Chapter 174 A Preliminary Study on Concept Armament
The snow gradually stopped, and Meng Tian began to clear the snow to prepare for the Shadow Secret Guards who were about to arrive for the training.

Due to the influence of various factors such as climate, cultivation methods, and grain seeds, the countries in the Central Plains are still in the period of spring ploughing and autumn harvest.

Food is still relatively scarce, so it is imperative to open up new areas for growing food.

The climate in the south is hot and humid, suitable for growing crops, so Gongsun Ce has already been planning to continue moving south after conquering the State of Chu.

But the humidity and heat in the south are both advantages and disadvantages.

First of all, there is the problem of miasma. There is more miasma in the south. Miasma is a general term for many diseases.

Including malaria, dysentery, beriberi, sand lice, poisoning, throat diseases, hemorrhagic fever, jaundice, etc.

In this situation, God knows whether there will be any outrageous things in the south, like the python.

Secondly, the south is mountainous and forested, and it takes a period of slash-and-burn farming to develop large settlements.

Moreover, mountainous areas are not suitable for the deployment of Qin's existing troops, so it is necessary to use the terrain of Shu Mountain to train new soldiers.

Shadow Secret Guards, new recruits trained by Ying Zheng to match Luowang, are mainly responsible for protecting Ying Zheng and other princes, and are also responsible for mountain combat and intelligence gathering.

Although the Iron Eagle Warriors are good, they are not the personal soldiers trained by Ying Zheng.

Because of the problem with Luowang, Ying Zheng began to doubt these veteran ace troops, so Meng Tian trained the Golden Fire Cavalry first, and Zhang Han was responsible for training the Shadow Guards later.

The last and most critical problem in the south is the barbarians. In addition to the Baiyue, there are other barbarian forces south of the Chu State.

They are familiar with the terrain, proficient in mountain warfare, and are particularly xenophobic, so it is quite difficult for them to establish a new food production base.

Gongsun Ce ignored Zhang Han for the time being as he had more important things to do.

There are seven realms in alchemy, namely: concept arming, time reversal, space development, life creation, element replacement, spirit recasting, and cause and effect separation.

The seemingly most elusive concept of arming is actually the easiest to get started with.

According to Gongsun Ce's speculation, the reason why alchemical items can easily kill Deadpool and dragons is not only because they are the products of alchemy, but more importantly, the forger has given them a concept.

A concept that causes harm to those who possess dragon blood.

Nicolas Flamel was eager to enter the Nibelungen to search for recycled metals.

Or rather, this is the desire of all alchemists.

The King of Bronze and Fire uses the power of flame to control the pure fire element to kill metal, and then uses the power of bronze to give the metal activity, thereby creating recycled metal.

The King of Bronze and Fire is the strongest in alchemy, and the Seven Deadly Sins are their masterpieces and the embodiment of conceptual armament.

Just like the famous swords forged in this world, the swordsmith senses the characteristics of the material and extends or expands these characteristics based on the original characteristics of the material during the forging process.

According to legend, the Eight Swords of the King of Yue were forged from the same material, but the properties of the eight swords were completely different.

It's very interesting that even when you put the eight swords together and compare them, you can't tell that they are forged from the same material.

Gongsun Ce once asked Madam Xu why such a difference occurred, and Madam Xu's answer surprised Gongsun Ce.

Mental effort!

Just two words made Gongsun Ce suddenly enlightened.

The proof that the grandmaster can use the power of heaven and earth to transform it into an endless supply of true energy is his mental strength. As long as his mental strength is inexhaustible, his true energy will not diminish.

If the swordsmith is using his own mental power to inadvertently communicate with heaven and earth, triggering and expanding the properties of the sword-making material, and thus making the sword, then it makes sense.

The magic circle constructed by alchemy is shaped like a pentagram, representing the elements of earth, fire, water, wind and spirit respectively.

However, only the four elements of earth, fire, water and wind are mutually generated and restrained, while the spiritual element controls everything and does not participate in the restraint relationship of the four elements.

After figuring out these things, Gongsun Ce began to put them into practice.

The snake bones of the Basashi were now placed in front of Gongsun Ce, who raised his hand and recited the dragon text.

Word Spirit: Eyes of the Wind King

The strong wind wrapped around Gongsun Ce's right hand, forming a rotating wind blade.

The moment Gongsun Ce's right hand fell, the wind blade cut the snake bone accurately.

"Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle..."

The friction between the wind blade and the snake bone made a sharp friction sound and sparks flew. Gongsun Ce could only temporarily use his true energy to block his hearing and shut down the sickle-weasel to prevent himself from accidentally injuring him.

A natural purple crystal was suspended outside Gongsun Ce's eye socket to block the sparks.

Soon, Gongsun Ce cut a rib from the snake bone.

The skeletal structure of a snake is the pattern of a skull, spine and ribs. Of course, snakes such as rattlesnakes also have special tailbones.

Half a day passed, and Gongsun Ce had only separated the snake's ribs from its spine.

The basset snake has nearly a thousand ribs, so this dismantling job is not easy.

After a simple meal, Gongsun Ce officially began to transform the snake ribs.

Gongsun Ce sat upright under the sacred Fusang tree, holding a snake rib in each hand, with a hint of contemplation in his eyes.

The bones of the Basilisk are as crystal clear as white jade, but their hardness is truly scary.

He took a deep breath and concentrated his energy to the extreme.

As he silently recited the dragon text, a faint flame began to slowly emanate from his hands.

A solemn look emerged on Gongsun Ce's face. He carefully wrapped the flame around the snake bone and began the long calcination process.

The flames jumped on the snake bones, making crackling sounds. Fine beads of sweat oozed out of Gongsun Ce's forehead. At the same time, Gongsun Ce's brows were wrinkled into the shape of the Chinese character "川" for the first time.

Time passed unnoticed, and the snake bones became more and more crystal clear, as if some impurities were completely eliminated during the calcination.

Gongsun Ce silently said in his heart: "Give others the concept of snakes, and attack snakes specifically."

He hopes to transform the two pieces of snake bones through alchemy.

The snake bone on the left hand side can give others the concept of snake. If that doesn't work, you can lower the requirements a bit and give others the characteristics of snake.

Allow the snake bone on the right side to have special attack properties against snakes.

In this way, the snake bone in the left hand will give debuff to others, and the snake bone in the right hand will special attack the person who has received the debuff. This configuration is perfect.

If it succeeds, then when Gongsun Ce fights with others in the future, it will most likely be the following style:
Gongsun Ce raised the snake bone in his left hand and shouted, "You look like a snake to me!"

The other party gets the concept of snake.

Then Gongsun Ce raised his right hand and attacked the snake bone, easily killing the opponent in seconds.

Although the actual situation is somewhat different from what he imagined, Gongsun Ce feels that there should not be too big a gap.

After half an hour of calcination, Gongsun Ce looked at the snake bone in his hand, and his instinct told him that it had reached its limit and could not be calcined further.

So Gongsun Ce ended the first experiment. He scratched his head and called out to Xiao Mimi, "Xiao Mimi, go catch an antelope!"

"Ow~"

Little Mimi, who was resting on the shaft of the bronze chariot, ran towards the forest reluctantly.

Soon, little Mimi came to Gongsun Ce dragging a living antelope.

"Meeh~Meeh~"

Gongsun Ce looked at the antelope that was about to cry, and silently lit a candle for the antelope in his heart.

Gongsun Ce then gave Lingyang a thumbs up and said, "Brother Yang, rest assured. I will make sure that you will be treated with great care."

"What~"

A few tears instantly welled up in the corners of Antelope's eyes, as if he understood Gongsun Ce's words, but Gongsun Ce was just a emotionless person.

Gongsun Ce raised the snake bone on his left hand and pointed it at the antelope in front of him for the first experiment. As a result, the antelope did not change at all.

Gongsun Ce raised his eyebrows. It was reasonable that the concept did not change in appearance.

Then Gongsun Ce raised the snake bone in his right hand and poked the antelope's head as the antelope kept begging for mercy.

Then, nothing happened. Gongsun Ce looked at the snake bone in his hand with a question mark on his face.

At this moment, Gongsun Ce suspected that there was something wrong with the direction of his thinking.

The experiment requires the reasonable arrangement of variables. He has already concentrated his mind enough, so the variables that should be changed are the calcination time and the calcination of the snake bones alone.

Gongsun Ce rubbed his eyebrows and felt his head buzzing.

Gongsun Ce stood up, picked up the antelope, and then walked towards Meng Tian.

At this time, Meng Tian was watching Zhang Han giving a speech to the new recruits. Although they were nominally new recruits of the Shadow Secret Guard, in fact, they were all elite soldiers selected from the army.

