Giant Cannon [Second Update]

Chapter 48: Giant Cannon

"I understand! I understand!" Sha Diao shouted excitedly as he ran toward Xu Fan.

The impatient look on his face made him seem like an elementary school student who had just solved a difficult problem and was rushing to show off to his teacher.

"Junior Brother Xu, the outermost rune structure of yours serves as a relay for transmitting information. In theory, as long as there are enough relay magic artifacts, people can communicate with each other even across great distances." Sha Diao spoke excitedly, feeling as if he had touched upon a wondrous new field.

"Impressive. It took me a long time to figure out that rune structure." Xu Fan praised him. This Senior Brother Sha was a genius too.

"I'm nowhere near as impressive as Junior Brother Xu. You actually comprehended such a combination of rune arrays," Sha Diao replied.

By then, the Floating Sky Vessel had already traveled far from the continent, and the coastline behind it was no longer visible.

Just then, the entire fleet descended toward the sea. The Floating Sky Vessel and nine warships landed on the surface, raising wave after wave of massive swells.

At that moment, one of the warships emitted a strange sound, and one of its secondary cannons lit up with cyan radiance.

Bang!

With a thunderous boom, a cyan light pillar a meter thick shot directly toward the distant sea. The Golden Flame Patrols that had been patrolling the skies then rode their Golden Flame Birds toward the spot where the cyan light had struck.

Before long, a squad of Golden Flame Patrols returned, carrying a Giant Whale five hundred meters long.

"A fine start. Looks like this resource-gathering trip will bring in a huge haul," Sha Diao said as he watched the Giant Whale being carried in the distance.

"That's a Shallow Sea Giant Whale. Judging by its size, it should have been at the Void Refining Stage."

"We're in for a treat tonight. What a pity that with a Void Refining Stage Demon Beast, all we can do is drink the soup." Sha Diao spoke regretfully. Before reaching the Golden Core Stage, one could not eat things carelessly.

At that moment, Xu Fan was not concerned with whether he would get soup that night. He was marveling at how thrilling that Giant Cannon was. Just one shot, and a Void Refining Stage Demon Beast was gone.

Seeing Xu Fan's astonishment, Sha Diao laughed. That expression was exactly the same as his own back then. They had both been conquered by the charm of the Giant Cannons.

"Junior Brother Xu, it's your first time seeing cannon fire. You'll get used to it."

"That was only a secondary cannon. When we encounter Tribulation Transcendence and Mahayana Stage Demon Beasts, now that's a spectacle."

"When the main cannons of all nine warships fire together, they can even shatter space." Sha Diao exaggeratedly described the power of the main cannons firing in unison, filling Xu Fan with longing.

"Senior Brother Sha, how many Spirit Stones does firing that secondary cannon cost?" Xu Fan asked curiously.

"It doesn't consume only Spirit Stones, but if you convert it into Spirit Stones, one shot costs a hundred thousand."

"Those are minor issues. That Shallow Sea Giant Whale from earlier would fetch five hundred thousand Spirit Stones even if you just sold it off for parts." Sha Diao said. He had once asked his master the same question.

Xu Fan sucked in a cold breath. That one shot was worth more than a month of his work.

"That's nothing. The main cannon is what really gets your blood pumping. One shot costs five hundred thousand Spirit Stones, and it can wound Tribulation Transcendence and Mahayana Stage Demon Beasts." Sha Diao continued, then pulled Xu Fan back into discussing the idea behind that rune array.

Three days later, through Ye Xiaoyao's connections, Xu Fan boarded one of the warships. He had come mainly to study the rune array of the Spiritual Power Cannon.

After boarding the Floating Sky Vessel, Xu Fan discovered that the Heavenly Gate Sect showed tremendous favoritism toward Artifact Refiners and spared no effort in training them.

Over the past few days, because he had boarded the Floating Sky Vessel as an Artifact Refiner, Xu Fan had received a whole pile of scraps left over from gathering resources alone.

