Ximen Chang looked at the small embroidered satchel and wasn’t sure what to say. This had been given to him by another disciple when he went out on a mission once.

Most disciples in their Zhen Yan Sect focused on refinement, medical skills, and other supplementary arts so their fighting skills weren’t much to speak of. People like him who focused on cultivating their sword arts were rare exceptions. At the same time, on missions, the others would rely on them to forge ahead while they supported from the side. It was a system that had grown over the years and worked well for all the people involved.

As a result, it was common for him to go on missions but rather rare to go on them alone. That time had been one of the rare occasions when he did. As such, he didn’t think it was strange when one of the other disciples rushed after him, barely catching up to him at the gate, and handed him this embroidered satchel. It took him a few years to realize that, most likely, there had been a little more to that gesture than worry about one of the few sword cultivators they had in the sect.

Well, personal feelings aside, what she had given him was a set of what their Zhen Yan Sect called ‘explosive stones’. They were stones that had been coated with a powder mixture which caused a small explosion upon impact. The explosion wasn’t strong and could hardly even qualify as an attack but they worked nicely as a distraction.

For the disciples of the Zhen Yan Sect, an item like that was often worth more than actually damaging ones. After all, if they found themselves in a situation where they knew they couldn’t win due to their own limited strength and experience, then the answer to that conundrum wasn’t to fight it out despite that but to create an opportunity to run away. Distractions worked wonders for that.

Of course, the same wasn’t true for Ximen Chang so he had never really used them. From the whole set, only one or two were missing which he had handed out to other disciples on later missions. Now though, maybe these things could play a role in their current situation.

“These don’t have much power by themselves but there are a dozen of them and they should make for a good starting point. At the very least, we could use them to have something else go off or go up in flames, whatever works best.”

Fa Ai Jun nodded along. She was familiar with the items they had in the Zhen Yan Sect and naturally recognized the explosive stones at a glance. She had used them a few times when she was younger but hadn’t had much use for them in the past decades so she hardly ever used them. She could imagine a few scenarios in which they could be useful to blow up the building though.

“In general, we should either prepare something to throw them at or have them placed where we need them and then throw something at them. The impact is the important part. Also, if we place all of them closely together, the strength of the explosion will be slightly higher. Don’t expect miracles though. They’re something the younger disciples use on younger disciples of the other faction, for the most part. They couldn’t even injure a low-level cultivator, I’m afraid, so it all depends on exactly how they are used.”

Baili Chao pursed his lips, regretting that his second disciple wasn’t with them. Don’t even mention that there should have been something more useful among the pile of inventions he tended to hoard in his house and certainly wouldn’t leave without, he probably could have thought of a way to implement this as well.

Elder Baili wasn’t the only person thinking of this. At the side, Shen Lei faintly raised his brows and then turned to look through Luo Lin’s spatial bag, trying to see if there was anything they could make use of. Unfortunately, Luo Lin didn’t leave the sect much either so contrary to Zhi Huan, he had hardly received anything from his second senior martial brother. The few things that had been given to him were of a special nature as well and not really suitable for this situation.

He thought for a moment and then leaned closer, his lips touching Luo Lin’s ear. “How about … we make a quick trip back home and check if your second senior martial brother has anything else in store or at least an idea how to bring this building down?”

Luo Lin hummed and squeezed Shen Lei’s hand. “We’d have to be quick though. There is no telling how much time we’ll have.”

Shen Lei was naturally aware of that, maybe even more so than Luo Lin. “The way back will take hardly any time now that we are familiar with how it works. Let’s go directly to your place, then walk the rest of the way so we won’t be noticed. I’m sure he’ll have something for us, no matter what it might be.”

Luo Lin nodded and then tugged at his lover’s arm. “Then let’s find a room close by to leave.” Anyway, they couldn’t let anyone find out so it was impossible to disappear in front of everyone. They would only let that happen if there was absolutely no other way out and their survival depended on it. For now though, while the overall situation was dire, this specific moment wasn’t more than any other so far.

The two of them quietly sneaked off but, of course, this couldn’t be hidden from the Elders who stood only a few steps away.

Diao Huan glanced at them and then at Elder Baili but since even he didn’t say anything, he finally kept quiet. Anyway, it didn’t seem like he had had anything to add.