As the senior brother of the Thunder and Fire Department, he could naturally tell at a glance that the injuries on Kong Xiangdong were all caused by explosions.
Especially that gunpowder smell, even after Kong Xiangdong had a hot bath, it was still very obvious.
"What happened? Did you use the Thunder Bomb?" Jing Rou asked.
"Yes!" Zhao Ya nodded, then looked at Jing Rou with a half-smile.
"Senior Brother, your Thunder Bomb is really a surprise!"
Jing Rou chuckled, "I was just worried that you would run into some difficult situation after you left, so I gave you those enhanced Thunder Bombs. How was it? Powerful enough?"
"Powerful indeed, truly worthy of being a product of the Thunder and Fire Department of the Mechanical Sect, simply too powerful!" Zhao Ya gave a thumbs up, sincerely praising.
"Of course!" Jing Rou raised his head proudly, saying with great confidence.
"In the Thunder and Fire Department, we have a saying, the amount of explosives is the only standard for measuring justice and truth."
"There is nothing that a fully-loaded Thunder Bomb can’t solve; if there is, then use two more!"
At this, Jing Rou’s face was full of devout fanaticism.
Zhao Ya couldn’t help but smile wryly, then recounted the whole incident.
When he mentioned an unknown giant beast lurking beneath a hillside by the Wuyang Sea, Jing Rou’s eyes lit up, and he started rubbing his fists excitedly.
"Where’s that hill? I have over a dozen enhanced Thunder Bombs with me, and if that’s not enough, I also carry a few pounds of gunpowder and can make more anytime."
"Do you want to blow up that hill to force out that giant creature?"
Looking at the eager Jing Rou, both Zhao Ya and Kong Xiangdong fell into silence.
Suddenly, Kong Xiangdong felt that compared to these two, he was really quite normal!
If anyone dares to call me Kong the Madman again, I will definitely lose my temper with them!
After all, who carries a dozen pounds of gunpowder anyway!
And who casually talks about blowing up a hill—can a normal person do that?
Luckily, I was not impolite to these two earlier, otherwise, I might have gone up in the air with this brothel right now!
Not mentioning the trembling Kong Xiangdong, Zhao Ya shook his head helplessly.
"No need, Senior Brother, anyway, we didn’t suffer any loss this time, let’s give that giant creature a chance to reform, and we can go find it when we have time next time!"
"Alright, the preparation this time was indeed a bit rushed. Next time I’ll get the Mountain-Opening Cannon from the Celestial Craft Department specifically for quarrying, and it will surely teach it an unforgettable lesson." Jing Rou said, his eyebrows dancing with excitement.
To him, such a creature lurking under a mountain and unable to come out was the best target.
No matter how powerful it was, as long as it was flesh and blood, it could not withstand the attack of artillery.
Zhao Ya finally understood why Liang Xin’an’s expression was so strange when he mentioned these fellow members of the Thunder and Fire Department from the Mechanical Sect.
Indeed, the Thunder and Fire Department had achieved remarkable results over the years, and many things they developed were quite handy even for Liang Xin’an.
For example, the Burst Arrow, which almost wiped out all of Zhen Juncheng’s men in one shot, was the handiwork of the Thunder and Fire Department.
But sometimes Liang Xin’an would scornfully say that these Thunder and Fire Department people could only keep blowing things up, and nothing else.
Straightforward and brutal, with no mechanical beauty at all.
In response to this argument, the people from the Thunder and Fire Department were equally disdainful.
In the eyes of these loyal followers of gunpowder, explosions were the most beautiful art.
Fiddling with those crossbows was going against the trend of the times and would eventually be eliminated.
The two sides looked down on each other, which was why Liang Xin’an’s expression was so strange.
After finally persuading the eager Jing Rou to leave, Zhao Ya looked back at the dumbfounded Kong Xiangdong and gave an apologetic smile.
"Sorry, my Senior Brother is just like that."
Kong Xiangdong shook his head, "No need to be so polite. It turns out you two are experts from the Mechanical Sect!"
At this point, there was no need to continue hiding his identity.
