The Path of Immortality: Starts With Creating Water Bear Gu

Chapter 258: The Mighty Cannon Unleashed

On the Black Dragon Ship, a bald man sneered as he gazed at a small boat in the Death Sea:

"Where did this small, shabby boat come from, daring to venture into the Death Sea? They're courting death."

"Many small boats like to linger at the edges of the Death Sea, thinking they can just gather treasures there, assuming that as long as they don’t go deeper, they won’t encounter any danger."

"They have no idea that all those with such naive thoughts have already sunk. No surprise, this boat is likely just another one with similar ideas, wandering around the edge of the Death Sea and now preparing to leave."

"They’re lucky. We’ve cleared out the sea beasts in this area, so they haven’t encountered any danger by pure chance!"

"Otherwise, they would never have made it this far. They should be thanking us for their survival."

"Still, I doubt they’ve gained anything, since we’ve already taken all the treasures from this area. Heh!"

"Captain! Should we go take down that boat?"

The bald man turned to a black-clad elder beside him, who exuded the peak aura of a Gu King.

The elder sensed the situation on the boat with his powerful soul force and said, "The highest cultivation level on that boat is only at the peak of the Marrow Cleansing stage. There’s no need for us to act."

"Don’t waste time on this little boat. Let's keep moving toward the sunken ship. That’s our priority."

"Leave this small boat to the newly-formed 19th squad. The boat may be small, but even a mosquito is meat!"

"What if they happen to find some heaven-defying treasure? Better safe than sorry. Let my newly adopted son use this as practice."

"Tell him that if he succeeds, I’ll reward him with a Breaking-King Pill."

The bald man nodded, quickly pulling out a messaging talisman. He used his soul power to write down the captain’s orders, then immediately sent it off.

The talisman turned into a streak of light and disappeared into the sky.

The bald man continued, "To deal with that Black Flood Dragon, we lost so many men. The 9th squad was almost wiped out."

"But I believe that Black Flood Dragon was the last major threat on this sea route. We should be able to recover the sunken ship successfully."

For the first time, a rare expression of excitement appeared on the elder’s usually calm face: "That sunken ship contains the Ocean's Heart, which will enhance the performance of the Black Dragon Ship to an entirely new level."

"And the Ocean's Heart has a vast internal space, enough for us to expand the Black Dragon Pirate Crew tenfold without adding more ships."

"Once that happens, we will be the invincible force in this sea. Destroying both Big and Small Lonely Island will be as easy as crushing a stone."

"Full speed ahead. Ignore the slower ships. If they fall behind, so be it. We won’t encounter any more danger on this route…"

---

On the Shenlong Ship.

Long Xuan breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that the large fleet had only sent four small ships after them, while the main ships remained unmoved.

They really followed Nie Qingcheng's prediction. The Gu King wouldn’t bother making a move against such a small boat.

For a Gu King to personally deal with juniors in the Marrow Cleansing stage would indeed be overkill. It's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. It made sense that the main ship wouldn’t join the chase. ??????s

Nie Qingcheng squinted as she observed the four small ships closing in. A smile appeared on her face: "Perfect! They’ve underestimated us!"

"From now on, if they go slow, we go slow. If they speed up, we speed up. Just keep matching their pace!"

"I’ll run them to death!" Nie Qingcheng grinned with a sly smile.

Thus, the four black ships broke away from the fleet and chased farther and farther away, eventually drifting completely out of the fleet's sight.

Meanwhile, the bulk of the fleet continued toward the sunken ship, not paying any attention to this pursuit. Soon, the two groups were entirely out of each other's visual range.

---

On the Giant Crab Ship, the 19th squad captain, seeing how far they had strayed from the fleet, slammed his fist against the railing in frustration, cursing: "Damn it! Why is that small boat so fast?"

"We’ve already strayed too far from the fleet. If we go any farther, we won’t be able to catch up!"

"We can’t wait any longer! Fire the cannons! Sink that small boat! Don’t spare any ammo!"

At his command, the cannons on the four ships all pointed toward the Shenlong Ship, and under the control of the black-clad pirates, they unleashed a volley of cannon fire.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

A deafening barrage erupted.

Countless cannonballs rained down like a storm, hitting the water around the Shenlong Ship. The sea exploded with towering waves, water blasted dozens of feet into the air.

A few cannonballs struck the Shenlong Ship's barrier, triggering a massive explosion. The ship rocked violently under the assault.

Fortunately, the Shenlong Ship's Five Elements Barrier was strong enough to block all the cannonballs.

But the intense waves caused the ship to sway left and right, slowing it down. The four black ships began closing the distance.