After they complete their training, some of them will stay in Shushan as instructors to train new recruits.

The next newcomers will be complete recruits.

Gongsun Ce threw the antelope to Meng Tian, ​​"Take it and cook it, and divide it up." "Okay! Thank you, General, for the reward!"

After Meng Tian finished speaking half-jokingly, he kicked the general next to him.

Soon, the deputy general understood and began to shout, "Thank you, General, for the reward!"

"Thank you, General!"
Listening to the endless thanks, Gongsun Ce twitched the corner of his mouth and walked back to the bronze carriage.

Inside the bronze chariot, Feiyan and Yueshen were regulating their breathing, one adapting to his cultivation while the other healed his injuries.

Nong Yu was plucking and composing music in the air. She had already played a new song and was now trying to record it.

Only Yan Lingji was bored and didn't know what to do.

When Yan Lingji saw Gongsun Ce returning to the carriage, she realized that Gongsun Ce had finished his work, so she immediately wrapped her body around Gongsun Ce.

"Is the young master done with his work?"

Gongsun Ce shook his head and buried his head in front of Yan Lingji, "No, I failed. Help me press my head down. I have a headache."

"okay!"

Yan Lingji raised her hand and gently pressed the acupoints on Gongsun Ce's head.

Gongsun Ce let out a long sigh and felt a little relieved.

Then, Gongsun Ce began to think about the steps that swordsmiths take to forge swords, hoping to get some inspiration.

After all, it was he who asked Madam Xu to forge the sword, so naturally he had to inspect the quality first. So even though Madam Xu was old, she had no choice but to forge a sharp weapon.

Although it is not as good as a famous sword, it is also a top-grade sword.

Mrs. Xu's sword-making process starts with the selection of materials. She personally picked out top-quality ore with a dark color and hard texture, which is suitable for sword-making.

The next step is to choose water. The small pond in Madam Xu's sword-forging workshop is made of spring water. The spring water is clear, transparent, sweet and delicious, and is the best choice for forging swords.

After all the preparations were ready, Mrs. Xu lit the fire and the flames jumped.

She sat down by the fire and began to smelt the iron ore into the fire.

The flames licked the ore, making crackling sounds. Mrs. Xu watched the temperature of the fire with full concentration, constantly adjusting the position of the ore to ensure that the ore could be heated evenly.

After several hours of smelting, the iron ore finally turned into boiling molten iron.

Mrs. Xu carefully poured the molten iron into the pre-prepared mold.

She made the mold out of fired clay, and the shape was the same as the sword, only slightly larger.

After pouring the molten iron into the mold, Mrs. Xu quickly clamped the mold with pliers and placed it in the water nearby to cool.

Water temperature is also the key to casting a sharp weapon, but it has nothing to do with the alchemical props Gongsun Ce was preparing to make, so Gongsun Ce did not recall it carefully.

During the cooling process, Madam Xu was not idle. She took out a fine grinding stone and began to grind the already formed sword blank.

The sword blank gradually reveals its sharp edge and exquisite sword body under the polishing of the grindstone.

Mrs. Xu stopped from time to time to carefully observe every detail of the sword blank to make sure there were no flaws.

When the sword blank had completely cooled down, Mrs. Xu began to perform the final processing on it.

She took out a sharp carving knife and carved exquisite patterns on the sword.

After carving the pattern, Mrs. Xu took out a piece of deerskin, dipped it in a special ointment, and rubbed it repeatedly on the sword.

The ointment seeped into the sword body, making it smoother and brighter, as if it had a faint halo.

After Gongsun Ce finished his recollections, he realized that simply changing the forging temperature and forging quantity was not enough.

It is very important to integrate one's own mental strength into the snake bones, so before calcining, one must first polish the mental strength and drive the mental strength into the snake bones.

Only after this, the snake bones could be transformed into the shape that Gongsun Ce wanted.

After Gongsun Ce understood the reason, he relaxed temporarily and enjoyed Yan Lingji's massage.

It was not until the next morning that Gongsun Ce began his second experiment.

Under the sacred Fusang tree, Gongsun Ce was holding a piece of snake bone tightly in his hand. His eyes were deep and focused, and he was having a silent communication with the snake bone.

Gongsun Ce's mental power quietly approached the snake bone of the Basilisk. Gongsun Ce could not feel whether his mental power had entered the snake bone, but he could be sure that this step was correct.

