Yamafu Military Affairs

Chapter 252 Alchemist
"Do you still remember the location where the police found the body of the Moon Rabbit Envoy when he died?"

"I have some impression that it should be on the second floor."

Qin Huai walked towards the woodblock prints while talking to Linlang.

They stopped in front of the pile of debris and summoned a gust of wind to blow away the thick dust. The contents of the painting gradually appeared before their eyes:
The king, wearing a crown, stood in the back garden, offering flowers to the lady beside him. On the other side, a vicious wolf was rushing towards the king, with a blazing fire under it, and behind it was an old man in a black robe holding a huge sickle.

Looking at this woodblock print that vaguely implies a mantis stalking a cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, Qin Huai lowered his head and glanced at Linlang.

"You have followed the Moon Rabbit Envoy since you were a child. Have you ever seen this painting?"

"I really can't remember, but the Envoy of God likes ink and brush painting and oil painting. These paintings should not be casually placed in the corner of the hall."

Linlang whispered softly, leaning down to examine the woodblock print carefully.

"Does the Moon Rabbit God have any research on steam machinery technology and alchemy? I think this woodcut has a special meaning."

Hearing Qin Huai's question, Linlang tilted her head slightly and pointed her finger upwards.

"The third floor of the church was once the alchemy room where the angel of God often stayed. There were indeed many bottles and jars and steam machines used for alchemy."

"If that's the case, then it makes sense."

After receiving a positive answer, Qin Huai nodded, and the vague guess in his mind was finally settled.

With his current knowledge of alchemy, referring to the riddle poem in the previous [Alchemical Notes], plus some divergent associations and logical thinking, it is enough for him to decipher the metaphor of this woodcut.

Every image in the painting represents a certain substance.

The king wearing a crown is the easiest to decipher, as he represents "gold". The combination of the king and the woman represents the combination of gold and another metal. It is not known what it is, it could be mercury or something else, but this should represent a piece of gold containing impurities.

And what about the wolf that is about to devour the gold?

This requires us to start with the black-robed old man holding a huge sickle behind it. Based on the image of the old man, his identity is not difficult to infer. He is "Saturn", the god worshipped as the "Black Sun".

In alchemy, the "Black Sun" represents Saturn, which is the embodiment of "lead".

Qin Huai then knew that the wolf, as Saturn's child or prey, had a deep connection with lead.

This reminds us of stibnite, which is often found in lead mines and is shaped like clusters of spears of war. In alchemical reactions, it is extremely aggressive. When it comes into contact with gold, it will dissolve and devour the gold at an alarming rate like a hungry wolf, while excluding impurity metals.

When a white alloy of antimony and gold is obtained, that is, after the wolf eats the king, they are baked and heated, the antimony will evaporate, leaving the purified gold.

The woodcut left by the Moon Rabbit God is not important. What is important is the alchemical equation hidden behind it, which may be related to the subsequent problem-solving ideas and directions.

Looking at this alchemical equation for purifying gold, Qin Huai, who had a physics expertise of 69%, was thinking about something deeper.

"But this purification method is very polluting. Apart from other things, the highly toxic mercury metal vapor, aren't the operators afraid of being poisoned to death?"

Qin Huai touched his chin, thinking that the puzzle of the Moon Rabbit must not be that simple, so he took the initiative to walk towards the second floor to see if he could find any more clues. Linlang saw his movements and followed silently.

"This is where I last saw the Moon Rabbit Envoy. He had no external injuries at the time, and seemed to have fallen asleep suddenly after being extremely tired. The doctor brought by the mounted police performed an autopsy and said that he died suddenly due to cardiac arrest."

"Cardiac arrest? Tell me the symptoms. Are your pupils dilated and cloudy? Is your corpse odor obvious? Is your lungs swollen?"

Linlang recalled for a long time before she spoke slowly.

"Neither. This is also what I discovered at the beginning. At that time, the Lord God's Messenger was lying on the ground in this position, and his body was still warm. He didn't look like a dead person at all."

Linlang was afraid that Qin Huai's associations would not be intuitive enough just by listening to the narration, so she lay on the ground and reproduced the "Moon Rabbit Passing Away" picture.

"Is this gesture corresponding to the four elements?"

Qin Huai's eyes lit up, and he thought of some gestures in alchemy used to determine coordinate positions.

As if to confirm what Qin Huai was thinking, Zero, who had not spoken for a long time, also spoke at the right time: "Master, according to the Four Elements Theory and the Seven-Order Path, the coordinate position referred to by this gesture should be xxx.xxx.xxx, which is the relief stone slab behind you."