At the same time, the metal dragon heads at the front of the four ships shot forward, dragging long metal chains behind them. The dragon heads flew toward the Divine Dragon Ship and, upon reaching it, bit down hard on its hull.

The metal chains quickly tightened, forcefully pulling the Shenlong Ship back, reducing its speed even further.

Meanwhile, the four black ships sped up, grinning bloodthirstily as they approached.

Seeing his beloved Shenlong Ship getting four deep bite marks from the metal dragons, Long Xuan was furious: "You’re asking for death! Do you think I’m a pushover?"

"Old Dali, bring out the big cannon! Let’s blast them to pieces!"

At Long Xuan’s command, all the crew members became excited, their eyes lighting up with anticipation.

"Alright, Captain! Just watch! My cannon never misses. I’ll make those devils taste its power! Heh heh!"

Xiong Dali excitedly rubbed his hands together. After such a long time, he could finally indulge himself.

With a sinister grin, he charged forward, his arm muscles bulging as he forcefully spun the giant cannon around, aiming it at the four ships.

After carefully aligning the barrel, he poured a pile of peak-grade Spirit Stones into the cannon slot.

The cannon powered by peak-grade Spirit Stones was potent enough to harm Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivators. This was his first time using ammunition of this caliber, and he couldn't help but reveal an expression of anticipation, eager to see its power.

As soon as the peak-grade Spirit Stones entered the slot, they instantly turned into dust, transforming into pure energy that was absorbed by the cannon.

In the next moment, the cannon barrel emitted a blinding light, growing brighter and brighter...

"Boom!"

Suddenly, the cannon let out a deafening roar, and an energy ball imbued with five types of energy spun out from the barrel, tracing a perfect arc before landing precisely on the middle of the four pirate ships.

"Boom!"

A deafening explosion sounded, and the pirate ship in the center was instantly blown to pieces.

The half-spherical barrier that had risen on the ship was like paper—it couldn’t stop the cannonball at all. The explosion shredded the ship into fragments, and as for the people on board, they didn’t even have time to scream before being blown apart into tiny pieces.

The terrifying explosion sent towering waves surging from the ship's remains, nearly capsizing the pirate ships on either side.

Propelled by the massive waves, the remaining pirate ships were pushed far away, rocking violently on the sea, almost flipped by the waves.

The pirates on the other ships stood frozen, their mouths agape, staring in disbelief.

They had fired countless cannonballs, bombarding the opposing ship relentlessly, but those cannonballs barely scratched the surface of their target.

Yet, with just one shot from that ship, they had lost an entire vessel, blown to smithereens. How could this even be real?

At this moment, they finally understood the harsh reality: when you fall behind in technology, you get beaten. The difference in weaponry was so vast it was laughable—how could they even fight?

As the pirates were still in shock, another cannonball, glowing with five colors, shot toward them.

The cannon operator on the opposing side was incredibly accurate. This cannonball once again landed precisely on another pirate ship, and once more, the pirates had no time to react before the ship was destroyed, obliterating everyone on board.

"What the hell! What kind of cannon is that? How is it so huge? Run!"

The captain of the 19th Squadron was shocked when he saw the size of the giant cannon, his face filled with terror.

Moments earlier, he had thought it was just a chimney, but it turned out to be a massive cannon! With two shots, it had sunk two of his ships, and he was utterly stunned.

He considered himself well-experienced, but he had never seen a cannon of this size. Could this even be called a cannon?

His face turned pale, cold sweat dripping from his forehead as he immediately ordered the helmsman to turn the ship around.

However, the bow of the ship was tightly latched onto the Shenlong, with an iron chain connecting the two. While the chain bound the Shenlong, it also shackled them.

With the ship held fast by the chain, how could they turn and escape so easily?

At that moment, he finally understood the meaning of "hoisting one's own petard." He felt a sudden urge to spit blood in frustration.

Just then, another enormous cannonball was fired. It traced a perfect arc through the air, once again landing directly on top of their ship. Everyone aboard looked up in despair at the massive cannonball falling toward them.

"Boom!!!"

...

"Hahaha! Dali! You're a sharpshooter! Three shots, all on target! You really don’t miss a single shot!"

The entire crew of the Shenlong was cheering and celebrating, elated after easily sinking three pirate ships.

Long Xuan gave Xiong Dali a heavy slap on the shoulder, his eyes full of admiration.

He sighed inwardly, realizing that he had truly found a treasure this time. He hadn't expected Xiong Dali’s boasting to be true—he really did hit every target with his cannon fire.

