Mei Chao Bing wasn’t too surprised so he didn’t say anything else and simply continued to sort through the devices Yan Hong Min had piled up. When he finished with the defensive ones, he looked back up at him. “Alright, these should be really helpful. Could you also some offensive tools?”

Yan Hong Min had actually used the opportunity to sort his things a little so he immediately grabbed some and put them on the table. Seeing as Mei Chao Bing had gone through all the defensive tools and then put them down neat and orderly from the weakest to the strongest, his eyes lit up. It seemed that he should ask him to stay behind one day after this whole mess in the border region was over and help him organize his study. This guy was good at it!

He cleared his throat, not wanting to let on what had just gone through his head. “There are a lot of offensive tools. What exactly are you looking for?”

Mei Chao Bing raised his brows, not sure how to answer that. “Well … what types are there?” He furrowed his brows and rubbed his cheek. “Actually, what is the strongest one you have?”

Yan Hong Min blinked his eyes and pondered. “I guess that depends. Basically, there are two rough types: The ones that you can use to attack one person and the ones that will affect a large area. The former are a bit stronger in how much damage they deal to the person but the others can help you get rid of a large swath of enemies so, overall, you could say they’re stronger.”

Mei Chao Bing pondered. For the younger disciples, the latter might be more useful. They could contend against an enemy or two on their own. But if there was a large group of demonic practitioners swarming them like it had happened to Shen Lei’s group on their way back to the Teng Yong Sect, then they wouldn’t be able to fend off attacks on all sides and fall sooner or later.

“For the younger disciples, let’s pack some more of the latter type. How strong are the attacks they give off? I mean … how much damage could they deal to the people around them?”

Yan Hong Min had already started to look through the offensive tools on the shelves before Mei Chao Bing made his decision and now started handing the tools to him. “Depends, honestly.

“The majority aren’t that strong. Only enough to take out a group of Qi condensation disciples. The area of effect is really large though. Like, when I say ‘a group of disciples’, then what I mean is that you wouldn’t have any trouble dealing with fifty or even a hundred of them. It’s really big.”

Mei Chao Bing nodded. “That sounds like something that would be able to get rid of lots of enemies at once. Also, it might disrupt a big battle very much?” In fact, he noticed how Yan Hong Min had said ‘take out’ instead of ‘injure’. So in other words: Despite the large area of effect, the tools were still able to deal quite a lot of damage.

The longer he thought about it, the more Mei Chao Bing felt that the sect simply wasn’t paying enough attention to this disciple of theirs. He might look like he wasn’t very interested in cultivation and his level might be low considering his generation in the sect but those inventions of his … they might be able to completely change the outcome of the upcoming battle.

Yan Hong Min had no idea that he had been dubbed the savior of the righteous sects in Mei Chao Bing’s mind and simply nodded happily when he realized that his little junior’s lover was really getting it. “They can!

“My Master scolded me for this before but the attacks I include are usually of the flashy type. So imagine loud explosions, glitter everywhere, bright flashes of multi-colored light … I have something of everything!”

Mei Chao Bing nodded. Honestly, this might not seem like much but as long as their disciples were warned but the other side was not, this could give them an advantage. “Then, let’s gather more of those. Also, could you write me a list of which is which? This way, each disciple will know exactly what they’ll get.”

Yan Hong Min nodded eagerly. “Sure!” Honestly, while he loved working on a new invention, he would love it even more if he could see them being used. And now, he had the opportunity for them to be used on a large scale for the first time. Naturally, he was happy.

He continued looking for the right tools while Mei Chao Bing sorted what he handed to him and used the opportunity to ask more questions.

“So, what about the ones with a higher attack power per person?”

Yan Hong Min gave a hum. “Well, I do have quite a few that should be able to deal with foundation establishment cultivators as well but their scope isn’t as large. If you’re lucky, you’d get twenty or twenty-five of them. If you’re unlucky, it should be ten at most.”

“That still isn’t bad.”

In fact, it might even be good. If there really was a large-scale battle, they could form a whole tactic around this. The disciples could split up at the beginning, giving the other side the feeling that they were all isolated and easy prey. Then, everyone could make the weaker tools go off, taking out a good chunk of the opposing faction.

The ones who were left over would be angry and attack the closest disciples, maybe even teaming up. Then, they would have the perfect opportunity to set the stronger tools off, hitting the stronger disciples with yet another unexpected attack. And when they were injured, the stronger disciples on their own side could take over and easily eliminate them.

Mei Chao Bing narrowed his eyes, almost able to see the outcome. But then, this still relied on one assumption. “Say, when setting these off … how to make sure they don’t injure our own disciples?”