Wang Shouzhe spoke, and with a swipe of his storage ring, a strange elongated object appeared in his hand. Its structure resembled a bird gun, but the muzzle flared open like a trumpet.

"Fourth Uncle~ What is this weapon?" Wang Zongwei’s spirit lifted; he knew his uncle’s craftsmanship was always extraordinary.

"Let’s test it in the courtyard." Wang Shouzhe led Zongwei and Ruotong to the courtyard and instructed the household generals to bring some wooden stakes for setup.

Then he raised the shotgun, didn’t even aim, and casually fired in that direction.

"Boom!"

It sounded like a flash of lightning, as countless tiny steel pellets burst out in a blunderbuss pattern, covering the wooden stakes several meters away. Several stakes were blasted back, riddled with pits and holes.

"This...," Wang Luotong’s eyes tightened, shocked by the scene. Her cultivation had now reached the eighth layer of the Qi Refining Realm, qualifying her as a minor expert.

Yet she realized that if she were closer, even the best use of Willow Catkin Body Technique wouldn’t allow her to instantly escape the shotgun’s range.

"I brought a hundred of these shotguns," Wang Shouzhe said, "along with ten trained clan soldiers. They’ll train with the patrol team and defend against loose cultivators, serving as a substantial deterrent."

"Fourth Uncle, this weapon is terrifying, isn’t it?" Wang Zongwei wiped off cold sweat, "If a patrol team of clan soldiers fires together, even a cultivator of the High Tier Qi Refining Realm would be doomed."

"It’s not that terrifying." Wang Shouzhe shook his head. "This shotgun is potent at close range, easy for ordinary clan soldiers to use, and poses a significant threat to common Qi Refining Realm cultivators. However, it has many drawbacks; after each shot, it needs to be reloaded with black powder and steel pellets." 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

As a transmigrator, how could Wang Shouzhe not consider firearms? Yet crafting firearms was no small feat, starting with gunpowder. Fortunately, in this world, alchemists were prosperous, and gunpowder had long been invented.

However, gunpowder was mainly used in alchemy furnace fire and mining. It’s said that some artifact refiners once tried to make it into firearms but soon gave up, mainly because the power was too small.

Wang Shouzhe initially wanted to create advanced sniper rifles or the like, but any high-tech equipment needs a lot of preliminary technology. A good firearm requires precise lathes, and in the Wang Family’s tech innovation lab, they were only beginning to develop basic hydraulic lathes.

Thus, they could only create a simple shotgun for the clan soldiers, enhancing the combat power of the lower ranks.

Regarding steam engines, Wang Shouzhe had long wanted to develop them. The principle seemed simple, and the craftsmen in the research lab understood it, but every step in the actual development process was fraught with difficulties.

It would probably take decades to produce a basic steam engine.

In scientific research, many things require immense time for experimentation and accumulation.

Even producing a small steel pellet in mass quantities was challenging.

The shotgun shells used could only be regarded as iron pellets, which were prone to rust and varied in shape and size due to the crude manufacturing process. The iron was melted into slurry, sprayed out, and rapidly cooled by air and water to make iron pellets, resulting in questionable quality.

Only those of suitable size were selected for fine refinement by craftsmen for use in ball bearings.

The remaining steel pellets could only be used as shotgun ammunition.

Without a substantial industrial base, even the production of those crude shotguns required developing flintlock technology, which consumed considerable time and resources from the craftsmen.

On average, each one cost more than ten Qian Gold.

This price could buy a quality warhorse or two attractive maidservants.

The only two benefits were compensating for the lower-level manpower deficiency in the Wang Family’s combat power and laying a foundational knowledge base for future firearms.

...

Soon, the clan soldiers that Wang Shouzhe brought were integrated into the ranch patrol team. The other patrol team members, after simple training, quickly mastered the shotgun.

This thing was even simpler than a crossbow; you just aimed in a general direction and pulled the trigger. However, after firing a shot, reloading was very cumbersome.

