Before us was a small cave carved out of the mountainside, filled with all sorts of corpses.

If they were just corpses, that would be one thing, but each of these corpses seemed to have been drained of blood and flesh, leaving only skin covering bones. Compared to normal people, each corpse was much smaller, and they were piled up haphazardly one by one.

It seems they were just thrown around when they were piled up; some of these mummies had their heads off, and others had their limbs broken off, scattered all over the ground.

In addition, the pile of mummified corpses emitted a very unpleasant odor.

It was like human vomit mixed with the stench of rotting flesh, the smell of rotten eggs, and the stench of rotten fish and shrimp entrails left to bake in the scorching sun for a long time, all mixed with the smell of spoiled food.

Lin Wanqing felt that with every breath she took, the stench went straight to her head, making her scalp tingle and her stomach churn.

Later, it felt like her throat was being tightly choked; she felt like vomiting, but the smell was too strong, so she couldn't vomit.

Each breath felt like inhaling filth laced with deadly poison. The air in the cave was permeated by the stench, which even distorted and polluted the already dim light in the cave.

Lin Wanqing couldn't hold it in any longer, so she turned around, rushed out of the cave, and vomited again until she felt better after breathing in fresh air.

Once Lin Wanqing had recovered, she simply didn't have the courage to step back into the cave.

She could accept it before because she didn't know where the foul smell in the cave came from, but now that she knows, she can no longer accept it.

Gao Hongyuan was able to meditate in such an environment as if no one was around, which made him seem like a monster in Lin Wanqing's eyes.

However, someone who can raise worms in their own chest is not much different from a monster.

"Gao Hongyuan, how much longer?" Lin Wanqing asked.

As Lin Wanqing rushed out, Gao Hongyuan followed her out. "It will take me at least fifteen days, and at most a month, to process this."

Lin Wanqing understood; he needed time to absorb and digest the essence of the remaining five hundred people.

"I'll give you fifteen more days. Don't disappoint me, or else..."

"Yes," Gao Hongyuan replied, bowing his head, though no one could see the sinister glint in his eyes.

When Lin Wanqing returned to her palace, she instructed the palace servants to prepare a bath tub so she could take a bath and wash away the stench from the cave.

Even after returning to the palace, Lin Wanqing felt that the stench still lingered around her, and she couldn't bear it for even a moment longer.

Just then, the palace servants suddenly bowed and said, "Your Majesty."

Wanyan Da has arrived.

Lin Wanqing smiled. Recently, Wanyan Da had been staying in her palace almost every day. With the explosives, the Northern Li army was unstoppable, and the only news coming from the battlefield was of victory.

The technology for making explosives has been gradually improved, and as long as new sulfur arrives, more explosives can be made.

She greeted him with a smile, but didn't notice Wanyan Da's expression.

Snap!

A slap landed directly on Lin Wanqing's face, freezing her smile in place before it could even fade.

Wanyan Da didn't hold back in that slap. Lin Wanqing felt a numbness on her face, losing all feeling of pain. A metallic, sweet taste filled her mouth. She forced herself to swallow the blood, looked at Wanyan Da with tears welling up in her eyes, and looked aggrieved.

"Your Majesty, why did you hit me?"

"Why? Lin Wanqing, didn't you say that only you in the world know how to make explosives? Then tell me, why does Great Chu also have them?!" Wanyan Da said angrily.

The night before, Wei Xuebin was drinking and making merry in the army camp. After a few hundred rounds of passion with two maids, he fell asleep with one on each side of her.

He dreamt that under the bright sun, his ministers knelt in worship, and he was walking step by step toward the dragon throne on the high throne.

Suddenly, the bright sunshine in the sky was covered with dark clouds.

A bolt of lightning struck Wei Xuebin directly at his feet, startling him. Then a deafening clap of thunder rang out, so loud that Wei Xuebin was jolted awake from his dream.

He opened his eyes, but the thunder still hadn't stopped.

Wei Xuebin slowly regained consciousness.

boom!

Boom!!

That sound!!!

Wei Xuebin immediately recognized the sound as the sound of explosives.

What happened?

Did the warehouse storing explosives catch fire?