Zhao Ya nodded calmly.
"He is, I am not. He is Jing Rou, the senior brother of the Thunder and Fire Department of the Mechanical Sect."
"And I am Zhao Ya, from the Azure Dragon Temple!"
Zhao Ya from the Azure Dragon Temple!
Hearing this name, Kong Xiangdong was initially stunned, then a look of realization appeared on his face.
"No wonder!"
"What? You’ve heard my name?"
"Of course I’ve heard of it. During the North and South Azure Dragon War, you drew the Power of the Azure Dragon into your body and killed Jingping Saint, the man known in the Beyond the World as the most god-like in a century. Later, you unified the North and South Azure Dragon Temples, becoming the youngest Grand Elder in the history of the Azure Dragon Temple. With such a great reputation, even here in the Northern Realm, your name is well-known." Kong Xiangdong remarked.
Zhao Ya hadn’t expected the rumors to become like this.
When did that Jingping Saint become the most god-like man in the Beyond the World in a century?
And how did I become the Grand Elder of the Azure Dragon Temple?
But rumors, they always get more and more exaggerated.
Zhao Ya didn’t mind too much, and slightly nodded, "This time, we came to see what’s going on with the Wuyang Sea and to collect Miracle Creation."
"I didn’t expect that the Old Leader, who was previously acquainted with Senior Brother Jing, has already died, and then we met you, Leader Kong."
"By the way, what do you think about the death of the Old Leader?" Zhao Ya asked.
Upon hearing this, Kong Xiangdong frowned and, after thinking for a moment, said, "The death of the Old Leader is indeed full of oddities. People say he was taken by the Sea Dragon King, but in my opinion, that’s pure nonsense."
"The most likely scenario is that he encountered a sea monster similar to the one we saw today."
Zhao Ya was thoughtful.
In fact, he also didn’t believe in the so-called rumor that the Sea Dragon King took the Old Leader.
Especially after this experience at Lizard Mountain, Zhao Ya discovered that the Wuyang Sea was much more mysterious than he had imagined.
So, it can at least be confirmed that it harbors some creature capable of emitting and absorbing mist.
"So is it true that the Sea Dragon King’s appearances are becoming more frequent now?" Zhao Ya asked again.
"Hmm, if you hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have noticed, but now that you say it, it really seems like it." Kong Xiangdong pondered for a moment before replying.
Zhao Ya then asked in detail about the situation around the Wuyang Sea, and Kong Xiangdong naturally told him everything he knew.
After asking, Zhao Ya stood up.
"It’s getting late today, and you’ve had a long day, so get some rest. I’ll come back tomorrow."
"Young Hero Zhao, why not stay here, save you the trouble of running back and forth?" Kong Xiangdong suggested.
But Zhao Ya firmly refused.
The reason....
He was truly a bit intimidated by those bold women.
So the next day, Zhao Ya indeed arrived at the brothel early in the morning.
After a night’s rest, Kong Xiangdong was in much better shape, and when Zhao Ya arrived, he took out two small jars he had prepared in advance.
"Actually, with your expertise in the Poison Dao, Young Hero Zhao, my little tricks aren’t worth showing off; it’s just that there was a layer of paper window that hadn’t been broken."
Then Kong Xiangdong opened one of the jars, "This is the wine I gave to Yang Zhan. You probably already noticed that it contains something that isn’t poisonous by itself, but when combined with another substance, it can interfere with people’s perception."
"This thing isn’t particularly mysterious and is quite easy to make; its only drawback is that it’s hard to find outside the Wuyang Sea."
"In short, it’s actually derived from a kind of bizarre shell picked up from the beach."
"A bizarre shell?"
"Exactly."
As he spoke, Kong Xiangdong carefully took out a white jade small box, only the size of a fist, and very exquisite in shape.
When the lid was lifted, a shell was placed inside.
The shell was about the size of an infant’s palm, its surface sparkling as if embedded with countless diamonds, dazzling when touched by light.
But this sensation lasted only for a moment, and then the shell magically vanished right before Zhao Ya’s eyes...