592: Chapter 592 The Cannon is Completed, Named "City Breaker"

Zhao Yan stared at the large hole in the stone wall for quite a while before finally closing his gaping mouth.

He swallowed hard, his voice turning a bit dry.

"Sect Master, this thing... could pierce a city wall, right? That stone wall was at least several feet thick, and this one shot went right through it."

"Piercing a city wall is nothing," Xu Ruyu patted the cannon barrel, the residual warmth from the firing still lingering in his palm. "In the future, this thing will go to the battlefield, to blast mountains, cities, and people.

It can blast anything, as long as we can fit the shell inside.

What's a city wall? In the future, we'll even be able to blast mountains to rubble."

Zhao Yan's eyes lit up.

He walked over to the gun carriage and touched the cannon barrel with his hand. The barrel was still slightly hot, but he couldn't bear to let go, gritting his teeth against the heat and refusing to release it.

"Sect Master, does this cannon have a name?"

Xu Ruyu thought for a moment.

"Call it 'City Breaker,' specifically for blasting city walls.

In the future, if anyone's mountain gate looks too sturdy, we'll use this to blast it.

If some fool with no sense dares to offend us, we'll continue extorting them, no, we'll have them compensate us with Spirit Stones.

If they don't pay Spirit Stones, we'll blast their gate. If they pay, we'll blast their mountain."

Zhao Yan chuckled.

"City Breaker? Good name. Sounds damn impressive.

That kid Zhao Tiezhu would be green with envy if he knew.

His Thunder Roar Cannon is just a little toy compared to this."

Li Ergou squatted in front of the rubble of the stone wall, picked up a piece of broken stone, weighed it in his hand, then turned to Zhou Daniu and said, "If this cannon hit someone in the Saint Realm, could they withstand it?"

Zhou Daniu shook his head.

"Don't know. But if they couldn't withstand it, that Saint Realm cultivator would be in serious trouble.

One shot like this would shatter their Protective Spiritual Light.

Didn't you see that stone wall? That was ironstone, hard as iron, and one blast turned it into this."

The two exchanged a glance and fell silent simultaneously.

They remembered back at the Taihu Clan, when the Sect Master used the Thunder Roar Cannon to blast Mo Feng away.

Back then, the Sect Master could only use the Thunder Roar Cannon, its power far inferior to now.

Now, with a shot like this, a Half-step Saint Realm cultivator like Mo Feng would probably be blasted into nothing but dust.

The Grand Elder stood below the high platform, watching the cannon, his hand trembling.

Not from fear, but from excitement.

He suddenly recalled the words Xu Ruyu had said before—'I want to arm the Hehuan Sect to the teeth.'

He had thought the Sect Master was just boasting then, a young man full of passion, speaking without restraint.

Now he believed it.

The Sect Master wasn't making empty boasts; he was doing it, one thing at a time.

The qi-breaking gun, the Chuanyang Gun, the Thunder Roar Cannon, the Source Energy Armor, and now this cannon carriage.

One by one, piece by piece, he had transformed the Hehuan Sect from a dirt-poor little Sect into a behemoth even the Righteous Path Alliance dared not provoke.

In the distance, Qingyan squatted in a corner, chin resting on her hands, head tilted as she watched the City Breaker cannon, its smoke not yet fully dissipated.

She quietly whispered a secret to her Butterfly Short Blades in her heart.

"When will you ever become this powerful?"

The Butterfly Short Blades did not answer, but a blue light flashed across the blade, as if understanding her words, or perhaps as a reply.

Qingyan smiled, her eyes curving into two crescent moons.

After the test concluded, Xu Ruyu called Wang Tie and the others over and began assigning tasks for the next phase.

The City Breaker cannon was just the beginning. He wanted to make more, at least seven or eight of them.

He also wanted to build tanks, with stable chassis, fast speed, thick armor, and rotating turrets.

And long-range artillery, with great range, high accuracy, and immense power.

He even began pondering things that could fly in the sky—those iron birds that didn't need Spirit Beasts to pull them, could fly on their own, and could drop bombs.

Wang Tie felt dizzy listening, but he memorized each point in his mind, planning to write them down one by one in his notebook later, afraid of missing a single word the Sect Master said.

His notebook was already more than half full, densely packed with key points and precautions Xu Ruyu had mentioned.

"Sect Master, we don't have enough manpower.

With just these few people, we have to make cannons and tanks; we can't manage it all."

