War Begins! Cannons Roar

The next day.

The sky had just begun to brighten.

A tremor that shook the earth and mountains emanated from the direction of the Royal Capital.

Even from several miles away, the soldiers of the Murong Earldom could see the black torrent spreading toward them.

It surged like a tsunami, as if it intended to swallow the entire world.

"Su Changge, can the ten thousand soldiers under your command, along with those trenches outside the city, truly hold back such a massive army?"

Xue Qinghe stood atop the camp ramparts, gazing into the distance alongside Su Changge, Pufferfish Douluo, and the Thirteenth Princess.

Watching that endless black torrent, he could not help but gasp.

Deep down, he felt a vague regret: why had he listened to Su Changge's nonsense last night and agreed to a decisive battle against the joint forces of the Third Prince, the Fifth Prince, and the Seventh Princess at such an inappropriate time and place?

If they lost, wasting two months of time and massive resources was a minor matter.

But if word of this reached the Empire and the ears of his political rivals in the royal family, he would lose face in a spectacular fashion.

"Your Highness, rest easy!"

"Even if I were reckless, I wouldn't throw my own foundation away just to seek death, would I?"

As they spoke, the joint forces had already reached a position less than two miles from the camp.

The soldiers of the Murong Earldom had long since prepared in accordance with their prior rehearsals!

The Musket Cavalry were all mounted, ready to strike the enemy's flanks at any moment.

Three thousand musketeers had entered the trenches, waiting in a three-stage firing formation.

Three thousand shield-bearers moved a hundred meters out of the camp, ready to provide support.

Behind them, one hundred and eighty Divine Fire Thunderbolt Cannon v2.0s were calibrated for height and distance... the range was already covered.

At the front of the enemy lines.

The Third Prince, the Fifth Prince, and the Seventh Princess stood before their army, flanked by seven or eight Spirit Douluo and twenty or thirty top-tier Spirit Masters at the Spirit Saint level.

The lineup was gorgeous to the extreme.

Coupled with the hundred-thousand-strong army arrayed behind them!

If their supply lines held, they would have enough strength to assault Jialing Pass.

"Princess, shall we gather a few high-level Spirit Master squads to charge their formation?"

"With such a flimsy defense line, we could wipe out the enemy in front of us in half an hour!"

Staring at the soldiers of the Murong Earldom, two Spirit Douluo from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan leaned in and whispered.

Their tone was flat, but anyone could hear the disdain within it.

"No, it is not yet time for you to act. Our true enemy is not the Thirteenth Princess... being too proactive now will only let others reap the rewards."

The Seventh Princess, Alice, seemed very satisfied with the initiative shown by the two Spirit Douluo of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

Looking across the entire Haagen-Dazs Kingdom, besides her, Alice... who else could command the active support of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, one of the Upper Three Sects?

After a brief consultation, the moment the war horn sounded, the vanguard and flank legions of the joint forces—totaling seventy to eighty thousand troops—launched a simultaneous charge toward the Earldom's camp, leaving the central guard untouched.

"Kill!!!"

The battle cries of tens of thousands of soldiers stirred up clouds of blood and dust.

If it were ordinary civilians, even just witnessing such a sight would be enough to scare them to death.

As the enemy vanguard drew closer to the trenches, the three thousand musketeers raised their matchlocks and took aim.

At this moment, Su Changge, standing atop the camp, waved his hand sharply.

One hundred and eighty Divine Fire Thunderbolt Cannon v2.0s roared with the sound of death almost simultaneously.

Whoosh... BOOM!

Watching the black shadows streaking through the sky at high speed, the joint army ignored them, assuming they were merely stone projectiles launched by enemy catapults.

In such a situation, retreating was often the most foolish choice.

Only by continuing to charge and reaching the blind spot of the catapults could they have a chance at survival.

However, the moment those black shadows landed, the soldiers of the joint army realized they were wrong—horribly, catastrophically wrong.

Amidst the sharp whistling, the unknown projectiles pierced through heavy cavalry and infantry alike, and the moment they struck the ground, they detonated completely...

Raging flames, scorching heat, and shrapnel flying in all directions turned the area within a ten-meter radius into a living hell.

Having witnessed this tragic scene with their own eyes, everyone—from the top combatants and trusted aides of the Third Prince, Fifth Prince, and Seventh Princess, to Xue Qinghe, Pufferfish Douluo, and the Thirteenth Princess standing beside Su Changge—was left utterly shocked.

What exactly was this before their eyes?

In their understanding, there was no war machine capable of producing such terrifying power or such devastating lethality...

"What... what in the world is this!!!"

"Could it be a Spirit Tool???"

The Fifth Prince Zoki was nearly scared out of his wits, watching the scene with a deathly pale complexion as he let out a shriek of terror.

Yet, what could such mindless howling possibly change?

Under the countless horrified gazes of the coalition army, those unknown war machines roared once more.

Shell after shell tore through the firmament like blades from the heavens, blanketing the tens of thousands of coalition troops who had launched the assault.

"Damn it... don't stop! Charge! Only by charging through can we survive!!!"

After the one hundred and eighty Divine Fire Thunderbolt Cannons v2.0 fired their tenth volley, and the coalition army had suffered nearly twenty thousand casualties, the vanguard finally reached the edge of the trenches.

Before the vanguard soldiers could even catch their breath, the sound of dense, rhythmic gunfire echoed across the entire plain.

One could see the heavily armored elite soldiers and their warhorses falling like stalks of autumn wheat, row after row, after being struck by the specialized spiral steel bullets.

Looking down from above, it resembled the sight of an ocean tide receding.

No matter how many times the coalition army charged, they could not breach that chasm.

Watching as the seventy or eighty thousand troops of the coalition army lost more than half their numbers in just over ten minutes, at this moment... Xue Qinghe could no longer stand still.

He stepped forward quickly, his hands gripping Su Changge's shoulders tightly.

"Su... Chang... ge!!! What exactly are those things you call cannons and muskets!!!?"

"Is this what you referred to as little trinkets?"

As the daughter of Pope Bibi Dong and having served as the Crown Prince of the Heaven Dou Empire for so many years, her vision... was absolutely superior to ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent of the people in the world.

If the quantity of cannons and muskets Su Changge possessed were to double, this power would be enough to breach Jialing Pass!

Wherever the blade of the army pointed, it would be invincible.

If held in the hands of an emperor, it was a strategic weapon capable of overturning the landscape of the continent.

"Crown Prince... Your Highness, calm down, please calm down."

"I know what you are thinking."

"However, strictly speaking, these things do not contain any high-tech components. If applied on a large scale, they will sooner or later be replicated by the enemy..."

"If Your Highness is interested, I can gift you all the forging blueprints for these little trinkets."

Watching Xue Qinghe's face draw closer and closer to his own, Su Changge retreated continuously.

If it were Qian Renxue herself, he would very likely have leaned in voluntarily...

But facing a man, he just couldn't handle it.