Chapter 84: The So-Called Dark Cloud Pressing Down on the City

Not many, just twenty—seems like the Cai Kingdom has run out of tricks.

Upon seeing this newly airborne war device, Cheng Jiming suddenly smiled; it turned out that the war device of the Cai Kingdom could only manage to fly to a height of 50 meters at best—there aren’t enough spirit stones!

“Sniper, take aim for me!”

“On it!” Yin Hairui, the guy who dared to compete in marksmanship with Liu Lei last time, immediately stepped forward, happily leading his snipers to aim at the targets below.

“Wait,” at a critical moment, Cheng Jiming suddenly changed his mind, “Snipers, don’t move yet. You will be responsible for taking out the enemy’s generals later. For now, let the crossbows fire and incapacitate the enemy.”

Yin Hairui’s face twitched; this is changing orders on a whim. He could only have his snipers aim at those generals.

The crossbows on both sides’ war devices fired at each other. Naturally, the war device on the Anyang side, positioned higher up, had the advantage, taking down thirteen enemy war artifacts in a single volley.

In contrast, the attacks from the Cai Kingdom were blocked by the true essence shield.

“Damn! Where did they get so many spirit stones?” The general of the Cai Kingdom, Yan Zhengqing, and General Wang Qisheng both wore serious expressions.

“Quickly withdraw the war artifacts!” Lu Chenggang was somewhat decisive. But it was too late!

Another round of volleys fired, and seven more war artifacts were shot down, falling like meteors and taking hundreds of lives.

Yan Zhengqing trembled in anger, “Fire cannons! Use foundation-building level weapons and talismans for aerial combat!”

At that moment, Yin Hairui discovered Yan Zhengqing’s position. “General, I’ve spotted the enemy general; he’s just within range.”

Cheng Jiming immediately ordered all war artifacts to halt. Stabilizing the war artifacts would aid the snipers in aiming. Yin Hairui quickly directed the snipers to take aim at their target. Besides five sniper rifles aimed at Yan Zhengqing, the rest were focused on relevant generals. While the enemy was still unprepared, the first strike must establish a great achievement.

However, at this moment, over a hundred foundation-building experts from the Cai Kingdom soared into the air, holding firearms.

“Activate the true essence shield with full strength. Yin Hairui, ignore these people; just focus on sniping the enemy’s generals.”

“Understood! Fire!” At Yin Hairui’s command, a sound like popping beans erupted in the sky.

The foundation-building experts from the Cai Kingdom, flying in the sky with their firearms, were the first to hear the gunshots, only to realize that they weren’t being attacked at all.

“Haha, they can’t aim!” one leader laughed loudly, “Brothers, it’s our turn to strike!”

“Ah… ah…” Horrifying screams came from behind. The foundation-building experts from the Cai Kingdom hurriedly turned around, only to be dumbfounded as they saw dozens of minor generals with their heads blown off, turned into headless corpses.

The most chaotic scene was in the central camp, which was in utter disarray.

“The general is injured!” Panicked voices echoed faintly.

“What’s going on?” The foundation-building experts from the Cai Kingdom, flying in mid-air, were momentarily stunned, then they erupted in anger—how dare you, Xia Kingdom, look down on us!

“Fire!” The firearms here opened fire one after another, but while the firearms had decent power, they couldn’t break through the turtle shell—Li Xian had been ruthless, equipping all the war devices with ten spirit stones each. Now, the war devices holding up the true essence shield were essentially invulnerable.

Yin Hairui leisurely called out names; Cheng Jiming continued to direct his subordinates to skewer meat skewers with crossbows. He didn’t even glance at the angry foundation-building cultivators firing in the sky. We have spirit stones; do you?

Li Xian watched the battle situation from the rear. “Sir, did you see that? This is a firearm. This is a very primitive application method, without shells, without rifling, using only round bullets. The method of loading the gunpowder is also quite problematic.

And soon, there will be a good show to watch.”

“What good show?” Xu Ren asked, and then he understood, as it had already happened! This is… a burst barrel! The quality of the crudely made firearms was indeed not commendable.

Yes, foundation-building experts can shape iron, but such iron cannot be tempered and is very brittle—more like clay. After a few uses, a burst barrel was inevitable.

Xu Ren nodded, his tone filled with unspoken concern: “It seems that in this war, we indeed have no danger of breaking the city. But as long as the enemy masters gunpowder, they will eventually develop more powerful weapons. Moreover, this gunpowder technology will inevitably spread across the world.

Sigh, future wars will be even more brutal!”

Li Xian looked at the ongoing battle, “Sir, we are always making progress; it’s just that sometimes we inevitably take a few detours. War has always been unavoidable. What we can do is continue to develop, continue to improve, and always stay ahead of others.”

The battle in the front continued. After a brief hesitation, the Cai Kingdom’s army finally began to advance despite casualties. The vast army surged forward like a tidal wave; although there were some that had been killed by the war artifacts in the sky, the war artifacts were ultimately too few to inflict effective damage on the army.

To counter the war artifacts, more experts had already taken to the skies, clutching talismans and controlling flying swords to attack.

Seeing this, Cheng Jiming immediately made adjustments. “Everyone, based on observations, the carts following the firearms team are all transporting gunpowder. Now, begin to focus all attacks on those carts.”

The crossbow carts and sniper rifles began to change their aim. Compared to people, carts were larger targets and also more vulnerable.

With the first shot, one cart was penetrated, igniting the gunpowder inside.

With a tremendous roar, the ground shook violently as a thick cloud of black smoke rose into the air. The massive shockwave rampaged through, tearing apart hundreds of soldiers nearby.

All the carts were very close together; when one cart exploded, it immediately triggered explosions in the surrounding carts. This dense arrangement was simply the best environment for “chain reactions.”

With just a few shots to ignite several carts, the remaining carts exploded like a series of firecrackers.

One could hardly fathom how much gunpowder the Cai Kingdom had equipped; a string of explosions shook the earth, lifting the ground layer by layer, while soldiers flew through the air like droplets on a wave, a truly spectacular scene.

Even Li Xian, standing far away on the boundary walls of Anyang, felt the ground shaking beneath him, as if drums were beating underfoot—not to mention those on the Cai Kingdom’s side.

“Boom, boom, boom…” A deep thunderous sound echoed back and forth through the heavens and the earth, resonating off the city walls and surrounding mountains.

A cloud of black smoke rose up, enveloping the sky and covering the walls of Anyang City.

“The black cloud presses down on the city!”

“The black cloud presses down on the city!”

“This is the black cloud pressing down on the city…”

Li Xian, Xu Ren, Beichen Yuqing, and everyone else stood in shock.

Li Xian turned to look at Ling Zhifeng, who was also in a daze. “Sir, your predictions were too accurate.”

“Uh, uh… yes, yes…” Ling Zhifeng was drenched in sweat.

Xu Ren had a dark expression, “Cough, cough… the divination was quite accurate, but it seems we misinterpreted it. But it definitely requires ‘effort.’”

Nearby, Beichen Yuqing shouted, “What are you all hesitating for? Quickly open the city and charge out!”

Li Xian came to his senses: “Open the city and charge out!”

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