Xu Fan roughly estimated that those scraps were worth more than thirty thousand Spirit Stones. At the same time, Artifact Refiners were greatly welcomed aboard the Floating Sky Vessel to study the runes inscribed on its hull, in the hope that the Heavenly Gate Sect might someday create a Giant Boat capable of soaring across the Endless Sea.

Looking at the Nascent Soul Patrol beside him, Xu Fan sighed inwardly. This was the one bad thing about the Floating Sky Vessel Fleet: aside from dedicated Artifact Refiners and Pill Refiners, everyone else was at least at the Golden Core Stage. Even Golden Core cultivators were rarely seen.

As Xu Fan put it, if you randomly grabbed a cultivator in battle armor aboard the ship, they would at least be a Nascent Soul cultivator. If you were lucky, you might even catch a Void Refining Great Power.

"Senior, this junior only needs to observe the Giant Cannon's rune array. I don't need a guide," Xu Fan said, not expecting to receive such importance.

"It's fine. You observe what you need to observe. I just wanted to ask you for some advice. I've recently started learning Artifact Refining too," said a young man in battle armor. Once one reached the Nascent Soul Stage, one could reshape one's appearance.

Xu Fan did not stand on ceremony. He put on his eye magic artifact and began observing the runes on the Giant Cannon.

As Xu Fan observed the runes, he chatted with the Nascent Soul youth who had only just begun learning Artifact Refining.

"Little brother, what did you discover?" the Nascent Soul youth asked as he watched Xu Fan's astonished expression.

"Nothing. I'm just marveling at the rune craftsmanship of this warship, especially the runes on this Thunder Flame Giant Cannon. They're simply crafted with such divine ingenuity that they seem to steal the work of heaven itself. Combined with the special forging method of this cannon barrel, it really is..."

At that moment, Xu Fan was like a country bumpkin who had never seen high technology. The deeper he delved, the more clearly he understood the gap between them.

"What? I've observed these runes too. They seem like nothing special. Find the right Artifact Refiner, and we could make one ourselves," the Nascent Soul youth said dismissively, feeling that after learning Artifact Refining for a few decades, he could also build such a warship.

Xu Fan's urge to mock him was just about to erupt, but when he thought of the young man's Cultivation Base, he suppressed it.

Keep a low profile. Hold steady. Nitpickers did not live long in the cultivation world.

"Senior is right."

Xu Fan said no more. After observing the runes once, he returned to the Floating Sky Vessel.

The moment he arrived, Sha Diao grabbed him.

"Junior Brother Xu, sorry about this. I told my master about your idea, and he's very interested. He wants to have a chat with you," Sha Diao said apologetically.

Damn it, I treated you like a friend, and you sold me out.

Xu Fan had no choice but to follow Sha Diao to the Artifact Refining Department.

The moment he entered the Artifact Refining Department, Xu Fan was astonished once again. Just this space-expansion technique alone—without the corresponding runes, he would not be able to figure it out even after pondering it for a hundred years.

Outside, it was clearly just an ordinary room, yet its Inner Area was as vast as a small town in the mortal world.

Sha Diao led Xu Fan to an elderly man with a kindly face.

"Are you the friend Little Sha mentioned, the one with many ideas about Communication Artifacts?" the old man asked gently.

"That would be this junior." Xu Fan bowed.

"Your idea is quite interesting. I thought it over carefully. If we set up thirty-six thousand Large Treasure Artifacts throughout Elephant Prefecture specifically to serve as relays, then pair them with the idea behind your rune array..."

"Then cultivators throughout Elephant Prefecture could all use our Communication Artifacts."

"If we strengthen the Communication Artifacts a little further, we could directly hold long-distance Light Shadow Conversations." The old man spoke slowly.

Xu Fan's only thought at that moment was that one must never underestimate anyone's wisdom. Video Calls had already emerged—and they were even virtual projections.

There will be another update shortly.

Seeing how diligent Pork has been, could you esteemed readers give a few more votes~~~

(End of this chapter)