Chapter 128: Victory

The Bird Gun's lead bullets could not pierce the Artifact Shield, the Explosive Shells fired by the Tiger Crouching Cannon were intercepted mid-way by rockets, and those who charged in for close-quarters combat were simply mowed down by Meng Yifan as if he were chopping melons and vegetables.

The remnants of the Divine Machine Battalion were running around in a panic, yet they were completely helpless.

Behind them, Meng Dayong also charged over with the Multi-tube Rocket Launcher, firing sixteen rockets simultaneously, instantly blowing more than a hundred Divine Machine Battalion soldiers to death.

Zhang Shagen and the other soldiers also set up the Elm Cannons and unleashed a volley at the Divine Machine Battalion soldiers, once again blowing more than two hundred of them to death.

As this great battle reached this point, the Thousand-man Unit of the Divine Machine Battalion had fewer than one hundred men left, and half of them were wounded; those still capable of fighting numbered no more than fifty.

Unable to escape and unable to win, these remaining remnants completely lost the courage to resist.

Meng Dayong and his men were rapidly reloading the cannons; by the next volley, the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion were destined to be wiped out.

The soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion were all in despair; they did not want to fight anymore, and they truly could not go on fighting.

The surviving Centurion of the Divine Machine Battalion was named Wang Dahai; he lowered his Tiger Crouching Cannon, raised his hands, and shouted loudly with a dejected expression, "Stop fighting, we surrender."

With someone taking the lead to surrender, the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion all breathed a sigh of relief and followed suit, laying down their weapons and raising their hands in surrender.

Meng Dayong led his soldiers to continue reloading the cannons, but after finishing, they did not open fire; instead, they all looked at Meng Yifan, waiting for his decision.

Meng Yifan hesitated for a moment; he wanted to finish them all off to exchange for Experience Value, so that he could prioritize training a few capable subordinates.

However, these Divine Machine Battalion soldiers were elite veterans; they were rich in combat experience, their cannon fire was extremely accurate, and they were very skilled in marching and warfare.

This time, they had been caught off guard by Meng Yifan's unconventional tactics; if both sides had set up their formations for a fair battle, Meng Yifan's soldiers would definitely not have been a match for the Divine Machine Battalion.

The one thousand new recruits Meng Yifan had recruited had only barely learned how to fire cannons and were still far behind the elites; if they had the veteran soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion to teach them hand-in-hand, their combat effectiveness would certainly improve rapidly.

"It would be a pity to kill them; let them be instructors for the soldiers." Thinking of this, Meng Yifan said in a clear voice, "Kneel on the ground and tie your hands with your belts."

With others as the knife and meat and themselves as the fish, Wang Dahai and his group did not dare to hesitate; they knelt on the ground one after another, tied each other's hands, and became Meng Yifan's prisoners.

The battle ended, and the battlefield, which had been roaring with cannon fire, finally quieted down.

"Victory."

"Haha, we won! The Divine Machine Battalion has been defeated by us."

"That's great, we won!"

Zhang Shagen and the other soldiers cheered loudly; some hugged each other, some waved their Bird Guns and jumped for joy, and some were so moved that their eyes filled with tears.

When they first learned that the Thousand-man Unit of the Divine Machine Battalion was coming to attack them, these new recruits were all filled with anxiety; they had all heard that the Divine Machine Battalion was an elite force of the Great Wu Heavenly Dynasty.

To become a soldier of the Divine Machine Battalion, everyone had to be at least a First Grade Martial Artist; the soldiers of the Divine Machine Battalion were all well-trained and had illustrious military achievements.

Zhang Shagen and the others were all new recruits who had only trained for five days, and the vast majority were just ordinary people, not even First Grade Martial Artists; compared to such a formidable opponent as the Divine Machine Battalion, they were just a rabble, not even in the same league.

When they went out to battle following Meng Yifan, Zhang Shagen and the others had already braced themselves for death, but after this battle, the soldiers had lost fewer than one hundred men while completely annihilating the Thousand-man Unit of the Divine Machine Battalion; this result left Zhang Shagen and the others unable to believe it was real.

As the soldiers cheered and jumped for joy, Meng Yifan discovered on the Game Panel that their Loyalty was soaring rapidly; among these soldiers, some had originally only had a Loyalty of sixty-something, counting only as ordinary Subjects.

Meng Yifan had led them to defeat the Thousand-man Unit of the Divine Machine Battalion, and their Loyalty had generally increased by more than ten points; for the soldiers who survived, their Loyalty had generally risen to over eighty points, becoming sincere Subjects.

From now on, even if Meng Yifan led them into a losing battle, they would follow him and continue to fight without abandoning him.

Meng Dayong led the soldiers to detain the prisoners, clean up the battlefield, and treat the wounded.

Meng Yifan also put away the Artifact Shield, feeling a bit pained to discover that the crack in the middle of the shield had become an inch wide, and there were other crisscrossing fine cracks in other areas.

It was obvious that this Artifact Shield might be completely ruined after being used a few more times; just then, Wang Dachui walked over, and Meng Yifan hurriedly said, "Master Wang, come and take a look; can you repair this kind of Artifact Shield?"

Wang Dachui took the Artifact Shield and studied it for a long time, but he could not determine what material the shield was made of, let alone repair it.

Meng Yifan demonstrated that the Artifact Shield could grow larger and smaller after being infused with Spirit Power, which made Wang Dachui click his tongue in wonder; ordinary steel materials could absolutely not achieve this.

Wang Dachui shook his head and said, "Lord Meng, I cannot repair Dharma Artifacts. Dharma Artifacts are magical weapons that only Immortal Masters can create; if you want to repair a Dharma Artifact, you can only ask an Immortal Master for help."

"Lord Meng, perhaps the master of Wanxiang Tower has a way to repair Dharma Artifacts."

Meng Yifan nodded and put the Artifact Shield away; it seemed that after returning to the city, he would have to take a trip to Wanxiang Tower.

Meng Yifan had finished off Lu Dazhi and occupied Luolong County, yet that mysterious master of Wanxiang Tower had never stepped forward to help Lu Dazhi, nor had he come out to denounce Meng Yifan, as if he did not care at all about who controlled Luolong County; this left Meng Yifan somewhat confused, not knowing what kind of person this mysterious master was.

It had long been rumored in Luolong County that the master of Wanxiang Tower was an Immortal Cultivator; Meng Yifan had previously been weak and did not dare to provoke Wanxiang Tower.

Now, Meng Yifan was already a Third Grade Lower Tier Martial Artist, and he possessed four extraordinary items: the Ghost Head Blade, the Binding Demon Rope, the Artifact Shield, and the County Magistrate Seal.

He also had the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat, which was comparable to a Third Grade Martial Artist, as well as ghost generals and ghost soldiers; his overall strength had greatly increased, so even if the master of Wanxiang Tower was comparable to a Fourth-Grade Martial Artist, Meng Yifan would still have the strength to fight him.

Meng Yifan was very interested in Cultivating Immortality and Seeking the Dao and achieving eternal life; he planned to go to Wanxiang Tower to have a good talk with that master after returning to the city to see if he could obtain an Immortal Cultivation Technique from him.

Outside the city of Luolong, more than a thousand people had died, and blood flowed like a river; the air was filled with the smell of gunpowder and blood, which made one want to vomit.

On the battlefield, many corpses had been blown to pieces by cannon fire, and the entire area was like a Shura hell.