Enlightenment: Attaining the Dao at Age 8

Chapter 159: Chapter 118: The Cluster Cannon Shows Its Might, Truth Is Only Within Range

Although the soldiers had yet to become Transcendents, their physical conditioning and combat strength had skyrocketed.

Along with this increase in combat strength came a surge in the soldiers’ admiration for Li Chang’an.

After all, they were the grunts who always suffered the most casualties whenever an Exotic Beast Tide erupted. And yet, Li Chang’an was willing to provide them with a Cultivation Method.

He was even willing to give them the cultivation resources to go along with it.

To them, this was a life-changing gift.

After inspecting the soldiers, Li Chang’an made his way to the barbican where the Energy Particle Beam Cannons and Super Electromagnetic Cannons were positioned.

The enhanced Energy Particle Beam Cannons and ten Super Electromagnetic Cannons were now fully assembled and deployed within the dedicated barbicans on three sides of the city.

The rows of dark, imposing muzzles gave the people of Cangxuan City an unprecedented sense of security.

After all, despite having lived in Cangxuan City for so many years, for many of them, it was the first time they had ever seen a full twenty state-of-the-art defensive armaments arranged in the city’s three barbicans!

The previous City Lord, by contrast, had only ever deployed three obsolete Energy Particle Beam Cannons here.

The former City Lord would only go to the trouble of renting a few newer models from his connections—at a premium, of course—if the Linjiang Reincarnator Association issued a notice that Dark Energy fluctuations in the Caves exceeded 3.0.

Under the former City Lord’s simplistic ’better to rent than to buy’ mindset, the citizens of Cangxuan City could never have felt the kind of security that Li Chang’an now provided.

—Range is truth; caliber is justice!

…

Seeing the populace’s wild excitement, the engineers responsible for assembling these twenty high-tech cannons couldn’t help but feel their stomachs churn with anxiety.

It’s as they say: laymen watch for the excitement, while experts look for the craft.

The common folk were inexperienced; they had no idea just how many hidden problems these twenty cannons might have.

But as the ones who had assembled them, the engineers knew the truth all too well. ’These twenty high-tech cannons are all untested prototypes that have never been through a single field test!’

’No matter how precise Li Chang’an’s blueprints are or how impressive the on-paper specs look, it doesn’t change the fact that these weapons have never seen a single real-world combat test!’

’Even if Li Chang’an is a once-in-a-generation genius, capable of designing a high-tech weapon with a Martial Artist’s simple mindset that even scientists would struggle with, and even if those weapons actually work as designed, their stability and destructive power are still a massive question mark.’

’They might work fine one second… and the next, the barrels could explode and kill a few of our own men.’

The ten Energy Particle Beam Cannons weren’t quite so terrifying, as they were weapons with a proven track record in the Main World.

It was Li Chang’an’s independently designed Super Electromagnetic Cannons that truly had the engineers terrified.

’After all, even on the Main World’s tech tree, the Super Electromagnetic Cannon is still an experimental ’three-no’ product—not fully researched, not yet in production, and certainly not certified.’

’Putting aside the question of whether Li Chang’an’s contraption can even fire, or if its destructive power will be as laughably low as other prototypes… what about the power draw? If all ten Super Electromagnetic Cannons were to fire simultaneously, would Cangxuan City’s entire power grid even be able to handle the load?’

’The whole city would probably be plunged into a blackout, wouldn’t it?’

These questions left the engineers deeply unsettled. They were terrified that if the weapons malfunctioned, Li Chang’an would pin the blame on them.

If it weren’t such a critical moment, with the Exotic Beast Tide ready to erupt at any second, and if raising these sensitive topics didn’t risk destabilizing morale, they would have gone to Li Chang’an to have a serious talk right away.

…

Just as everyone in Cangxuan City was on high alert…

Li Chang’an suddenly saw a black light bloom on the distant horizon. It erupted from the ground to the northeast of Linjiang, a pillar of darkness connecting heaven and earth as it shot into the sky.

Soon, the entire sky above Linjiang was dyed a lightless, inky black.

It was as if the world had plunged into Hell in an instant.

Inky black raindrops pattered down, unable to conceal the pale faces of everyone present.

Watching the dramatic change unfold before him, Li Chang’an clasped his hands behind his back, took a deep breath, and said, “The Dark Energy has erupted. The Exotic Beast Tide is here. But this is a bit bigger than usual!”

No one present was a stranger to the Exotic Beast Tides.

Ordinarily, they wouldn’t have been so helpless and confused.

But the scale of this one was truly out of the ordinary, and expressions flickered with fear across many faces.

「Half an hour later.」

The entire city of Cangxuan began to feel violent tremors.

If their line of sight was clear enough, the soldiers on the walls could just make out hideous, terrifying monsters under the darkened horizon, stampeding toward them.

Cangxuan City was located in Linjiang’s central region, so it wouldn’t have to bear the brunt of the initial assault; the cities closest to the Cave would be the first to be hit.

Even so, Cangxuan City was ready for battle!

When the first scattered Exotic Beasts came within three thousand meters of Cangxuan City, the stench of death—like rotting, festering flesh—was so overpowering that people could barely keep their eyes open.

On the city walls, shimmering azure barriers materialized, sealing off the corrosive stench.

Li Chang’an turned his head to look at the engineers at the firing controls not far behind him and commanded, “Cannon Three, aim the cluster shot!”

Hearing Li Chang’an’s command, the engineers at the firing controls exchanged uneasy glances.

But at this point, they were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t. They could only grit their teeth and aim the cluster shot at the Exotic Beasts drawing ever closer to the city walls.

’I just hope this shell doesn’t blow us sky-high…’ the engineers thought.

—————–

PS: Recommending two of my friend’s books!

Under One Person: Tampering with Jia Shen! The Killer is Uchiha

Ascending to Godhood Through the Martial Dao in a Lovecraftian Era

If you’re interested, go check them out!

Also, a reader pointed out that I wrote the protagonist’s level incorrectly in a previous Chapter. I’ve corrected it now. To clarify, the MC’s current level in the Main World is Tier Three Peak, and he should now be breaking through to Tier Four.