Dragon Canon

Xu Zhongxing slowly raised his large hand before sweeping it in front of himself. The army’s army aura surged, instantly increasing their forward momentum. At the same time, over 10 mounted messengers galloped toward the rear to urge the infantry to speed up and keep pace.

Soon, Xuanwei Three came into view. Looking at the city walls—so low they might as well have been nonexistent—Xu Zhongxing frowned slightly, momentarily at a loss as to how to proceed.

The city was practically undefended, yet an army aura was clearly gathered inside it. Evidently, a large force was hidden inside.

Fan Donghe shook his head upon seeing this and said, “These soldiers are poorly trained. They can’t even conceal their army aura. Judging by the size and density, there must be around ten thousand troops lying in ambush inside the city.”

Xu Zhongxing replied, “When meat is served right to your mouth, of course you have to eat it.”

He immediately ordered the rearguard to deploy 30,000 infantry to attack the city. After making the arrangements, Xu Zhongxing led the main force around Xuanwei Three and pressed deeper into the territory, preparing to engage Wei Yuan’s main force in a decisive battle.

No long after passing Xuanwei Three, Xu Zhongxing and Fan Donghe came upon a sight they had never seen in their lives.

Fan Donghe rubbed his eyes and looked closely. He saw a flat expanse of ground studded with wooden stakes, with coiled barbed wires running through the center. The barbed wires were covered in countless tiny barbs. Such obstacles were stacked at least three or four layers high.

A vast concentration of army aura lay behind these never-before-seen barriers. Clearly, that was where the main force of the realm of Qingming was stationed. However, they were all hiding in the trenches and only peeking out their heads.

Xu Zhongxing and Fan Donghe exchanged glances; they had never seen a defense that relied on trenches instead of walls.

After observing for a moment, Fan Donghe said, “It’s actually a good way to defend against cavalry. But with such a scattered formation, their maneuverability had to be quite slow. We only need to concentrate our attack at a single point to cut them in two!”

“Let’s wait for the infantry from the rear to arrive first.”

Xu Zhongxing immediately dispatched two cavalry squadrons to circle around the defensive position from both the left and right wings to scout for any other ambushes. However, judging by the army aura, he knew there were at least 50,000 men just ahead. The entire realm’s military strength was likely concentrated here.

But just because Xu Zhongxing was temporarily holding off on attacking didn’t mean that Wei Yuan wasn’t going to make his move. Shrill whistles suddenly pierced through the sky as several railgun shells streaked toward them!

“What is that?” Xu Zhongxing drew his sword, but Fan Donghe had already slashed out three streaks of saber light.

The three projectiles suddenly changed course and dodged the saber lights. Then, it exploded and scattered dozens of submunitions. Some of these submunitions detonated in mid-air—some emitting a blinding flash, others producing a terrifying, thunderous roar—causing countless warhorses to panic and throwing the cavalry into chaos.

While the army was confused, seven or eight submunitions hit the ground unnoticed. They instantly exploded and blasted dozens of cavalrymen into the air.

In the center of the realm, relying on the intelligence relayed from the front lines, Yu Zhizhuo was personally loading blank submunitions—each marked with a white line—into a shell before placing it in the mystic array. In fact, the vast majority of the shells fired in this round were blanks without any gunpowder whatsoever.

On the front lines, Fan Donghe unleashed over a hundred flashes of saber light, cutting through every submunition and sending them all flying like a tidal wave. However, he discovered that almost all of them were empty.

The feeling of being toyed with instantly sent Fan Donghe into a rage. If Xu Zhongxing wasn’t the commanding general, he would have led a cavalry charge already.

The air was filled with constant whistling as round after round of projectiles rained down from the sky. Even Xu Zhongxing was forced to intervene personally, while all Dao Foundation stage officers in the middle stage or higher were compelled to join in on the interception.

Xu Zhongxing set off a signal flare and urgently summoned an Avatar-stage elder who had been following the main army in the rear to the front lines. Only by joining forces did the three of them barely manage to withstand the bombardment. Even so, the occasional shell still slipped through the defense web, and every time one struck the ground, it wiped out more than a dozen cavalrymen.

Qingming’s artillery fire seemed endless. Realizing that morale would likely collapse first before the enemy would stop, Xu Zhongxing acted decisively and ordered someone to notify the main force in the rear to advance at full speed and reach the battlefield as quickly as possible. He then looked to Fan Donghe and the Avatar-stage elder and yelled, “Let’s join forces and clear a path!”

The three Avatars struck simultaneously, shaking heaven and earth. Three hundred-zhang torrents of energy crashed into the defensive positions, instantly sweeping away all obstacles and clearing three passageways!

However, Xu Zhongxing furrowed his brow slightly when he saw the outcome. The combined might of three Avatars looked magnificent at first glance, but the destruction it caused had been smaller than expected. It was clearly because their attack had been weakened by Qingming’s domain, then diminished even further by the enemy’s army aura. As a result, the attack only retained about 70% of its original potency.

