In the past few days, Mu Jin rested for two hours on New Year's Eve, and spent the rest of her time in the back mountain, researching explosives in a cave that she had temporarily dug out. She wanted to develop a type of gunpowder that could be projected over long distances.

Su Yuntian's gunpowder required living people to die in order to detonate the target, which greatly limited its effectiveness on the battlefield.

No one in the Southern Shu camp knew how to make explosives, let alone use them in wars between nations.

After learning that Dongyue possessed gunpowder capable of leveling mountains, the morale of the Southern Shu army was greatly diminished. After all, if even high mountains could be leveled, what chance did they, mere flesh and blood, have?

Mu Jin refused to let Ren, Su Yi, and Mu Yan go into the cave with her to research gunpowder. Therefore, the two grown men could only sit under the shade of a tree outside the cave entrance every day and stare at the entrance.

Muffled explosions could be heard from the cave entrance from time to time. At first, the two grown men would rush into the cave in a panic.

They didn't know how many times they had to wait until Mu Jin repeatedly assured them that she would control the dosage and wouldn't be harmed, and that they were not allowed to enter the cave, before they finally left the cave entrance.

"How did Ajin know how gunpowder was made?" Su Yi asked Mu Yan with a question in his mind.

Mu Yan said, "They said they saw it in a book."

Su Yi raised an eyebrow: "If it's recorded in the book, how come I've never seen it?"

"Since you know that Ajin doesn't want to tell others, why don't you go and ask her?"

Mu Yan mistakenly thought that Su Yi was doubting Mu Jin. After thinking about it, he disliked Su Yi's way of talking about Mu Jin and couldn't help but say, "Even if she lied to you, it was just because she was afraid you would be jealous."

"Jealous?" Su Yi raised an eyebrow and said, "What do you mean by that!"

"Su Yuntian's gunpowder was made by Nangong Ce, which means that the gunpowder must have come from Nangong Shenzong."

"You mean, Ah Jin's gunpowder recipe was given to her by Nangong Min?"

"Yes! That Sect Master Nangong is deeply in love with our Ah Jin." Mu Yan seemed still displeased because Su Yi had just doubted his younger sister, and disregarded Su Yi's current status as emperor, deliberately saying this.

"I heard that Nangong Min was tricked by his grandmother and cousin, which forced him to separate from Ajin. Otherwise, our Ajin would already be the wife of Sect Leader Nangong by now."

Su Yi wasn't annoyed by Mu Yan's words; he simply smiled faintly and said, "No!"

Mu Yan turned his head to look at him: "What can't you do?"

Su Yi looked at the cave entrance with tenderness in his eyes and said softly, "With me here, A Jin will never become some kind of sect leader's wife. She will only ever be my wife, my queen, my empress."

He turned to look at Mu Yan and smiled, "No matter what my identity is, A Jin will always be my wife, Su Yi's wife."

There was another loud bang at the entrance of the cave, and another explosion. This time the explosion was louder than before, thick smoke billowed out, and a lot of sand and rocks at the entrance were shaken off.

"Ah Jin!"

The two grown men felt a sudden pang in their hearts and quickly ran into the cave, only to see Mu Jin running out of the cave entrance. Her face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and even the ends of her long hair were singed from the frying.

"Pah!" Mu Jin spat on the ground beside her as she ran out of the cave. At this moment, not only was her whole body covered in sand and dust, but even her mouth was covered in it. She looked quite disheveled.

Seeing Su Yi and Mu Yan rush over to help her with a worried expression, she revealed a set of bright white teeth, coughed twice, and said, "I'm sorry, I put in too much this time. I didn't expect it to be so powerful."

Su Yi brushed the dust off Mu Jin's clothes and wiped her face with a handkerchief, saying, "It's too dangerous. Let me go in with you."

Mu Yan also helped Mu Jin brush the dust off her head and tied her hair up, saying, "Yes, His Majesty is right. Let us go in and keep you company. If anything happens, we can take care of each other."

Mu Jin smiled and said, "Whether you go in or not will not affect the success or failure of my gunpowder research. Having the two of you standing next to me will only distract me."

Su Yi knew that Mu Jin said this only because she was afraid that if there was any danger, it would affect them. She was doing this entirely because she was prepared to sacrifice herself at any time.

Su Yi wanted to say something more, but Mu Jin interrupted him: "Don't worry, I've roughly calculated the dosage. Whether it succeeds or not, we'll know once we go out and try it."

After saying that, Mu Jin turned around and walked back into the cave, but Su Yi grabbed her arm and said, "Let's rest for a while."

Mu Yan also comforted Mu Jin from the side: "Yes, Jin, rest outside for a while and eat something before going in. You've been busy inside all day."

Looking at the two men in front of her who cared about her, Mu Jin couldn't help but smile.

"I'm just going in to get the gunpowder that's been developed. We'll take it to that deserted mountain area outside and try it out later."

Having said that, Su Yi and Mu Yan couldn't very well stop them, but they still insisted on going in with Mu Jin.

Mu Jin didn't stop them and followed them into the cave.

Inside the cave, Mu Jin opened a stone chamber and pointed to several crates of powder on the ground, saying, "Now that you're all here, help me move these things out of the cave."

Without saying a word, Su Yi and Mu Yan picked up the boxes of gunpowder raw materials that Mu Jin had pointed to on the ground and carried them out of the cave. After several trips back and forth, they quickly carried the raw materials for making gunpowder out of the cave.

Outside the cave, Su Yi and Mu Yan watched as Mu Jin picked up powdery substances from three different boxes and poured them into bamboo tubes in different proportions.

Mu Yan asked, "Ah Jin, what's in here?"

Mu Jin replied, "Charcoal, saltpeter, and sulfur."

Mu Yan asked incredulously, "These three ordinary things can actually move mountains?"

Mu Jin smiled slightly and said, "I'll show you something new later."

Mu Jin quickly bundled the assembled cannons together, tied the fuses together, and placed them one by one into two baskets.

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