Following Zero's words, I looked back and saw a relief stone slab with extremely exquisite patterns, which was obviously made by a master.

At the four corners of the stone slab are lifelike eagles, angels, bulls and lions, and at the central cross position is a depiction of an alchemist with his upper body naked.

As for why he is an alchemist and not any other identity, it is because the man is surrounded by the Holy Grail, Sword, and Pentacle Scepter, which represent the four elements of water, wind, earth, and fire in alchemy.

[Secret compartment left by the Moon Rabbit]: After passing the test, there is a chance to obtain the legacy left by the "Moon Rabbit" to this world.

Note: There is a self-destruct device inside. If it is forcibly dismantled by force, it will trigger the alchemical matrix [Annihilation]. The power of [Annihilation] is comparable to that of a high-performance red mercury bomb, enough to blow objects within a three-meter radius to pieces.

Qin Huai walked forward and took a closer look, then knocked on the stone wall next to him, and immediately a thudding sound was heard.

"Sir, what did you find?"

Linlang looked at Qin Huai groping on the relief stone slab and moved closer with light steps.

"Well, the Moon Rabbit Envoy's last gesture indicated a location, which is here. He left something behind this mechanism, and now we have to think about how to crack this mechanism."

Qin Huai studied it and found that the eagle angel, bull and lion on the four corners of the stone slab, as well as the Holy Grail sword, star coin scepter, were all raised buttons that could be pressed.

Looking at the stone carving mechanism that seemed to have no rules and he had no idea where to start, Qin Huai couldn't help but think of the woodcut on the first floor.

"Since they are all puzzles left by the Moon Rabbit God, there should be some connection between them."

Qin Huai recalled the image elements represented by these reliefs, and gradually came up with the answer in his mind.

Since the woodcut below is trying to express an equation for using stibnite to purify gold, the most likely choice here should be an image representing gold.

In alchemy, not only does the king symbolize gold, but the lion, as the king of beasts, is also often used to represent gold!

Click~
The lion relief was pressed down hard, and the sound of mechanism connection and gear rotation came from behind the stone slab. The stone slab broke into four petals and was then sent out by the conveyor belt.

"Is this a box? Or a block of metal?"

Looking at the hexahedron that was completely integrated without any gaps, Qin Huai picked it up and shook it. The feedback immediately confirmed what it was.

It's hollow, like a box.

"Why did the Lord God's Messenger leave such an iron box? It looks like it cannot be opened yet?" Linlang looked at the iron box and was a little confused.

"Perhaps the things inside can answer your questions."

Qin Huai weighed the iron box in his hand. It was neither light nor heavy. Combined with the muffled sound coming from inside when he shook it before, it was not difficult to infer the type of items stored inside.

It should be something like a book or account book. Could it be that it contains information about sinful transactions that could subvert the upper echelons of the Papal State?

"Let's go. I have an idea and need to borrow the alchemy room here."

Stroking the smooth surface of the box, Qin Huai walked up the stairs to the alchemy room at the top of the temple and called on Feng Shui to clean up the workshop that was covered with dust and cobwebs.

"What do you want to do? Cut it with a chain saw? Or melt a small hole with fire?"

"No, try the steam wrap first."

Qin Huai shook his head and took out two cans of liquid metal from his personal space.

Mercury and Tianrui.

Put the black box into a sealed transparent glass box, then pour mercury metal into it. Qin Huai used Canglan's high control over liquids to cover the surface of the glass box with a layer of fiery red slurry.

The melting point of glass is much higher than the boiling point of mercury, so Qin Huai is not worried about the risk of leakage of highly toxic mercury vapor.

As the heat continues to transfer, silvery-white mist envelopes the black box, like countless stars floating around a black hole.

But the black box still didn't respond.

"Mercury won't work."

Qin Huai frowned, gathered up the mercury in the glass box, took it out, and replaced it with the blood-red Tianrui.

Liquid Tianrui is flammable and explosive, and cannot be converted into three states by heating. However, the hermit has his own clever plan. He put a ball of highly compressed wind into a glass box and began to use [Wind Control] to control it precisely.

The Water God Tianwu and the Mountain God Luwu in the Niwan Palace also put down the Kaiming Beasts in their hands and began to focus on controlling the wind to continuously subdivide, lift, and float the liquid Tianrui.
I don’t know how long it took, until beads of sweat appeared on Qin Huai’s forehead, and the blood-red Tianrui steam completely enveloped the black box.

