannonball is fired from the barrel and hits the target, as soon as even the slightest change in the surrounding spiritual energy is sensed, the cannonball will immediately explode violently.

Old Huo explained in detail.

"This ingenious design not only greatly improves the safety of the anti-magic bullet during transportation and storage, but also opens up a broader path for its future widespread application."

With this technological innovation, we have the potential to develop all sorts of special artillery shells with unique functions, thereby further enhancing our combat effectiveness on the battlefield! I believe that the anti-magic shell will undoubtedly become one of our most important weapons for defeating the enemy!

Mo Yuming nodded repeatedly after listening:

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