Seizing the Autocannon

At this moment, they were about a mile, or five hundred meters, away from the battlefield. Watching the cannon smoke out and the siege tower and catapult shatter into pieces, they all understood that if this thing were to be fired at them, it would pose the same threat.

Xiao Xuan nodded and said, "If we're far enough away, we can dodge it with our Movement Method. But if it really hits us, our True Qi and Spiritual Power shield probably won't be able to stop it at all."

He paused here, "If it were close up..."

He ultimately didn't say those two words.

Xiao Zhen, standing beside him, took the message and said, "You don't need to hide it; I'll tell you for you—if you get hit at close range, you'll definitely die."

Xiao Xuan frowned and said, "Doesn't that mean that even a mortal wielding this thing could kill us?"

Xiao Zhen said, "That's right. But as you can see, this thing is very heavy; ordinary people can't lift it and can only fight in one fixed place."

"If we had this in our hands, its power would be completely different. We could fight it while holding it, or while flying; it could be used both in the air and on the ground."

He said, his eyes fixed on the cannon, "Why don't we take it? Don't you think it's a waste to leave such a good thing in their hands?"

Xiao Xuan's eyes lit up, and he said, "That's right. If we join forces, one of us can go up and draw fire, while the other attacks from the side. It only has one target; it can't defend both ends."

Xiao Zhen waved his hand, not in a hurry to agree.

"It's best not to make a move if possible. Why don't we let these Government Army breach the city wall and seize this thing? We can take it back later, isn't that the same thing?"

Xiao Xuan shook his head and said, "I doubt it. With this thing here, the Government Army won't be able to get close at all, and this city wall won't be able to be taken."

As they were talking, they both heard it.

From several other sections of the city wall, the sound of "clattering" could also be heard. From a distance, and with the noise of the battlefield, ordinary people couldn't hear it clearly, but they were cultivators with sharp ears, and they heard it clearly.

But the sound was different from the cannon at the south gate; this one was deeper and louder.

The two exchanged another glance.

Xiao Xuan asked, "Could it be that such weapons exist elsewhere?"

Xiao Zhen listened intently and said, "The items are different, the voices don't match. But it seems there's one each on the east, west, and north sides."

"Judging from the noise, there's only one in each location, so it seems they don't have many of these weapons."

At this moment, Xiao Chenglie, who was standing next to him, also noticed it, and his expression became serious.

He leaned closer and asked, "Two immortal masters, is this... a celestial weapon on the city wall? Its power is far too great."

Xiao Zhen shook his head and said, "We've never seen this thing before either. But since it doesn't emit any Spiritual Power fluctuations when used, it's definitely not a celestial weapon. It must have been invented by an ordinary person."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Chenglie's heart sank even further.

He sighed and said, "With this thing around, attacking the city will be too difficult."

He wanted to ask the two immortal masters for help, but he swallowed the words back. He knew that he couldn't disturb them until the very last moment.

All he could do now was gaze at the city, his brow furrowed.

Another quarter of an hour passed, and Xiao Xuan, observing the battle situation below the city, finally couldn't hold back any longer.

The Government Army suffered heavy casualties, charging forward without any cover. Twenty or thirty siege ladders were erected on the city wall, with people crammed underneath. Arrows rained down relentlessly from the city walls, and people fell one after another.

He lowered his voice and said, "I think we should go ahead."

Xiao Zhen stared at the city wall, realizing that they couldn't delay any longer, and nodded.

"Alright. Let's seize that weapon, then head back to Azure Cloud Stronghold and kill that Rogue Cultivator as well. Then no one will know what happened here."

Xiao Xuan shook his head and said, "It's impossible for no one to know. With so many people watching on the battlefield, it'll spread sooner or later."

He paused, his eyes hardening, "But what's wrong with it spreading in my Great Qian Kingdom?"

The two of them had made up their minds.