Suddenly, intricate patterns appeared on the surface of the black box, and the Tianrui steam, which had turned into tiny droplets, slowly dissipated and poured into it.

Snap!
The hexahedron blossomed like a flower bud, and the two ancient books were slowly lifted up by the bottom of the box, away from the remaining heavenly auspicious signs.

The black wave representing a glimpse of beauty fluctuated violently, forming several lines of large characters in front of Qin Huai's eyes.

【Gospels (original)】

category:? ? ?
quality:? ? ?
A relic from the old era, it has the same origin as the [Alchemy Notebook], and some of its contents were copied from the [Ice Sea Fragments].

Reading this book thoroughly will allow you to learn the dragon language that can help you understand the true secrets of alchemy. People whose Tianrui blood concentration is not high enough cannot fully comprehend all the dragon languages.

Note 1: Please refer to the ancient Latin and ancient Hebrew annotations of our ancestors to study the dragon characters that contain special powers.

Note 2: The original old books in the Messiah's [Sanctuary] are just a prank by a supreme being. This is the true face of the Gospel.

【Revelation (original)】

category:? ? ?
quality:? ? ?
A relic from the old era, it has the same origin as the [Alchemy Notebook], and some of its contents were copied from the [Ice Sea Fragments].

It contains the drawing methods, materials and requirements of most of the alchemical inscription matrices that have appeared, as well as a complete set of drawings of mechanical creations such as Seraph Armor, Omega, and Steam Chariot.

Note 1: Please use Longwen to study this book.

Note 2: After additions, deletions and repairs by a certain supreme being, reading this book can greatly improve mechanical alchemy technology and raise the level of alchemical expertise.

"My goodness, who is this Moon Rabbit Envoy? How did he get this thing?!"

Qin Huai frowned and fiddled with the Gospel in his hand.

He could understand the ancient Latin and ancient Hebrew on it, but he was powerless against the distorted and crawling "dragon characters".

Qin Huai quickly flipped through the two ancient books, looking at the handwriting and narrative style that were exactly the same as those in the "Alchemy Notes", and took out the bronze scroll for comparison.

"My Lord, is this what the Moon Rabbit Envoy wants to keep?"

Linlang stared at the dragon characters on the pages of the book for a while, feeling dazzled and a little dizzy. She quickly shifted her gaze and asked Qin Huai softly.

"Well, but this thing is harmful to ordinary people. Maybe it was to protect ordinary people that he left these puzzles behind."

It is indeed in the spirit of an alchemist to ensure that the right knowledge reaches the right people.

To be honest, if Qin Huai did not have sufficient alchemy knowledge as a foundation, coupled with the key information provided by Jinghong Yipian and Linlang, he would never have imagined that the Moon Temple, which had been abandoned for many years, actually had such a treasure.

I can’t even imagine it, let alone how to get it.

Just as Qin Huai was feeling emotional, several dragon symbols on the spines of three ancient scrolls from the same source lit up one after another, as if it was a pre-set program. The dragon symbols formed a simple alchemical matrix, and rainbow light rushed into Qin Huai's body along the connection between his palm and the ancient scroll.

Before the three beasts in the Niwan Palace could react, Qin Huai’s eyes suddenly went dark.

The world is spinning.

When he opened his eyes again, Qin Huai was surprised to find that he had appeared above the endless ice sea.

Under my feet was the frozen sea, and above my head was the Milky Way that stretched across the sky. The huge black shadow of a whale was swimming under the ice. On the sea level of the distant icy sea, a huge white moon was rising slowly. Half of the moon rose above the ice, and the other half was still below the sea level. The craters on the moon were clearly visible. The ice reflected the shadow of half of the white moon, which formed a perfect circle with the half of the white moon in the sky.

The lonely island was located in the moonlight, and the reefs around the island were full of thick brass pillars. The dark blue sea surface, like the abyss, reflected the mottled and distorted characters on the surface of the copper pillars, like dragons and snakes.

"Those are the Frozen Sea Fragments? Those three books brought me here? But what is that island?"

Qin Huai had a strong ability to accept things. After thinking about it, he exhaled a breath of white air, summoned the fiery red liquid to keep warm, and began to walk towards the island in big strides.

And in a place that Qin Huai had not noticed, the [Tianrui] in his status bar had quietly turned on at some point, emitting a faint golden light.

(End of this chapter)