Having such a sharpshooter on board was incredibly useful, especially considering how the cannon consumed a huge amount of resources. One cannonball cost enough to empty the storage rings of most Gu cultivators. With a sharpshooter who never missed, they could save a lot of ammunition.

Xiong Dali was starting to get a bit full of himself amidst all the praise, grinning proudly. "Of course! Did you think I was bragging earlier? I’ve never missed a shot in my life! It's a talent!"

"Shooting the cannon today was so satisfying—one shot, one ship. It was amazing, haha!"

"But it's a pity we ran out of peak-grade Spirit Stones on the ship, so we couldn’t take down that last ship," he said with a look of regret, watching the last pirate ship sailing off into the distance.

"No worries, leave that ship to me. There’s no Spiritual Sea stage Gu cultivator on board—I can handle them all by myself."

Yang Zhan glared at the last pirate ship with hatred in his eyes, clearly despising evildoers.

His words shocked everyone aboard the Shenlong. Yang Zhan intended to take down an entire ship by himself! The others were taken aback by his boldness.

"Old Yang, are you sure you can handle it? That ship has over a hundred people, with dozens of Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators. Are you certain you can take them all on alone?"

Xiong Dali looked incredulous, patting Yang Zhan on the shoulder.

Without saying much, Yang Zhan’s eyes quickly turned blood-red. At the same time, hundreds of Yang Zhan’s figures appeared on the pirate ship, throwing it into chaos.

"An illusion technique?" Long Xuan murmured.

Suddenly manifesting so many people couldn’t possibly be an external clone; it had to be illusionary clones.

All these clones were purely visual and had no physical form, so they couldn’t actually deceive anyone.

Long Xuan immediately activated his golden finger's ability, and sure enough, the real Yang Zhan's progress bar showed up on the Shenlong, while none of the illusionary clones on the pirate ship displayed any progress.

However, just as Long Xuan thought he had figured out the trick, he was suddenly taken aback.

In his vision, the progress bar for the real Yang Zhan on the Shenlong disappeared, and a progress bar appeared on one of the illusionary clones aboard the pirate ship.

At the same time, that clone struck down a pirate with a swift slash to the back of the neck. The pirate fell to the ground, dead, eyes wide open in disbelief.

At that very moment, several blades sliced into this version of Yang Zhan, but the progress bar on him vanished again. It reappeared on another illusionary clone, which then swiftly killed another pirate.

The original clone was promptly cut to pieces.

Long Xuan was stunned as he witnessed this. He finally realized that Yang Zhan could swap places with any of his illusionary clones at will, effectively allowing him to teleport.

Incredible! This was like the Flying Thunder God technique! How could anyone defend against that?

Finally, Long Xuan understood why Yang Zhan exuded such a heavy aura of death. With this godlike skill, he could teleport among a crowd, killing people at lightning speed. His ominous aura was a testament to the countless lives he had claimed using this technique.

As more and more pirates fell in pools of blood, it became impossible to count how many Marrow Cleansing stage Gu cultivators had fallen to Yang Zhan’s blade. The entire ship was stunned.

One man slaughtering an entire ship—killing fellow cultivators as easily as slaughtering chickens. Today, they had truly witnessed the terrifying power of Yang Zhan.

Where did the captain find such a monster? Everyone aboard the Shenlong was in awe, their minds racing.

"Those terrifying Yang Eyes! I’ve heard stories of how the Yang clan's Yang Eyes can take on a hundred enemies at once, and now I see it’s no exaggeration. Where on earth did you find this man?" Leng Yan asked Long Xuan in shock.

"Is this Gu technique called the Yang Eyes? So domineering! You leave your small hometown only to realize that the world is full of heaven-defying Gu insects," Long Xuan sighed as he watched the slaughter unfold on the pirate ship.

In no time, the pirate ship’s deck was strewn with corpses, the blood painting the wooden boards crimson.

Onboard, the illusionary clones were occasionally smashed, but new clones appeared just as quickly.

The number of clones generated far outpaced the number destroyed.

Within moments, the number of illusionary clones on the ship surpassed a thousand. Every inch of the deck was occupied by a clone.

In this scenario, the pirates had no chance to defend against the real Yang Zhan, who would constantly teleport behind them and end their lives with ease.

The ship echoed with sporadic screams as the pirates, terrified beyond belief, displayed utter despair.

Not long after, the ship fell silent, the deck now littered with corpses. There wasn’t a single living soul left aboard—it had become an empty vessel.

Yang Zhan had single-handedly slaughtered over a hundred pirates, including dozens of Marrow Cleansing stage cultivators, in the blink of an eye. Everyone aboard the Shenlong was terrified, staring at Yang Zhan as if seeing him for the first time.