"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Sword Qi surged toward the heavens!
Aside from Ye Qianqiu, who had slightly slowed down upon sensing something amiss, nineteen Divinity Transformation Cultivators and two Primordial Spirit Monarchs, a total of twenty-one flying swords, charged skyward simultaneously at supersonic speeds intercepting the bullets hurtling down from above.
"Beware their Heavenly Sword Missiles!"
It was then that Ye Qianqiu finally cried out.
"A Heavenly Sword Missile that’s said to be equivalent to a strike from the Devas? If Lingxiao City has as many Heavenly Sword Missiles as that, it would be like dozens of Devas striking simultaneously—we might as well surrender and admit defeat now."
Long Xiangtian said indifferently, "Don’t forget, we had already gathered intelligence on this. Those three Heavenly Sword Missiles are all the missiles that Gu Jinlai has released. The likelihood he has more is less than ten percent."
During the exchange of Divine Thoughts, the two Primordial Spirit Monarchs’ flying swords had already reached the outskirts of Dragon Roar City at maximum speed.
The speed of the cannonballs was normally more than three times the speed of sound, and the Sword Heavy Cannons were nearly five times the speed of sound, on par with the Primordial Spirit Monarchs’ sword control.
The bombing and intercepting spanned over five or six kilometers in an instant...
Compared to those Divinity Transformation Cultivators controlling their swords with Yin God, the flying swords of Primordial Spirit Monarchs were enveloped with rich True Yuan.
When Long Xiangtian and Huo Yuqing sensed the immense number and speed of these "flying swords," they simultaneously commanded their own flying swords to emit numerous Sword Qis, targeting the incoming "flying swords."
Fierce flames erupted with deafening explosions.
The Sword Qi unleashed by Long Xiangtian and Huo Yuqing was directly obliterated by the cannonballs, the visible shockwaves sweeping through, even crushing other Sword Qis.
The intense, violent force immediately changed the expressions of the two Primordial Spirit Real Persons.
"No! This weapon... it can scorch the Yin God!"
The two Primordial Spirit Monarchs reacted swiftly, instantly activating Divine Thought to notify other Divinity Transformation Elders to dodge.
The combined speed of flying swords and cannonballs was incredibly rapid!
Four or five kilometers in one second!
In this situation, even the Divinity Transformation Cultivators couldn’t react precisely in time.
Almost at the same time when the two Primordial Spirit Monarchs discovered the anomaly with these "flying swords," a series of explosions followed closely.
Of the nineteen flying swords, nine that had forcibly intercepted the cannonballs were blasted by the detonating cannonball structures, with their flames and shock impacting the flying swords.
As most of the Divinity Transformation Cultivators’ flying swords were chosen for their Breaking the sky and Sharpness traits to ensure both speed and attack,
the stability was not satisfactory, resulting in six out of the nine intercepting flying swords being instantaneously shattered into scrap metal.
The roars above the sky and the screams within Dragon Roar City rose simultaneously, illuminating each other.
The remaining ten Divinity Transformation Cultivators swiftly evaded the "flying sword" cannonballs coming from Dragon Ascending Mountain following the hint of the two Primordial Spirit Monarchs, but...
Without their interception, the remaining twenty cannonballs, with their piercing shrieks, hammered down into Dragon Roar City.
Though Dragon Roar City was protected by the Dragon Mysterious Great Array,
this formation was not a protective shield.
Its function was merely to amplify the cultivators’ flying swords through the formation and the Refining God Immortal, enhancing only those Cultivators above Divinity Transformation, allowing their flying swords to be faster and more powerful.
In this situation, twenty cannonballs accurately hit Dragon Roar City’s towers, the soldiers’ defensive positions, the disciples’ defense points at Dragon Sparrow Manor, and some military equipment.
Explosions and thunderous noises filled Dragon Roar City.
Accompanied by flames and smoke shooting into the sky.
Many disciples were blown away and killed on the spot by the cannonballs.
Since the people of Dragon Sparrow Manor had never encountered such a mode of attack, there was hardly any significant reaction when the cannonballs struck; thus, these twenty cannonballs caused hundreds of deaths and injuries, half-collapsed a tower, shattered a courtyard, and destroyed about a dozen pieces of military equipment.
This strike immediately alarmed Long Xiangtian, Huo Yuqing, and Ye Qianqiu, causing their faces to drain of color.
Especially hearing from outside the tower, some painful screams of Cultivators who suffered backlash due to their flying swords being shattered, linking to the severe damage of the associated Yin God, further fueled the three’s rising anger.
They had anticipated casualties in battles at Dragon Sparrow Manor,
and even in their "great victory" scenario, they were prepared to accept thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of deaths to secure the ultimate win.
But now, the battle had only just begun.
They had yet to "clearly see" where these enemies from Gu Jinlai were positioned, yet their attacks had already reached inside Dragon Roar City, causing hundreds of casualties; how could they accept this result!
"What’s going on! Is this Gu Jinlai’s new type of flying sword?! Where are they?! My Divine Thought sweeps through dozens of kilometers around, and I can’t detect their presence at all!"
Huo Yuqing yelled angrily, "Who is in charge of the intelligence?!"
"This shouldn’t be a flying sword..."
