Chapter 131: Chapter 127: Nitre Mine and Flying Birds

"Falcons?" Lü Xiuning’s interest was piqued the moment he heard the word "bird."

"Yeah. There aren’t many trees over there, so it doesn’t look like a place they’d roost, but they attacked us anyway. It’s so unfair!" Zhao Jingjing said, an indignant expression on her face as she talked about the flock of falcons.

"Some creatures consider the area around their habitat to be their territory. It’s normal for them to attack any being that wanders into it. Let’s go take a look." Lü Xiuning waved his hand, signaling for everyone to pick up the pace.

Two kilometers later, the forest began to thin.

Ahead, a stretch of bare, grayish-white mountainside came into view.

The sound of birds chirping gradually filled the air.

The ground underfoot had also turned to grayish-white rock.

"Natural nitre should be white or grayish-white." Teacher Zheng crouched down, used a tool to chip off a small piece of stone, then took a carefully wrapped alcohol lamp from her backpack and lit it with a lighter.

The alcohol lamp had, of course, been scavenged from a laboratory.

WHOOSH~

A bright yellow flame rose from the alcohol lamp.

Teacher Zheng used a pair of tweezers to pick up a grayish-white stone fragment, held it over the alcohol lamp to heat it, and explained, "If this is nitre, it will produce a purplish-blue smoke when burned. This is the simplest way to identify it."

"In ancient times, when nitre production techniques were primitive, they would pour a lime mixture over human and animal waste and collect the resulting potassium nitrate crystals. The yield from that method is too low. Even at the academy, we don’t advocate for it. It’s better to spend that time cultivating Soul Beasts."

"Besides nitre, you also need charcoal and sulfur to make explosives. And that’s just the ancient method for making black powder."

"Black powder was gradually phased out in the 19th century, replaced by detonators and TNT, which are the explosive materials used in modern firearms, rockets, and missiles."

"In the modern era, Western scientists invented even more powerful explosives like mercury fulminate, nitrocellulose, guncotton, nitroglycerin, TNT, picric acid, smokeless powder... and so on. But those involve complex chemical reactions. We have to start with the basics."

As Teacher Zheng was explaining, the grayish-white stone in her hand began to emit a purplish-blue smoke.

She nodded, dropped the stone on the ground to extinguish it, and said, "It’s definitely nitre. The next problem is figuring out how to mine it and transport it back to the academy."

By now, they had explored in all four cardinal directions from the academy, but they had only found nitre here, in this eastern mountain range.

Hearing this, Lü Xiuning said without a second thought, "If we want to mine the nitre here, or any ore from other regions for that matter, we have to figure out the Insect-man’s method for cultivating insects. We can use massive numbers of them to transport the nitre and other materials."

"Otherwise, relying on just us and our Soul Beasts is far too inefficient." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"So, Teacher Lü, you were prepared for this all along? Was this all part of your plan? Lü-JoJo!" Lin Tianhe’s eyes widened in shock.

"Ahem, cut the cringe. This was a plan that Dean Wu and I came up with together." Lü Xiuning shot him a speechless glance.

As they spoke, a series of sharp cries echoed from the edge of the woods.

Immediately after, the sound of flapping wings filled the air—FLAP FLAP FLAP.

One by one, falcons flew out from the woods on either side. Covered in brass-colored feathers, they had sharp beaks and piercing gazes. Though only fifty centimeters long, their wingspans stretched to one and a half meters. They hovered in mid-air, screeching sharply at Han Ning and the others.

"Ling~"

Seeing this, the Tree Spirits and Tree Demons standing guard in front of the group immediately formed a circle around the nine people, their bodies glowing with a brilliant green light.

"SCREEE!!!"

Without any warning, the flock of birds beat their wings furiously, and a murky white light began to race across their feathers.

SWISH SWISH SWISH!!

Countless white Light Blades, like sharp arrows, shot out from between the birds’ wings, indiscriminately blanketing the humans and Soul Beasts below.

"Ling!"

Yin Yi let out a sharp cry as a cyan light erupted from her body. She flung her vines toward the birds.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

In an instant, the thick trees and green grass around them erupted in a Frenzied Growth, transforming into bucket-thick vines that formed a curtain wall in front of the group.

The storm of Light Blades struck the vine wall, kicking up a spray of bright motes that quickly dissipated into the air.

The next second, a dense web of smaller vines grew from the thick, dark-green tendrils and shot out at the speed of light.

Although the flock moved extremely fast, some of the relatively weaker falcons were caught off guard, ensnared and tightly bound by the vines, letting out mournful cries.

"Teacher Lü, how’s this? Just as you asked, we caught a group of the smallest ones. They look like fledglings."

Han Ning signaled to Yin Yi, who used her vines to present several tiny, palm-sized birds, bound and helpless, before the group.

"Just calling them ’falcons’ feels a bit strange. Let’s give them a proper name. We’ll call them Copper-Feathered Falcons. Yes, they should be falcons—their wings are very pointed, which is a characteristic feature," Lü Xiuning said, observing the small birds.

"CHIRP! CHIRP!!" The Copper-Feathered Falcons, imprisoned by Yin Yi’s vines, were still struggling ceaselessly, letting out a series of frantic chirps.

"They’ve got quite a temper," Han Ning said, getting a little annoyed by the chirping.

The Copper-Feathered Falcons circling outside the vine wall glowed with a white light, ramming against the barrier as if they had gone mad.

But it was all for naught. The vines generated by Yin Yi were like an impassable chasm, firmly keeping them at bay.

After a pause, Lü Xiuning continued, "They attacked us first, so we need to teach them a lesson. Let’s keep exploring the area and see if we can find any of their eggs. We’ll just take them."

"Teacher Lü, that’s brutal!" Lin Tianhe grimaced.

"We can avoid slaughtering Soul Beasts on a large scale, but for the sake of survival, we have to resort to a few little tricks. I’m no bleeding-heart, nor am I some paragon of virtue. Humanity’s interests come first," Lü Xiuning said with a shrug, his gaze sweeping over the surroundings thoughtfully. "As I recall, falcons usually build their nests on cliffsides. There should be a cliff or a precipice nearby. Jingjing, do you know where it might be?"

Zhao Jingjing thought for a moment and said, "Maybe it’s up ahead? I remember Teacher Li saying that if a large, bare rock face suddenly appears, there’s likely a cliff just beyond it. Should we keep going and see?"

"We can. The Soul Beasts here aren’t too strong. With our abilities, we can afford to press on a bit further." Lü Xiuning nodded, signaling for the group to move forward.

Yin Yi controlled the vines, forming an eggshell-shaped curtain wall around the group. She maintained this posture of Absolute Defense, shielding them as they advanced.

Even now, a steady stream of birds was joining the flock, continuously attacking Yin Yi’s vines.

Some Copper-Feathered Falcons even slammed their bodies directly into the hard vines, breaking their own beaks in the process.