Wang Tie spoke honestly, sweat dripping from his forehead onto his notebook, smudging the characters.

Xu Ruyu nodded.

"I know. I'll pick a few more Disciples with some foundation, and you'll be responsible for training them.

Teach them everything you can. Don't hold back.

Our Hehuan Sect doesn't play those games.

Once you teach them, they become your helpers, not your rivals.

When you've taught others, you'll be a founding elder in the Artifact Refining field of the Hehuan Sect.

In the future, new Disciples will have to call you Master."

Wang Tie's eyes reddened, and he nodded heavily.

"Sect Master, please rest assured. This Disciple will definitely pass on everything you've taught, not missing a single thing."

His voice was hoarse, each word firm and weighty, like nails driven into wood.

Late at night, the lights in the Weaponry Workshop were still on.

Xu Ruyu sat at the table, sketching the chassis of a tank on a new piece of animal hide parchment.

The wheels were decided, but the tracks were still being designed.

The turret's rotation mechanism wasn't flexible enough, and the gun barrel's elevation angle was too limited; it needed redesigning.

There were three points of conflict in the Array Soul's energy circuit, which needed to be resolved one by one.

He hadn't been drawing for long before he started rubbing his temples. There was no coffee beside him, only cold tea, which had already gone completely cold.

"Not sleeping yet?"

Xiao Nianyin's voice came from behind him.

Xu Ruyu didn't turn around.

"Almost done. Just finishing this part.

The track dimensions aren't finalized yet, and the turret's steering mechanism isn't flexible enough either. If I don't finish the modifications tonight, I won't be able to sleep."

Xiao Nianyin walked to his side and glanced at the desk covered in drawings.

Drawings were spread all over the table—some of tanks, some of gun carriages, some were exploded views of components, and some even she couldn't understand.

Some drawings had complex lines and numbers, densely annotated with symbols only he could comprehend.

"You can't finish all this alone. Why be in such a hurry?"

Her voice was very soft.

Xu Ruyu put down the charcoal pencil and looked out the window at the light screen.

The light screen flowed slowly in the night, its golden-red light and shadows flickering on his face.

He was silent for a moment, then spoke.

His voice wasn't loud, but it was heavy.

"I have to hurry. Those Righteous Path Sects may be quiet now, but they won't stay quiet forever.

Once they catch their breath, they'll come again.

When that time comes, we need to have something to greet them with. We can't always rely on the Grand Array.

The Grand Array can defend the mountain gate, but it can't protect what's outside.

We need to attack, to strike out, to take the fight to their doorsteps."

Xiao Nianyin was silent for a moment.

"So you're building these things to strike out?"

"Yes," Xu Ruyu turned to look into her eyes. "Not just for self-defense, but to make them afraid to come again.

To make their legs go weak, their bodies tremble at the mere thought of the Hehuan Sect, to make them dare not harbor any wicked ideas.

Fight once, fear for a lifetime—that's my goal.

Scare them once, and they won't dare a hundred times.

I want them to fear the Hehuan Sect from the marrow of their bones."

Xiao Nianyin didn't speak further.

She sat down beside him, not reading, just sitting there quietly.

Outside the window, the light screen continued to flow. Inside, the lamp remained lit until the sky began to lighten in the east.

Xu Ruyu finished the last stroke, straightened his back, carefully gathered the drawings, stacked them neatly, and placed an inkstone on top to weigh them down.

Then he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

Xiao Nianyin sat beside him watching. After a long while, she whispered something only she could hear.

"The things you're building will make the Hehuan Sect soar." She paused. "Wherever it flies, I'll follow you there."

The lights in the Weaponry Workshop were still on.

The furnace fire cast a red glow on the walls, projecting the shadows of metal components onto the ground, long and short, short and long.

Wang Tie, with a few Disciples, was still polishing a cannon barrel, the rasping sound particularly clear in the night.

Zhao Xiaogang was forging connecting plates for the tracks, the clanging of the hammer ringing out.

Xu Ruyu leaned back in his chair, his breathing gradually becoming steady as he fell asleep.

Xiao Nianyin didn't wake him. She took an outer robe from nearby and gently draped it over him.

Her movements were very light, as if afraid of disturbing something.

Outside the window, the light screen continued to flow, cradling the entire Hehuan Sect in its embrace.

Within the light screen, the lights of the Weaponry Workshop still burned, like another sun that never set.