Time flew by quickly, and more than ten days passed.

As spring became more intense and after two spring rains, the 30,000 acres of pasture in the Celestial Crane Ranch were lush with green, complementing the blue sky, creating a serene and delightful scene.

Wang Feng!

At seventeen, she was a young female household general, a loyal member of the Wang Family through generations. Raised with Lower Grade C talent, she received the Wang Family’s meticulous training from a young age.

Her training standards almost matched those for the direct vein disciples and included practicing the Wang’s Profound Origin Technique and other family inheritance techniques.

From a young age, she worked hard, not only advancing quickly in cultivation but also excelling in her clan academy studies.

Currently, she wore soft yet sturdy fierce beast hide armor, rode a chestnut warhorse, and her cloak fluttered behind her, presenting a striking figure.

She was accompanied by eight carefully selected clan soldiers, all fully armed, and they carried the recently issued shotguns slung over their backs.

On this fair and sunny day, Wang Feng led the ranch patrol team on a safety patrol mission, primarily targeting rogue cultivators from the direction of Huangfu Ranch.

Typically, those rogue cultivators would disrupt at night and leave in the gloom. In broad daylight, unless they had special confidence, they wouldn’t dare approach.

Brother Murong.

Among the loose cultivators, they were a renowned pair.

Not yet forty, they already had the cultivation of the seventh layer of the Qi Refining Realm, making them standouts among loose cultivators. Most importantly, the brothers had experienced a special opportunity to learn a unique body technique named Xunfeng Wind Flash.

When deploying this body technique, their speed was so fast that even similar-level loose cultivators couldn’t catch them. Even those one or two tiers higher couldn’t match their speed. Just a few months ago, they caused trouble at the Celestial Crane Ranch.

They even toyed with the more powerful Wang Luotong.

Although Wang Luotong had reached the eighth layer of the Qi Refining Realm and practiced the family inheritance technique ’Willow Catkin Body Technique’, the technique focused on unpredictability and was highly effective in close combat.

However, in a chase, its speed was far inferior to Xunfeng Wind Flash.

On this day, they dared to cross the border, assuming that the intelligence indicated Wang Shouzhe had left and that Wang Xiaohan, the Spirit Platform Realm ancestor guarding Qianma Town, would be occupied by a Spirit Platform Realm rogue cultivator hired by the Huangfu Family.

Their goal wasn’t simply to damage a few acres but to injure some farmers already cutting the first batch of grass, causing panic at the Celestial Crane Ranch and making the farmers too fearful to work.

Alongside them, six or seven other groups of loose cultivators were also taking action. However, the Murong brothers were considered the main force for completing the task.

At the edge of the vast pasture, the Murong brothers unexpectedly encountered Wang Feng’s patrol team.

"Hehehe, it’s that pretty girl," the Murong brothers said, advancing instead of retreating, intending to amuse themselves with their superior body technique.

Their speed was rapid, making it challenging for ordinary crossbow arrows to hit them, and they advanced and retreated freely.

They moved with the body technique like sweeping wind through the fields, faster than galloping horses, while mischievously laughing: "Miss Wang Feng, we meet again. Come, come, let your Murong brothers play with you~"

"Murong brothers!"

Wang Feng’s expression tightened, and she angrily said, "You are audacious. Do you not fear the Wang Family’s retribution by offending us so?"

"Hehe, retribution?" The Murong brothers rapidly approached, stopping brazenly several meters before the patrol team, laughing sinisterly, "No matter how strong your Wang Family is, you’re just a small dominator in Changning Guard. This task will earn us two thousand Qian Gold. Afterwards, in this vast world, where can’t we roam?"

This is one reason Wang Shouzhe always disliked loose cultivators. They had no roots or ties, always entertaining the thought of ’whatever, I’ll just move elsewhere’, and were therefore untrustworthy.

...