"Every single one of them is dangerous, and you actually want to go exploring. I suggest you wait until your cultivation is higher before you go."
Meng Luoluo: "......".
A rookie doesn't deserve to leave the house.
Meng Luoluo blinked her big eyes and stared straight at He Manting: "I've decided. We're going to the Snow Mountain. Let's get ready and figure out when we're leaving."
He Manting: "Are you going there to increase the mountain's altitude? Tossing you up there doesn't seem like it would add much."
Meng Luoluo was speechless. God damn increasing the altitude.
Going to the Snow Mountain to find materials, and saving Shangguan Qingsi along the way—it was simply perfect.
Seeing Meng Luoluo's delighted expression, He Manting was filled with doubt.
Whatever. Since her own cultivation was high, she could take her out for a stroll. With that bell of hers, she probably wouldn't die.
Helplessly, He Manting agreed and returned to her residence to start making preparations.
...
The very first thing she did upon returning to her quarters was to start drafting designs. Although high cultivation could make a person feel safe, under her current low cultivation, it was still best to have a weapon that felt right in hand.
Soon, through three days of hard work, Meng Luoluo drew the blueprints for the parts that needed to be forged and handed them over to He Manting.
He Manting looked over the blueprints. Though she had many doubts, she still chose to trust her and began forging.
While He Manting was busy forging, Meng Luoluo didn't stay idle either. She divided the Xumao Gold into tiny, tiny golden beads, producing tens of thousands of them.
She prepared the primer and propellant, and crafted several special devices, just waiting for He Manting to finish forging so they could begin assembly.
During this period, her senior brothers and sister also came by a few times. They didn't ask too many questions, simply treating it as a child's idle toy.
Seeing that her senior brothers and sister thought this way, Meng Luoluo was even more pleased; if they had asked, it wouldn't have been convenient to explain. Spending over ten days, He Manting forged most of the components. After a careful inspection by Meng Luoluo to confirm there were no errors, assembly began.
While assembling, Meng Luoluo didn't let He Manting rest either, having her continue to forge a type of cylindrical iron box.
He Manting forged continuously, but occasionally she could spare a fraction of her attention to see what Meng Luoluo was up to.
She saw Meng Luoluo take two hollow iron rods and some components, splice them together, and then secure them...
After a series of assembly steps, a shotgun was finished. Meng Luoluo picked it up to test the feel in her hand and felt it was pretty good.
With the weapon made, she needed to prepare the ammunition.
Carrying a pile of materials, Meng Luoluo walked to the open space in the small courtyard, sat down on the ground without a shred of concern for her image, and used the tools she had already made to craft the primers.
She took out mercury, used nitric acid made from saltpeter, put them together, then added alcohol, and at the right time added sea salt essence and copper.
When everything was done, she shaped the resulting irregular mercury fulminate into a fixed form, trying to keep costs down—not too much, just enough to get by.
Ordinary people used spiritual power when fighting; Meng Luoluo fought with spirit stones.
Afterwards, Meng Luoluo picked up the cartridge cases He Manting had made and began assembly: pressing in the primer, filling the propellant, pouring in the Xumao Gold beads, and finally sealing the opening with wax.
Having finished all of this, she eagerly prepared to test it out, taking out the mid-grade Dharmic Robe she had bought at a high price from the AllThings Pavilion a few days prior.
She put the Dharmic Robe on a wooden dummy and activated its defense.
Meng Luoluo retreated to a suitable distance.
Then came two popping sounds, bang, bang...
Countless Xumao Gold beads shot out.
Meng Luoluo stepped forward to check the situation and saw that the Xumao Gold had pierced through the Dharmic Robe, destroyed the wooden dummy, and finally embedded itself deep into the open ground.
It looked pretty good, except it was a bit expensive.
At the same time, He Manting, who was forging in the Artifact Refining Room, heard the noise, immediately interrupted her work, and teleported over to check on the situation.
Only after carefully inspecting Meng Luoluo and confirming she was uninjured did she let out a sigh of relief.
Meng Luoluo motioned for her to look at the Dharmic Robe. Seeing this, He Manting was deeply shocked and turned her gaze to Meng Luoluo.
Meng Luoluo explained: "This is the damage caused by this weapon. The drawback is that the attack range is a bit close, but in a rush, we'll just have to make do with this."
He Manting carefully examined the Dharmic Robe and the wooden dummy, and firmly concluded that if a person had been inside the Dharmic Robe and taken a direct hit to the head or heart, there wouldn't even be a possibility of saving them.
While marveling at the weapon's power, He Manting gained a completely new understanding of Meng Luoluo.
He Manting quickly returned to the room and saw Meng Luoluo looking at the blueprints. Just as she reached out to snatch them, Meng Luoluo dodged away.
Meng Luoluo sensed what she was thinking: "Elder sister, don't worry. Only you and I know about this kind of thing. Although this thing didn't reach the performance I expected, the damage is still very high."
Hearing this, He Manting relaxed slightly, but before she could fully relax, she heard:
"Elder sister, if I build a whole squad equipped exclusively with firearms, wouldn't we be invincible under heaven?"
He Manting: "......".
He Manting: "Out of the mouths of babes, out of the mouths of babes—throw away that dangerous idea of yours. A towering tree in the forest will be battered by the wind; you'll bring trouble upon yourself unless your cultivation is high enough."
"Alright, I'll listen to elder sister and raise my cultivation first."
He Manting: "?".
This child seemed to have completely missed the main point of what she said.
Spending a month's time, the two of them crafted a total of two shotguns and over a thousand shotgun shells. Because Meng Luoluo's cultivation was low, seventy percent of the ammunition was loaded into Meng Luoluo's Storage Bag.
...
The next day.
Meng Luoluo went to the Fan Peak Main Hall to tell her master about her purpose—of course, without mentioning the Snow Mountain, simply saying she was going out for some practical experience together with her elder sister.
Peak Master Shen had known about He Manting the very first day she arrived, and had simultaneously investigated this stranger. Her cultivation was in the Soul-Gathering Realm, which could be considered top-tier among her peers.
Young juniors with this level of cultivation were invariably disciples of major sects or illustrious families.
Seeing that He Manting had taken good care of Meng Luoluo over the past half-year and harbored no ill intentions, Peak Master Shen hadn't intervened.
After Meng Luoluo left the main hall, Peak Master Shen sent a message to several other disciples, telling them to find out where Meng Luoluo was going and to protect her in secret. After all, they still didn't understand He Manting well enough; people lurking around core disciples had happened before, so being cautious was always a good idea.
...
With permission granted, the two began packing, bringing spirit stones, talisman papers, array disks, and even packing a small pot.
Before leaving, the two made a special trip to an estate, spending a good amount of spirit stones to buy seasonings—that's right, seasonings. Meng Luoluo also planned to have a barbecue out in the wilderness.
When everything was ready, He Manting took out her Flying Boat, and the two boarded it, heading all the way north.
Meng Luoluo had been in this world for over half a year, and this was her first time going far away, as well as her first time riding this world's form of transportation—a Flying Boat.
Faced with something new, she inevitably felt a bit curious.
On the Flying Boat, Meng Luoluo looked here and touched there, until the novelty wore off a little, at which point she went back inside the Flying Boat to find He Manting.
"Elder sister, I want to have my own Flying Boat too."
He Manting: "......".
Just that?
He Manting: "You can, but operating a Flying Boat requires spirit stones. You'd better think it through."