Opening with a Map Cannon

Brain storage area.

3 days remaining until the main plot of Legend of the Dragon King begins!

Shrek City.

"Eh~ A-Qi, tell me, are these Shrek students incapable of understanding human speech? Or do they have their own internal Shrek-speak? They've been beaten black and blue by us these past few years, yet they still don't learn. They're back again, so annoying..."

A black-haired youth lay prone on a rooftop somewhere, his features handsome, a faint smile playing on his face.

In his arms rested a heavy sniper rifle cast from an unknown dark metal, its barrel filled with flowing crimson magma through cracks. Through the N-fold full-spectrum lens, his field of vision fell precisely on the main entrance of the Spirit Pagoda.

At this moment, five top students from Shrek Academy were being subdued by his Sharp Bee Hunting clones, their faces pressed into the dirt in utter humiliation. Yet, they were still baring their teeth, clearly in need of a harsh lesson from society.

Leng Yaozhu rubbed her temples in frustration. She looked toward the direction of Shrek Academy, where a long spear was breaking the sound barrier, sonic booms echoing in rapid succession as it sped toward them!

"Su Jiu, are you certain you want to use Flame Demon Roar? Given your current physical constitution, I suggest you do not use it!"

A clear, ethereal, yet entirely emotionless electronic voice entered Su Jiu's ears. Even though he knew A-Qi would never harm him, Su Jiu gently stroked the ferocious demonic goat head on the rifle, as if treating a lover. The heat and tenderness in the sniper's eyes could not be hidden.

"Hehe, it's rare that I've just advanced to Title Douluo, let me fire one shot~"

"Oh, and remember to use the Void to mask my aura. If that old fogey Yun Ming discovers us, neither of us will have a good time."

"Yaozhu, for the sake of our past friendship, give me some face and let them go..."

This had almost become a mandatory ritual for Yun Ming during exam months in recent years. But as the Pavilion Master of the Sea God Pavilion, he had to take these inner court students back; it concerned the glory of Shrek.

"Heh~ Yun Ming, you've been like this for the past few years. Do you really think the face of this Sky Phoenix Douluo is like cheap cabbage in the fields, to be given away whenever you ask?"

"I'll lay it out for you today: one 100,000-year Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, or we go through federal law and you can watch them rot in a cell!"

The Su Jiu clone (modeled after NoNo from Seer) spoke in a cold, electronic tone, his words dripping with the confidence of someone holding all the cards.

"Pavilion Master Yun, it starts at three years. Surely you don't want these five to waste three precious golden years of cultivation over a single immortal herb? Or is it that in your eyes, a mere immortal herb is worth less than five future Title Douluos?"

Rot in a cell? A threat?

He, Yun Ming!

A Limit Quasi-God, a four-word Battle Armor Master, the current Pavilion Master of the Sea God Pavilion, the number one person on the continent, and a holder of a half-god position—he was the least afraid of threats!

Su Jiu's threat undoubtedly ignited Yun Ming's fury. His eyes widened, glaring fixedly at the unknown mechanical creature beside Leng Yaozhu. It was this little gadget that had defeated his five inner court students!

"You want an immortal herb? Keep dreaming! I'll lay it out too: today, not only am I taking my students back, but you won't get a single blade of that herb either. My Sky-Propping Spear has yet to taste defeat!"

Just then, an extreme sense of crisis pierced his crown. This was the innate biological warning mechanism of every living creature, and as a peak Quasi-God, Yun Ming had developed this function to the absolute human limit!

He didn't hesitate; his formidable Spirit Domain-level spiritual power erupted instantly, covering the entirety of Shrek City, yet it yielded no feedback!

The sense of crisis remained!

On the other side, with A-Qi's assistance, Su Jiu felt as if he had unlocked his full potential. The crosshairs of Flame Demon Roar were locked precisely onto the center of Yun Ming's brow. No matter how Yun Ming moved, he could not shake the crosshairs from his vision.