Word Spirit: Eyes of the Wind King

Gongsun Ce began to control the power of the wind. He seemed to have become a conductor of the wind, guiding the breeze to swirl and shuttle around the snake bones.

The power of the wind gradually increased, becoming sharp and swift, like an invisible knife, carving intricate patterns on the snake's bones.

These lines are like snake scales, flashing with cold light, giving people a feeling of mystery and majesty.

Gongsun Ce muttered to himself: Give others the concept of snake.

As he silently chanted, the snake bones seemed to be infused with some mysterious power and began to slowly deform.

The originally hard snake bones became soft and elastic under the influence of the wind.

Gongsun Ce's fingers slid gently across the snake bones, and every touch seemed to play an ancient piece of music.

As time went by, the snake bone was gradually transformed into an exquisite little hammer under the polishing of the wind.

The hammer head is only the size of an egg, but it is carved with lifelike snake patterns, as if a small snake is coiled around the hammer head.

The hammer handle is about seventy centimeters long and has a faint luster on its surface, making the whole hammer look small and delicate.

Gongsun Ce gently held the hammer in his hand, feeling the cold and hard feeling it brought.

Next, Gongsun Ce began to calcine the small hammer, and a ball of flame emerged from the palm of Gongsun Ce's palm.

The flame leaped, wrapping the hammer in heat.

Gongsun Ce controlled the swirling flames and observed the changes of the small hammer intently.

He could see that the hammer became more and more crystal clear under the burning flame, and the impurities were completely driven out.

Half an hour later, Gongsun Ce finished calcining the small hammer.

He extinguished the fire in his palm and gently wiped the hammer with a piece of cloth. Now the hammer was as good as new.

Although the experiment has not been carried out yet, Gongsun Ce feels that he has succeeded and this small hammer has met his expectations.

Afterwards, Gongsun Ce immediately began to make the bone sword.

Since the process was just copied, a bone sword soon appeared in Gongsun Ce's hands.

"Little Mimi! Catch two!"

Little Mimi ran towards the forest helplessly, and soon, the two antelopes were dragged by Little Mimi and came in front of Gongsun Ce.

"Meh~"*n
Gongsun Ce ignored the two antelopes' pleas for mercy and began the experiment.

Gongsun Ce approached the two antelopes and found that they were a ram and a ewe, and the ewe seemed to be pregnant with a lamb.

Gongsun Ce's hand holding the bone hammer immediately pointed at the ram, and tapped the ram's back with the hammer lightly.

Gongsun Ce glanced at Gong Yang for a moment and found that Gong Yang's aura seemed to have changed.

“Hiss, hiss…”

When the ram realized that nothing was wrong, he immediately felt a sense of fear, but the next moment, the ram's voice changed.

Gongsun Ce touched his chin and felt that the effect of this thing was a little too good.

Without waiting for Gong Yang to panic, Gongsun Ce lightly poked Gong Yang's head with the bone sword in his right hand. Although it did not cause any wound, Gong Yang suddenly fell to the ground and seemed to have lost his life.

Seeing Gong Yang die, Gongsun Ce suddenly swung the bone sword in his right hand and cut Gong Yang into two.

At this time, Gongsun Ce discovered that the bones in Gongyang's body had undergone changes.

Gongsun Ce felt that if there was enough time, perhaps the ram could really turn into a snake, or a half-ram, half-snake monster.

In line with the principle of not wasting, Gongsun Ce gave the Gongyang Ram to Meng Tian.

Gongsun Ce really didn't dare to take on this kind of technology and hard work.

However, there was a control group in front of Gongsun Ce. Gongsun Ce poked the ewe with a bone hammer, but after an incense stick of time had passed, the ewe showed no reaction.

It seemed as if the bone hammer had failed, so Gongsun Ce put his hand close to the ewe, and his true energy entered the ewe's body. Then Gongsun Ce discovered that there was actually an egg inside the ewe's body.

And there was only this egg, and no lamb. Gongsun Ce's expression suddenly became a little strange. It turned out that the power of the bone hammer was not ineffective, but it was effective on the lamb.

Gongsun Ce suddenly felt that he had become "Despicable Herpo", the dark wizard in "Harry Potter" who placed eggs under a toad to hatch and then obtained the basilisk.

Gongsun Ce began to wonder whether the ewe would hatch a snake monster.

(End of this chapter)