Hearing that they were about to intervene, Xiao Chenglie, who was standing nearby, was both surprised and delighted, and quickly said, "Then we'll have to trouble you two immortal masters!"

Eager to succeed, Xiao Zhen said, "I'll go up and grab the weapon first. You cover me from the side and draw away the defenders' fire."

Xiao Xuan responded, "Okay, don't worry, we'll go together."

Xiao Xuan said, "We won't use flying swords or reveal our cultivation methods. We'll just blend into the ranks of soldiers, activate our Spiritual Power shields, and charge forward."

"They'll mostly just see us as two brave warriors willing to fight to the death. The only ones who can really tell the difference are the people nearby; we don't want to make ourselves visible all over the battlefield—that would be too conspicuous."

Xiao Zhen nodded and said, "Okay. Let's set off now."

The two did not use their flying swords, but instead mingled among the attacking soldiers, using the crowd and shield carts as cover to slowly make their way towards the base of the city wall.

The defenders on the city wall were initially completely unaware, preoccupied with firing arrows and throwing stones down.

Upon reaching the city walls, Xiao Zhen was the quickest, leaping up a ladder and scrambling up in a few bounds.

The crossbow bolts from the city wall clanged as they struck him, but he was protected by a Spiritual Power shield and was unharmed. In the blink of an eye, he scaled the city wall.

Once he entered the city, the machine gun couldn't fire—his own men were all mixed together, and he was afraid of accidentally hitting them.

Upon seeing this, the nearby garrison, guns in hand and knives raised, roared and surrounded the enemy to block them.

Holding his sword, Xiao Zhen's eyes were fixed on the cannon as he charged into the crowd. His sword flashed and fell like slicing vegetables, and the surrounding defenders fell to the ground in the blink of an eye.

Hu Tieniu, who was on the city wall, saw clearly that the cultivator had killed a group of people in the blink of an eye. His eyes turned red, and he grabbed his submachine gun and fired a burst at Xiao Zhen.

"Da da!"

Xiao Zhen had intended to grab the cannon and leave, his entire focus was on it, but unexpectedly a hail of bullets suddenly came from the side.

He couldn't dodge in time and was hit by several bullets.

Fortunately, the submachine gun bullets had limited power; although they hurt when they hit the Spiritual Power shield, the shield didn't break.

Xiao Zhen was both shocked and furious. Only then did he realize that the dark-faced giant was holding a strange weapon that could fire in rapid succession.

He abandoned his attempt to seize the cannon, gritted his teeth, and charged towards Hu Tieniu with his sword.

The surrounding guards surged up from all directions, some stabbing with spears, others shooting with crossbows, but he ignored them all. He protected himself with his sword and rushed to the foot of the city wall in a few steps.

On the other side, Xiao Xuan also climbed up from another cloud ladder.

He spotted Xiao Zhen trapped below the city wall, with the machine gun still mounted behind the wall and the area nearby suddenly empty. Without a word, he drew his sword and charged straight at the cannon.

All of this was observed by Shen Jingchuan atop a distant mountain.

He was just watching the excitement when he suddenly sensed Spiritual Power fluctuations on the city wall and two figures moving at an unusually fast speed, climbing the cloud ladder in the blink of an eye.

He snorted coldly and stood up from the hilltop.

"It seems they couldn't resist using cultivators after all."

"Since you broke the rules first, don't blame me for taking action."

With a Divine Sense, he summoned Little Black and mounted it.

Little Black leaped into the air like a bolt of lightning, hurtling straight towards the south gate.

The two cultivators on the city wall, one about to reach Hu Tieniu and the other only a few steps away from the cannon, both thought they were about to succeed.

Just then, a sharp shout came from above.

"Those two shameless cultivators! These are ordinary people fighting, what are you meddling for?"

"Are you from the royal Xiao Household? Get down here!"

Both cultivators were mixed in with the defenders and the attackers. Fearing that he might hurt his own men if he acted rashly, Shen Jingchuan cursed from the sky first, trying to lure them out.