Jiang Huoer clutched three cannonballs in his hand. Back in Spirit Martial Town, little Pang Dun had said Jiang Huoer’s greatest hobby was cannon fire. He’d been itching to fire for days. Now that he finally had a chance, how could he miss it?
The loading speed of the Huoer High Altitude Cannon depended entirely on Jiang Huoer’s hand speed—it lacked a linkage mechanism. His hands moved fast. Three booms echoed through the flat valley below: “Boom! Boom! Boom!”
Suryehok thought the Imperial Capital Divine Mechanism Camp had arrived. He considered retreating. The Divine Mechanism Camp was Great Ming’s ace. If they were the reinforcements, leaving early was the wisest move. Yang Su had assumed the same. But these cannonballs were indiscriminate attacks. Yang Su figured a few of the five hundred Imperial Guards must have died. So who were these people? Allies of this group?
The most terrifying part was the laughter they all heard…
A bone-chilling laugh.
“Aha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!”
That laugh made Suryehok wonder: Was today’s Divine Mechanism Camp guy a lunatic? Yang Su thought the same about these reinforcements.
Jiang Huoer felt amazing firing the cannon. He felt reborn all over, his spirit lifted.
“So refreshing~” He wanted to keep firing, but he had few cannonballs left. He still had his firearm and Divine Mechanism Arrows. Thick smoke filled the valley below, obscuring everything. He couldn’t use them yet. He’d wait for the smoke to clear.
No one in the valley dared move. The fierce cannon fire had stopped. Standing up now might get them blown apart—a pointless death.
A strong wind blew through the gap, quickly clearing the smoke.
Yang Su immediately looked at Princess Taikang’s sedan chair. It had already been blown apart.
His head buzzed. *This is truly over,* he thought. *The chair’s destroyed like this. How could the princess survive? She must be ashes by now.*
Suryehok and Yang Su stared at the same spot. Suryehok hoped Shao Bu had already kidnapped Princess Taikang. Of course, his first thought was also that she’d been blown to ashes.
“Don’t move!” a familiar voice shouted.
“Shao Bu!?”
Shao Bu climbed up from the ground, covered in dust and grime. His right hand tightly gripped a girl’s arm.
“Princess Taikang!?” Lieutenant Liu rushed over. Arslan lay motionless nearby, a pool of blood beneath him, one arm missing—he’d been blown up. Lieutenant Liu wasn’t unscathed either. Shrapnel had cut deep gashes on her left leg, blood still flowing. Without her systematic training on cooperating with Divine Mechanism Camp artillerymen, she might have died there too.
Earlier, before climbing the woods, Jiang Huoer had killed Duermu with a Divine Mechanism Arrow from behind. Duermu was too clever; leaving him alive would trap everyone here. Luckily, Duermu was weakest in combat—brains but no athletic ability. Killing him was easy.
Jiang Huoer had imagined his first kill countless times. Fear? Panic? Helplessness? Today, he felt nothing.
Perhaps he was born without fear of killing. His hand stayed steady when he took the arrow—not a tremor. One shot hit Duermu’s vital spot.
His cannon fire earlier wasn’t indiscriminate. These people just stood too close. He’d aimed at those he saw last night: Suryehok, Arslan, and Shao Bu. Suryehok and Yang Su were tangled, so Jiang Huoer fired off-target to interrupt Suryehok. At that moment, Lieutenant Liu launched the “Flowing Oriole Eight Forms.” Arslan deliberately kept his distance to avoid it—Jiang Huoer blew him up with one shot. As for Shao Bu, the sedan chair held someone important. When Jiang Huoer set up his cannon, Shao Bu had already kidnapped the girl. Jiang Huoer blew up the chair to scare him. He guessed Shao Bu planned to take her away. To stop that, he had to destroy the chair—it was an obvious target. After the blast, Shao Bu and the girl were disheveled. Her body was exposed in places. Shao Bu gripped her right hand, leaving her unable to cover herself. She fidgeted, shy and flustered.
“You audacious rogue! Do you know who I am to treat me like this!?” Princess Taikang shouted at Shao Bu, twisting in his grip. “I am Princess Taikang of Great Ming! The Emperor’s beloved daughter! Aren’t you afraid my Imperial Father will have your head chopped off?”
“Chop off my head? Hmph. We don’t know whose head falls yet!” Shao Bu squeezed her wrist hard. Taikang had never felt such pain—tears streamed down her face.
“Don’t touch her! Deal with me!” Yang Su shouted. “State your demands—I’ll meet them!”
“First, bring out the cannon firer from earlier!” Shao Bu roared. He felt uneasy. He didn’t know who fired those shots or from where. Even if Yang Su let them go, he feared being blown up later.
“We don’t know who fired it!” Yang Su threw down his side sword to show sincerity. Suryehok stood right beside him. Swordless, Yang Su could be killed any second.
Suryehok wouldn’t miss this chance. Lieutenant Liu’s eyes were fixed on Princess Taikang—she wouldn’t notice him. Killing Yang Su would take mere minutes.
Suryehok channeled his qi energy fast. He raised his heavy sword and swung it at Yang Su’s head.
“!!!” No one expected this. By the time they realized, it was too late. The Asura Overlord Blade was swift. Even slower than the Quicksand Overlord Blade, it was enough to kill Yang Su before he reacted.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Three muffled gunshots. Suryehok collapsed to the ground...