Su Jiu didn't know if a species like a Quasi-God—not quite a god, but far beyond a human—could survive a shot from a weapon powered by three spirit souls that were all Golden-Haired Lion Mastiffs!

That's right, Flame Demon Roar possessed both the attributes of Ultimate Fire and Destruction. Since such spirit souls were rare in the world, he had no choice but to resort to this desperate measure, maxing out his power and explosive output.

The result was slightly beyond his expectations: all eight spirit ring skills acted upon his martial soul, rather than himself.

His martial soul, Flame Demon Roar, could be described as having maxed-out power, penetration, explosive force, and range. Even the Coiling Dragon Staff, unique to the Qiangu family and famous for its explosive power, was left in the dust!

Flame Demon Roar had the numbers, the mechanics, and the raw output, perfectly embodying the aesthetics of extreme violence.

Furthermore, because it was a tool-type martial soul, Su Jiu was not suppressed by any bloodline or martial soul!

Dragon King? Dragon Might? Bloodline suppression?

Ridiculous!

Suddenly, a playful glint appeared at the corner of Su Jiu's mouth. It was time to repay some of the debt the Spirit Pagoda had owed him for years of nurturing.

"Pavilion Master Yun, may I ask which hand Long Yeyue used to strike the old Pagoda Master Qiangu Dieyan back then?"

The Su Jiu clone asked this question out of the blue, causing the tense scene to fall into silence once more. Everyone present, except for Leng Yaozhu, was confused as to what this mechanical creature meant.

"The right hand!"

Leng Yaozhu replied instantly. She understood immediately, a beautiful smile curling her lips. It seemed some old hag was about to have a stroke of bad luck.

This left Yun Ming even more bewildered. Elder Long was likely drinking afternoon tea by the Sea God Lake right now; why were they asking this?

The next moment, Yun Ming's biological crisis warning vanished like a receding tide. The target had shifted to Long Yeyue, who was thousands of meters away, leisurely sipping tea.

Because Su Jiu was aiming at her hand, her biological warning system was essentially idling, causing only her right eyelid to twitch slightly, which failed to draw much attention from the Great Elder of Shrek.

Yun Ming reacted instantly, finally understanding the implication, but it was already too late!

"Stop!"

As Su Jiu's first six black spirit rings lit up, his spirit power and skills surged like a hundred rivers into the sea, pouring into the special initial bullet. The eyes of the demonic skull on the muzzle of Flame Demon Roar glowed red, and an aura of extreme heat and ominous destruction gathered at the barrel.

A-Qi:

Sniper distance: 32,578 meters;
Wind speed: 0.5m/s;

Wind direction: Northeast;

Humidity: 55%;

Air pressure: 104.3kpa;

Calibration complete. Launch?

The next second, the trigger was pulled, and the map-wide cannon activated!

"BOOM!!!"

A deafening gunshot rang out. The barrel, resembling gills, spewed a massive amount of volcanic ash from both sides. A crimson bullet surged from the muzzle at an unimaginable speed, actually tearing through the limitations of the plane. Everywhere it passed, space was shredded, with spatial fragments falling like snowflakes. A starlit bullet trajectory tore across the horizon!

In less than half a second, Long Yeyue's right hand, nearly 30,000 meters away, was pierced through on the spot. The extreme fire and destructive attributes on the bullet obliterated her meridians and nerves, carbonizing them. By the time Long Yeyue reacted, her right hand and the cup were... gone?!!!

Intense pain followed immediately, crazily gnawing at Long Yeyue's nerves. A shriek like a slaughtered pig exploded on the spot, as if she had suffered some inhuman torture...

At the same time, Su Jiu was sent reeling by the terrifying recoil of the Flame Demon Roar, spitting out a mouthful of blood. The blood in his right arm surged in reverse, his soul power fell into chaos, and his shoulder bone trembled. As he stood up, his entire body staggered backward a few steps.

It was fortunate that only the first six were lit up...