Cultivation is Just That Scientific

“He stayed here for quite a while!” Shi Ximing sensed the feedback from the mid-level tracking talisman, deducing this from the intensity of the residual qi.

In front of him was a rockery, situated in a relatively secluded part of the garden.

After a moment, confusion appeared on his face.

He could only detect the qi trace of Chief Escort Wang, but there was no trace of him leaving.

Logically, Chief Escort Wang should still be here.

Even if he had died and his body was removed, there would still be traces of qi left behind.

But according to the residual qi here, it seemed as if Chief Escort Wang had stayed in this place for two days before disappearing into thin air.

Although Shi Ximing was deeply puzzled, his priority wasn’t to find Chief Escort Wang but to locate that item.

He waved his hand, and a green light flashed.

His life in the cultivation world wasn’t going well, but he wasn’t without skills—his specialty was planting.

This was a garden, filled with various flowers and plants.

By activating his wood-element spiritual qi, he could easily detect the state of the surrounding plants.

This was far more convenient than Li Shiming using an IBM z15 mainframe for analysis. In just a moment, a smile appeared on his face.

“Found it!” He walked to the spot where the wooden box was buried.

The qi of a small patch of grass here was abnormal. After infusing the area with wood-element spiritual qi, this patch of land stood out like a beacon in the night.

He reached out and dug away the surface soil, revealing the wooden box.

When he saw the wooden box, his smile grew wider.

The box appeared ordinary, but the patterns on it were commonly used in the cultivation world to seal off qi.

Thus, whatever was stored inside the box was definitely not something that belonged in the mortal world.

He didn’t take any protective measures. For one, this was the secular world, and the power of any hidden weapons from such a small box would be limited. Besides, as someone at the third level of Qi Refinement, he was immune to mortal poisons. For another, he was poor.

A single basic defensive talisman cost the equivalent of three to four attack talismans. He simply couldn’t afford to waste one.

Upon opening the wooden box, he discovered it was filled with a liquid resembling water. He also saw a trace of white powder ignite the moment the box was opened.

Had he known what was inside the box, Shi Ximing would have run as far away as possible, and he would have used any defensive talismans he had.

But due to differences in knowledge, he had no understanding of the liquid and white powder in the box.

He thought it was just a trick left by Chief Escort Wang to destroy the contents of the box in case it fell into someone else’s hands.

In his urgency, he hurriedly tried to grab the visible items from the box.

He had seen two books inside, made from materials commonly used for texts in the cultivation world, capable of resisting decay for a thousand years.

Li Shiming had filled the box with nitroglycerin, and the white substance was white phosphorus.

The box’s craftsmanship was superb, with excellent sealing properties.

Before leaving, Li Shiming had taken some nitroglycerin from the server room, poured it into the box, sealed it tightly, removed the excess air using the server room’s vacuum space, and added a bit of white phosphorus onto the nitroglycerin’s surface.

Nitroglycerin is a highly volatile explosive; even a slight jolt could set it off.

White phosphorus ignites upon contact with air.

What happens when white phosphorus burns atop nitroglycerin? Shi Ximing was about to find out.

The explosion occurred right in front of him. The amount of nitroglycerin in the box was considerable—about one kilogram.

The explosive force of one kilogram of nitroglycerin produces 715 liters of gas, releasing heat of around 3,980°C, and creating a pressure of roughly 9000×10⁵ Pa(>9 atmosphere).

Faced with such an explosion, even if Shi Ximing had used a defensive talisman, a low level one wouldn’t stand a chance, and even an mid level defensive talisman would be of limited use.

In the instant the explosion occurred, Shi Ximing realized what was happening, but it was too late.

“Which Daoist set this trap? Why is there no trace of spiritual qi?” Filled with confusion, his body was blown to pieces by the terrifying blast.

The explosion didn’t just kill Shi Ximing—it devastated everything within a five-meter radius. The unfortunate rockery was reduced to flying rubble.

In his study, Li Shiming felt the entire room tremble, and the deafening explosion left his ears ringing.

“Young Master!” Outside, Si Qin screamed, shouting for him.

In Si Qin’s heart, the young master was her entire world.

“Si Qin, don’t be afraid. I’ll go check what happened!” Li Shiming reassured her.

“Young Master, don’t go! Let the guards handle it!” Si Qin pleaded, grabbing his arm.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine!” Li Shiming patted her head gently.

Stepping out of the courtyard, he was met with a scene of chaos. Though the explosion had occurred in the garden, the debris had spread far and wide.

Many flowers had been damaged by the falling stones, and dust filled the air, creating a hazy, gray fog.

He knew clearly that only one thing could have triggered his trap: someone had found the wooden box.

The location was hidden so meticulously, buried so securely, and situated within the rear garden of the government office. Even if someone knew something was there, an ordinary person couldn’t find it without a trace.

The trap he had set was specifically designed for a cultivator. Judging by the aftermath, the one caught in the explosion must have been that cultivator.

As for whether the cultivator survived, the devastation before him left little doubt.

At this moment, guards and servants from the government office were rushing toward the garden in a panic.

An explosion in the prefect’s garden was a far graver incident than the massacre of thirty-plus people at the Weiyuan Escort Agency.

Unlike the aimless chaos of the others, Li Shiming knew exactly where the center of the explosion was. He headed straight for the rockery.

The closer he got, the more the scale of the explosion shocked him.

The entire box of nitroglycerin had created a blast of this magnitude. The spot where the rockery once stood was now an empty pit.

A crater a meter deep marked the ground, and everything around it had been blown to pieces.

Li Shiming’s eyes narrowed. He noticed flesh scattered on the ground—remnants of a body torn apart by the explosion.

This discovery put his mind at ease. No matter how much damage was done, as long as the cultivator was dead, the biggest problem was solved.

Then he saw a leather pouch lying on the ground. Despite the force of the explosion, the pouch remained intact.

Li Shiming walked over and picked it up. This leather pouch must have belonged to the cultivator.