Moreover, the enemy was cunning and hiding entirely in the trenches. As a result, despite three Avatars attacking with all their might, the aftershocks had killed fewer than 100 enemy soldiers.

But there was no time to dwell on such things. With a swing of his long sword, Xu Zhongxing commanded the heavy cavalry to charge!

In the blink of an eye, the main body of cavalry surged to the front lines. The squad leaders, all of whom were in the Dao Foundation stage, unleashed sword qi and saber lights to cut through the barbed wire in front of them. Some instead chose to empower their mounts with Dao spells and have them leap over a zhang high to clear the barbed wire.

However, just as they broke through the first layer of barbed wire, a continuous series of explosions suddenly rang out from the defensive position. As it turned out, many heavy cavalrymen had stepped on something that caused both rider and horse to be blown sky-high!

Numerous warhorses, startled by the sudden string of explosions, reared up. At that moment, the defenders inside the positions raised their heads, pointed their guns forward, and fired. As the roar of gunfire merged into a single deafening roar, thick gun smoke instantly shrouded the area above the defensive position!

Countless cavalrymen were hurled backward while their now masterless horses crashed into the barbed wire, unintentionally strangling themselves and toppling to the ground. At the same time, explosions erupted one after another in front of the defensive position as pre-planted landmines were continuously triggered.

It went without saying that the assault had turned into a complete disaster. Countless cavalrymen suddenly fell to the ground, completely unaware of where the attack was coming from. All they could see was the smoke rising from the defensive positions, growing ever thicker and denser and only disrupted by the occasional flashes of fire. And almost every time a flash appeared, another rider would mysteriously be thrown from his horse!

Fan Donghe’s eyes turned bloodshot at the sight of this. He let out a wild roar, drew his saber, and charged forward.

It was at this moment eight immortal swords sliced through the air and forced him sideways into the sky. An old Daoist, ethereal as an immortal, appeared and called out from afar, “How dare you try to lay a land on mortals, you barbarian. Have you no shame? This old Daoist can no longer stand by and watch; I must discipline you on behalf of your parents!”

Fan Donghe swept his sword to scatter the eight immortal swords. Upon realizing that, despite their appearance, they were all soft and powerless, he put the old Daoist out of his mind and attempted to charge back to the fray and rescue the elite cavalry he had led for many years.

But just then, the old Daoist’s voice grew louder. “As expected, you don’t dare to duel this Trueman! You would think that a thick-browed, large-eyed man like you would have some courage, but nah, you’re as cowardly as a mouse! It’s alright—if you can withstand three of this old Daoist’s sword strikes without dying, then I’ll turn on my heel and leave this instant!”

The taunt instantly provoked Fang Donghe into a flying rage. He roared, “You’re looking to die, dirtbag?!”

He soared into the sky and swung his saber mid-air. He struck down at the old dirtbag—whose tongue was infinitely sharper than his swords—witha force capable of splitting mountains and parting the sea!

Seeing the saber coming down, the old Daoist wore a look of disdain and declared loudly, “Is this all you got? Pathetic!”

His words were boastful, but he really turned and fled into the distance immediately. He did not dare to face the blow at all.

The old Daoist’s escape was so decisive that Fan Donghe was momentarily stunned. It was only then he realized that the old Daoist really was nothing but all talk.

That said, the old Daoist was an Avatar. He could be the weakest Avatar in the world, and killing him would still be far more useful than slaughtering tens of thousands of grunts. Thus, Fang Donghe immediately gave chase, determined to slay the foul-mouthed dirtbag where he stood!

The two Avatars flew at full speed, crossing the realm in the blink of an eye and charging toward the west. Suddenly, Fan Donghe’s vision went dark as a hundred-zhang-long giant python plummeted from the sky, spewing a cloud of poisonous mist!

Fan Donghe’s heart clenched; he dared not take this attack lightly. He focused all his attention on battling the giant python.

After just a few exchanges, he sensed that the python possessed one-third flood dragon blood, and its poison was utterly terrifying. Although it was no match for him, if he accidentally caught the poison, he might very well perish in the Shattered Realm. Because of this, he could not spare the old Daoist any attention and focused entirely on battling the python. He gradually gained the upper hand.

Meanwhile, the old Daoist had returned to the battlefield where the two armies were locked in combat. His eight immortal swords carefully skirted around Xu Zhongxing and slashed toward the Avatar-stage elder, shouting, “You gray-haired scoundrel! You ignorant old fool! Do you dare battle this old Daoist for three days and nights?!”

Xu Zhongxing had absolutely no time to deal with the unscrupulous old Daoist at the moment because the cavalry was suffering heavy casualties. Only a small number managed to charge into the enemy lines, but they were either shot down immediately or their horses stumbled and fell into the trenches. Their army aura wasn’t just wavering, it was showing signs of collapse!