Ye Qianqiu stood on the attic, looking at the thick smoke rising in the distance, his face grim, "This is a killing spiritual weapon called ’cannon,’ or war spiritual weapon, produced by Gu Jinlai. They had used this thing on the battlefield of Baihe City before, which could fire these gunpowder-contained objects over thirty miles away!"
"Cannon!? It can attack targets thirty miles away!?"
Huo Yuqing was somewhat shocked.
"Although Gu Jinlai used this weapon in the battle of Baihe City, the quantity was very limited, and since their position was more than fifty miles away from here, I thought they wouldn’t be able to hit us at Dragon Roar City, but unexpectedly..."
As Ye Qianqiu spoke, he looked toward the horizon.
He faintly felt that the situation seemed to be getting out of his expectations.
Just then, his pupils suddenly contracted.
"Here it comes again!"
At the same time, another sharp whistle came from the horizon.
"Use Sword Qi! We will use Primordial Spirit Sword Control, stimulate Sword Qi, and intercept it!"
Huo Yuqing let out a stern shout.
Flying swords launched, Sword Qi soared into the sky.
Dozens of Sword Qi strands, like streaks of ribbon, darted like lightning toward the incoming cannonballs.
However, the speed of the cannonballs was simply too fast.
Plus, trying to use dozens of streams of Sword Qi simultaneously to intercept cannonballs traveling at three to four, even four to five times the speed of sound, naturally made it less accurate.
Amid the roaring sounds, nearly half of the cannonballs still fell into Dragon Roar City.
The deafening blasts, fierce flames spreading out, and thick smoke rising again spead from several places in Dragon Roar City.
Meanwhile, dozens, even hundreds of soldiers, and several disciples of Dragon Sparrow Manor, who were unfortunately in the core area of the explosions, were turned into blood mist under this bombardment.
"Patriarch, we cannot continue to passively endure this; we must find a way to destroy their firepower points," said Ye Qianqiu, as he retracted his flying sword.
"Destorying their firepower points..."
Huo Yuqing’s expression darkened, "You mean, we should abandon Dragon Roar City, give up the great geographical advantage of Dragon Mysterious Array, and move towards Dragon Ascending Mountain to destroy those ’cannon’ war spiritual weapons?"
"I’m afraid so indeed," said Ye Qianqiu bitterly. "Otherwise, if they keep this up, it will be like a Divinity Transformation Cultivator relying on the attack distance advantage to bombard a Refining God Immortal in Dragon Roar City; we can only endure passively."
"Those war spiritual weapons are not small in size; we don’t need to step onto Dragon Ascending Mountain, just reach ten miles below it, and then we can attack with flying swords," suggested Long Xiangtian.
He, too, recalled the description of these war spiritual weapons from the intelligence department.
"If we do not destroy these war spiritual weapons... our situation will become extremely passive... relying solely on Dragon Roar City... won’t stop the bombardment from these war spiritual weapons," Long Xiangtian said as he glanced at Patriarch Huo Yuqing.
"According to what I know, the ruling Demon Ape Commander of the Yunqi Mountain Range, who had cultivated an Undying Demon Body, was initially injured by these cannons before being seized by Gu Jinlai and killed in one fell swoop."
Huo Yuqing thought about the power of these cannonballs...
Injuring an Upper-level Demon...
"Be careful! Here it comes again!"
Ye Qianqiu warned once more.
For a moment, three Primordial Spirit True Monarchs had no choice but to again project their Primordial Spirits and intercept with sword control.
Dozens of sword lights formed a dense sword net, instantly intercepting and shredding about twenty cannonballs, yet still a few cannonballs broke through their blockade, falling into Dragon Roar City and igniting fierce flames and deafening explosions.
The shockwaves formed by the explosions wantonly spread, affecting areas hundreds of meters around.
Even the glass and porcelain in some civilian houses a hundred meters away were shattered by this explosive force.
Shouts of terror, agonizing screams, pervasive dust, and flickering flames filled this city, which served as the main base of Dragon Sparrow Manor.
This scene deeply agitated Huo Yuqing’s nerves.
"How audacious! Unbelievably audacious!"
A fire seemed to burn inside Huo Yuqing’s heart.
When had someone dared to humiliate them at Dragon Sparrow Manor ?
And when had Dragon Sparrow Manor been like now, nearly powerless to fight back?
"We... are not afraid of Jiangzhou State, nor are we afraid of Lingxiao City; it’s only that we don’t want to suffer mutual destruction, letting neighboring Cold Moon Sect and Yellow Sky Sect reap the benefits of the fishermen," said Huo Yuqing with a cold murderous flare in her eyes: "Gu Jinlai! You have pushed our Dragon Sparrow Manor to this point; you can indeed be proud!"
She suddenly turned to Ye Qianqiu and Long Xiangtian, very decisively, "Gather all the combat-capable Divinity Transformation Cultivators... no! Gather all Refining God Immortals, Hugging Pill Dharma Protectors, stewards, disciples, and soldiers! Leave the city, the army marches out!"
She gripped the sword in her hand, the sword blade pointing directly at Dragon Ascending Mountain: "All enemies who dare to step into our Jiangzhou territory, not one left!"