Douluo Continent: Awakening the Original Martial Soul at the Start.

Chapter 8 One sulfur, two nitrates, three carbons, a little sugar, and Big Ivan

Half a month later, Li Fei was practicing Su Zhen, a basic kendo technique, in his own training ground, holding a 300-pound tungsten steel rod.

Li Fei's strength of 300 jin is close to that of a powerful second-ring Soul Master. It is conceivable that Li Fei's physical fitness has reached the level of a Great Soul Master. As long as he trains for another year and his mental strength is sufficiently refined, becoming the first Soul Master in a thousand years is not a dream.

As a transmigrator, Li Fei was not pedantic and only thought about using his martial spirit to fight. Therefore, he planned to use swordsmanship to fight when his martial spirit's attack power was not strong in the early stages.

Sword techniques in this world all involve soul skills, which are basically controlled by aristocratic families and sects. Even if the Li family is rich, it is difficult to buy them. They can only keep practicing what was called basic sword techniques in their previous life, and also collect some combat sword techniques from the army to enhance their future combat capabilities.

Li Fan, standing next to him, also held an iron rod, but it weighed only 200 jin (approximately 100 kg). He was practicing the rod techniques collected by Li Fei, and he wielded it with great force. Every time the rod struck, a sound of air being cut could be heard, showing that his strength was not weak.

"Go, Li Fan! Your brother wields a 300-pound iron rod without complaining of being tired. You only weigh 200 pounds, so you can't train for less time than him!"

Feeling the soreness in his arm, Li Fan kept encouraging himself, his eyes filled with admiration, respect and envy as he looked at Li Fei.

Training continued until noon. After the two finished eating the nutritious meal prepared by Shen Chenyan, Li Fei asked Li Fan to take a medicinal bath, while he went to a small room in the northwest corner of the manor.

Pushing open the door, a small workbench comes into view, upon which are placed some grinding and filtering equipment, along with a considerable amount of black powder and round iron balls.

"After all, I was a student at a top university in my past life. Even though I've returned all my knowledge to school, I still remember the saying 'One sulfur, two saltpeter, three charcoal, add a little sugar, Ivan the Great' very clearly."

"This time we'll definitely succeed!"

With a confident expression, Li Fei skillfully stuffed the gunpowder into the iron ball, added some iron filings, picked up the white sugar that had been prepared beforehand, and poured in twice the amount of gunpowder—the result of his numerous tests!

Carefully sealing the thin iron ball, Li Fei weighed it in his hand, made two more, and then quickly went to the training ground, looking at the scarecrow targets in the distance.

He poured his soul power into the iron ball, compressed it into a single point, and threw it forcefully near the scarecrow. The soul power instantly exploded, igniting the gunpowder inside.

"boom!"

A huge explosion resounded throughout the Li residence, causing the ground to tremble slightly. Li Fei lost his footing and fell to the ground. A strong smell of gunpowder wafted over him. Li Fei looked around and saw that the explosion had left a crater two meters in diameter. The scarecrow had also disappeared, replaced by grass clippings scattered all over the ground.

A figure darted over from a distance; it was Li Ming, who had heard the sound.

"Fei'er, are you alright?!" Li Ming used the Soul King's speed to its fullest extent, and in two flashes he was next to Li Fei, asking worriedly.

"I'm fine!" Li Fei shook his head, pointed to the large crater in the distance, and said excitedly, "Dad, I did it!"

"Success?! It's the bomb you mentioned before!" Li Ming said uncertainly.

"Yes!" Li Fei nodded frantically. "Dad, show me how powerful this thing is, so I can have a reference!"

Li Fei's knowledge was still limited, and he couldn't estimate the power of the soul power hybrid grenade he made. He needed Li Ming to provide a reference.

"Okay, then throw one out and let me see!" Li Ming also wanted to see the power of the weapon made by Li Fei, which could actually blast a two-meter crater.

"Dad, watch closely!" Li Fei said confidently, channeling his soul power into the homemade grenade and throwing it into the distance. With a loud "boom," a huge crater appeared on the spot, and iron filings flew in all directions at an invisible speed.

One of the fragments hit Li Ming directly nearby, leaving a sizable bullet hole.

Beads of cold sweat dripped from his forehead. Li Ming mechanically turned to look at Li Fei, stammering, "Fei'er... this thing... really... you... made it..."

"Hmm!" Li Ming asked seriously, "Dad, how powerful is this grenade?!"

"Your dad has seen Soul Saints before. This thing's power should be comparable to a Soul Saint's ordinary Soul Skill. A Soul Saint would likely be seriously injured if caught off guard!"

Li Ming took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, thought for a moment, and gave an answer based on his memory of the strength.

"A mere Soul Saint, yet he's no match for Tang San's hidden weapons. What a failure!" Li Fei muttered under his breath, somewhat annoyed. A completely mechanical hidden weapon, the Buddha's Fury Lotus, could kill several Soul Saints, yet his own grenade, filled with gunpowder and soul power, was less powerful.

He was also curious about what kind of mechanism could allow the power of a small blade to kill a Soul Saint. Even if the blade was made of the best material, if the kinetic energy was insufficient when it was fired, it would not be able to hurt anyone!

It's no wonder they're a martial arts sect; they always have some knowledge that's hard to understand.

"Fei'er, what did you say?!" Li Ming asked in confusion, not having heard clearly.

"It's nothing, just a little disappointed!" Li Fei quickly shook his head.

"You're disappointed with this power? If you prepared several of these at once, even a Soul Saint would probably be blown to bits!" Li Ming looked bewildered, somewhat unable to understand his son's thinking.

"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore! I'll give you the recipe in a bit. Have someone you trust make some, just in case."

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away. With this, we can go a little deeper when we go to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt for spirit rings."

Seeing that Li Fei was unwilling to say more, Li Ming did not ask any further questions.

The two arrived at the workshop. Li Fei wrote down the method for making hand grenades and gave it to Li Ming, along with some instructions on how to preserve gunpowder. He then returned to his bedroom to continue researching ways to open up the meridians.

"The grenade problem is solved. Now I can focus on training and research to prepare for the Soul Hunt a year from now."

With grenades as a powerful weapon, many dangers in the early stages could be avoided, allowing Li Fei to focus on cultivation and researching how to become stronger.

Li Ming took the manufacturing method and found several craftsmen. Following Li Fei's instructions, he had them start manufacturing. He personally handled the final filling step. The craftsmen didn't know the proportions either. In the end, they not only produced some small ones, but also several with a diameter of one meter.

After storing the grenades in his storage space, Li Ming brought over all the craftsmen's families and had them do odd jobs on the manor.

The craftsmen knew why Li Ming did this, and they all swore they would never reveal the grenade manufacturing process.

(End of this chapter)