Without a word, Xu Zhongxing instantly materialized at the front of the formation and swung his sword down. Though no sword qi glow was visible, over 100 Qingming soldiers in the trenches had suddenly fallen dead without a sound, including a dozen or so Dao Foundation stage cultivators!

The sword technique—Killing Life—was one of Xu Zhongxing’s killing moves. Years ago, he had used this very technique to slay thousands of Shamans in a single battle and lead his remnants to fight their way out of a tight encirclement.

Deep within the defensive position, someone suddenly let out a heavy grunt. Immediately afterward, a flash of bright red light appeared,and a hundred-zhang-long, mournful-looking sword beam cut across the position toward Xu Zhongxing!

Xu Zhongxing swung his sword to meet the attack, but as he raised it, he suddenly realized that both the blade and the hand gripping it were faintly entangled with wisps of black qi. Not only did the power of his strike become slightly diminished, the flow of his mystic energy was slightly slower as well!

Xu Zhongxing was normally a calm and composed man, but at this moment, he couldn’t help but be shocked and enraged. He thought to himself: They tricked me into slaying so many people who are endowed with fortune, just so that I would be entangled by karmic debt! How ruthless!

The long sword clashed with the crimson sword light. Both were obliterated in the impact, resulting in a stalemate. The spilling sword qi struck several nearby cavalrymen and instantly took their lives.

By now, Xu Zhongxing’s face had turned ashen, and his hands trembled slightly with rage. From their first exchange, he had sensed that although his opponent possessed peerless natural talent, their true cultivation level was only at the Dao Foundation stage.

However, his own side’s army aura was faltering and offering him no support whatsoever. In fact, it was becoming somewhat of a hindrance. Compounded by the suppression of the domain, and his latest sword strike was reduced to only 80% of its original potency.

Meanwhile, bolstered by their army aura, his opponent’s power had increased by at least 50%. The boost from the domain was also incredibly substantial. Coupled with the fact that they were wielding a genuine immortal sword, and they actually managed to fight him to a draw!

Xu Zhongxing had been a once-in-a-lifetime genius since childhood. Throughout his journey, he had been virtually invincible among those of his own cultivation level. For example, he was a tad stronger than even a powerhouse Avatar like Fen Hai. Yet now, not only had he been challenged by a junior who was an entire major stage below him, they had actually succeeded in eking out a stalemate!

In the past, it had always been him who challenged opponents who were superior to him. When had he ever been challenged by a junior?

Meanwhile, Wei Yuan was no less shocked and enraged than Xu Zhongxing. With a single sword strike, his opponent had slaughtered at least 100 of his men. Everyone on the front lines were at least bone-tempering stage elites, not to mention the more than a dozen Dao Foundation cultivators who had perished! Although Wei Yuan had temporarily bestowed them all with fortune, it hadn’t made a lick of difference whatsoever!

Seeing Xu Zhongxing raise his long sword once more, Wei Yuan steeled his resolve and, in one breath, bestowed fortune upon all several thousand men standing before Xu Zhongxing. He hoped that by doing so, he could save at least a fraction of them.

A dim yellow glow flickered on the tip of Wei Yuan’s spear, but it vanished almost immediately. Xu Zhongxing was no ordinary Avatar; it would be nearly impossible for him to hit the shot. He had to bide his time.

At the same time, in the center of the formation, Zhang Sheng swung the Crimson Night Slayer of Immortals and unleashed wave after wave of hundred-zhang-long sword qi toward Xu Zhongxing like a deluge! The sword qi possessed boundless power and forced even Xu Zhongxing to block and dismantle it. However, Zhang Sheng was merely at the Dao Foundation stage, and unlike Wei Yuan, his energy reserves were hardly endless. He likely wouldn’t last even half a teatime if he continued launching such a frenzied assault.

But Wei Yuan understood Zhang Sheng’s intent. He immediately ordered the men to cease firing.

The gunfire on the battlefield suddenly ceased, leaving behind an almost unbelievable silence. The Xu Clan’s iron cavalry finally broke through the blockade and surged like a torrent into the billowing smoke of gunpowder!

But they soon discovered that the spider-web-like network of trenches was a cavalryman’s worst nightmare. The trenches were teeming with enemy soldiers wielding steel-rodlike weapons, and even the slightest flash of fire was enough to leave a gaping hole in their bodies.

An indescribable sensation crept over him then, and Xu Zhongxing suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. In the next instant, he saw the soldiers of Qingming suddenly undergoing a transformation that could only be described as divine or demonic and slaughtering his cavalrymen like pigs!

This was the first time Xu Zhongxing had faced Life is a Flash head-on.

He could no longer spare a thought for anything else. He charged into the enemy lines and unleashed 13 consecutive sword strikes that instantly claimed thousands of lives, causing a lull in Qingming’s firepower. Only then did he manage to rescue the remaining cavalry.

As the cavalry retreated, Xu Zhongxing personally brought up the rear, sword in hand.

Black qi had quietly crept up to his neck, but no one noticed as his armor was blocking the view.