Chapter 127: Tiger Crouching Cannon

Meng Yifan employed the Lingbo Microsteps lightness skill, his body flickering as he advanced at supersonic speed, and soon arrived at a mountain pass twelve meters wide.

This was the only path for the fleeing soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion; as long as this pass was held, those remnants of the Divine Machine Battalion would have no hope of escape.

Meng Yifan stood at the pass, looking at the massive opening, and pondered how to intercept all the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion; suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he thought of a method.

"Big! Big! Big!" Meng Yifan channeled his thick True Qi into the Artifact Shield, and the shield grew in the wind, quickly becoming a massive shield twelve meters wide, placed at the pass like a sturdy gate, blocking the entire passage.

Because the Artifact Shield had been enlarged nearly eight or nine times, the gap had also expanded accordingly; this was the weak point in the Artifact Shield's defense, and if an expert were to attack this spot, it would be easy to breach the Artifact Shield.

Meng Yifan's left hand pressed against the Artifact Shield, maintaining the flow of True Qi, and a layer of earthy yellow light emerged on the Artifact Shield, making it appear indestructible.

It is said that Immortal Cultivators possess Spirit Power and can manipulate Dharma Artifacts from a distance; some Immortal Masters can, with a single thought, send a Flying Sword soaring for thousands of meters, taking a person's head as easily as reaching into a bag.

Unfortunately, Meng Yifan was only a Martial Artist; to control the Artifact Shield, he could only continuously channel True Qi, otherwise, the Artifact Shield would quickly return to its original size.

Meng Yifan gripped the Ghost Head Blade with his right hand and stood behind that gap, like a great general guarding a pass against ten thousand, and if the remnants of the Divine Machine Battalion wanted to pass, they would have to get past Meng Yifan.

"Run! The rebels behind are catching up! Damn it, those bastards, they're shelling us with cannons!"

"Oh no, that pass is blocked by the rebels."

The remnants of the Divine Machine Battalion ran to this pass and saw the enlarged Artifact Shield; their faces changed drastically, as if struck by Thunder, and with pursuers behind and an obstruction in front, the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion were caught in a dilemma, trapped in a desperate situation.

"He's only one man, everyone fight! Charge through, brothers in front, hurry and charge through!"

The soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion fought like trapped beasts; in order to survive, they charged forward desperately.

"Bang! Bang!" When the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion ran here, heavy weapons like the Shenwu Great General Cannon had long since been discarded, but many soldiers still carried light weapons like Bird Guns, and some were carrying light cannons like the Tiger Crouching Cannon; at this moment, they opened fire on the Artifact Shield one after another.

The Tiger Crouching Cannon is two feet long from head to tail, with seven iron hoops around its body; the muzzle is supported by two iron claws, with additional iron shackles for stability.

When the Tiger Crouching Cannon fires, it resembles a crouching tiger, looking quite imposing, which is why it is called the Tiger Crouching Cannon.

This is a type of light, small cannon, weighing no more than 36 jin in total; the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion were all at least First Grade Martial Artists, so they could run while carrying such light cannons.

However, compared to the Shenwu Great General Cannon, this Tiger Crouching Cannon has much less power and a shorter range, so the Divine Machine Battalion was not heavily equipped with them.

The Tiger Crouching Cannon is somewhat similar to the Elm Cannon manufactured by Meng Yifan, both being very portable, but because the Tiger Crouching Cannon is made of steel, its performance is more advanced than the Elm Cannon.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Over a hundred Lead Bullets struck the Artifact Shield, but it was like a mayfly shaking a giant tree; the earthy yellow light on the Artifact Shield flickered slightly and neutralized the impact of these Lead Bullets.

Some Lead Bullets also struck the gap in the Artifact Shield; the kinetic energy contained in the Lead Bullets could cause the earthy yellow light to cave in, forming a large pit, but Meng Yifan, guarding behind this gap, could easily swat away the Lead Bullets that had lost their kinetic energy.

"The Tiger Crouching Cannon should hit the middle section, that's the weak point in the defense!" someone among the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion shouted.

Over a hundred Bird Guns and five Tiger Crouching Cannons aimed at the gap in the Artifact Shield and opened fire again.

It must be said that the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion were elite; these hundred-plus Lead Bullets all struck the weak point of the Artifact Shield's defense with precision.

Meng Yifan could easily block a small number of Lead Bullets, but with over a hundred Lead Bullets plus five bowl-sized cannonballs converging and all striking the weak point of the Artifact Shield's defense, Meng Yifan found it somewhat strenuous to hold them off.

The shells fired by the Tiger Crouching Cannon were also Explosive Shells; every shell would explode violently after hitting the Artifact Shield.

Meng Yifan braced the Artifact Shield, and every time a shell exploded, he felt as if he had been hit by a speeding car; even though he was already a Third Grade Martial Artist, he still felt his whole body shake violently and his arms ache.

Furthermore, the Artifact Shield was already damaged, and after the weak point was subjected to another round of heavy bombardment, it became even more dilapidated; the earthy yellow light on the outside of the shield grew dim, as if it might disappear completely at any moment.

Meng Yifan also discovered that some of the mysterious Runes on the shield had been shattered into fragments; looking at it this way, if it were to withstand another wave of bombardment, the Artifact Shield would likely be completely ruined.

This made Meng Yifan's heart ache; he only had a few Dharma Artifacts in total, and naturally, he did not want the Artifact Shield to be destroyed like this.

"The destructive power of the Lead Bullets fired by the Bird Guns isn't great; the main threat is the Explosive Shells fired by the Tiger Crouching Cannon. I must intercept the Explosive Shells in advance." Meng Yifan's thoughts raced, and he shouldered the Congreve Rocket Launcher.

"Quick, fire another round, that shield is about to be shattered!"

"Brothers in the back, form a line to block the pursuers! Brothers in the front, move faster, blow that son of a bitch to pieces!"

A surviving Centurion in the Divine Machine Battalion shouted loudly; the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion fought like trapped beasts, erupting with astonishing combat power.

Zhang Shagen and the other soldiers had already caught up with the remnants of the Divine Machine Battalion, and both sides began a brutal exchange of firearms.

"Boom! Boom!" Throughout the battlefield, guns and cannons roared, deafening to the ear; both sides suffered casualties, and the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion were knocked to the ground in droves, many of them blown to pieces by the Elm Cannons, with severed limbs and arms flying everywhere.

The sound of Experience Value notifications kept ringing in Meng Yifan's ears, and the Experience Value on the Game Panel was rising rapidly, but he had no time to look at them; the five Tiger Crouching Cannons of the Divine Machine Battalion roared again, and five more Explosive Shells flew toward Meng Yifan.

Meng Yifan's gaze was like lightning, fixed on the trajectories of the five Explosive Shells; his mind calculated rapidly, then he chose a firing position and suddenly launched a Rocket.

"Whoosh!" The Rocket, with flames spewing from its tail, streaked through space as fast as Thunder and precisely struck one of the high-speed Explosive Shells.

"Boom—!" The Rocket and the Explosive Shell exploded in mid-air, and dense shrapnel scattered in all directions; the other four Explosive Shells were also hit by the shrapnel, exploding in mid-air one after another.