Chapter 271: 271. Chapter 271: Heart of the Earth

271. Chapter 271: Heart of the Earth

"Fire!"

With a roar from the bald man, all the ship cannons fired at once. The deafening thunderous roars merged into one, and a flash of fire erupted across the pirate fleet...

"Boom..."

"Boom..."

"Boom..."

Dense volleys of cannonballs rained down across the island. Where they struck the ground, sand and soil were blasted dozens of feet into the air; where they hit buildings, they shattered them into pieces; and where they landed in dense crowds, flesh and blood flew.

One volley was not enough; immediately followed by a second, a third, a fourth...

As the cannon fire continued incessantly, countless shells fell like rain, bombarding the interior of Da Gu City.

Buildings were razed to the ground in an instant, fire raged everywhere, and the number of people killed or injured by the shells was countless. Many corpses were charred black, and the air was filled with cries of agony.

Everyone on the island was stunned by the sudden barrage.

The Heavenly Wind had not yet completely ended, and no one expected the Black Dragon Pirate Group to sneak over at this time. The various clans on the island were caught completely off guard.

Island Lord Leng Qianqiu's face was dark. He looked toward the direction from which the shells were flying and roared, "Fire back! Sink those pirate ships! I will reward anyone who sinks a pirate ship heavily!"

Following the Island Lord's order, the Gu cultivators on the island swarmed into the defensive works. Some ran into the artillery emplacements, others rushed to the city walls lined with cannons, aiming their black muzzles toward the Black Dragon Pirate Group.

Then, both sides engaged in a fierce artillery duel. They bombarded each other, back and forth. The dense cannon fire nearly lit up the sky; the sounds of explosions were as rapid as firecrackers, with no gaps in between.

Big Solitary Island had bet everything on this battle, so there were quite a few cannons on the island, and many new artillery emplacements had been built. There was also a row of cannons on the city walls. There were at least three thousand cannons in this direction, and the firepower was not small.

Dense cannonballs rained down on the sea surface, sending water splashing everywhere and churning the waves. Some shells landed on the pirate ships, causing the hulls to shake violently.

The shells of both sides flew wildly through the sky. The dense explosions were deafening, and the island and the sea were filled with firelight, with continuous explosions ringing out.

Long Xuan was also startled awake from his sleep by the continuous sound of cannon fire.

"Where is that cannon fire coming from?"

He hurried out of his room, not even having time to put on his clothes. When he saw the fierce firepower outside, with the sky already lit up by dense flashes of fire, he was completely dumbfounded.

"What kind of firepower is this? Is this Shuliya firepower?"

The rest of the Divine Dragon crew were also alarmed by the fierce cannon fire and ran out of their rooms one after another. When they saw the intense artillery battle outside, they were all stunned.

Nie Qingcheng looked up at the fire in the sky, her face turning pale as she said, "Oh no! The Black Dragon Pirate Group is attacking the island. How are they here so soon!"

"I had intended to leave the moment the Heavenly Wind ended, but I never expected the Black Dragon Pirate Group to be so impatient, attacking before the Heavenly Wind had even completely ceased. Now we are completely trapped on the island."

Hearing this, everyone's expression turned grim, and their mood became extremely poor.

Whether Big Solitary Island could repel the Black Dragon Pirate Group was an unknown. Once Big Solitary Island failed to defend and the Black Dragon Pirate Group breached the island, they would be in big trouble.

Don't forget, they were the ones who took the Heart of the Ocean, the primary target of the Black Dragon Pirate Group's pursuit.

Once the Black Dragon Pirate Group successfully landed on the island, they would be dead for sure.

Long Xuan also frowned. He wasn't worried about the Black Dragon Pirate Group breaking in; he had a way out.

At worst, he could just dive into the Straw Gu Hut and flee a thousand miles away.

However, if he used the Straw Gu Hut to escape, he would be teleported directly to the inland, and the half-year voyage would have been in vain.

By the time he rushed to the Sky Island from the inland, it would clearly be too late.

Once he used the Straw Gu to escape, it meant he would completely abandon the opportunity at the Sky Island, abandoning the Golden Toad and the Repair Gu he was determined to get.

How could he bring himself to make such a decision?

"Di Xin, can you instantly repair that broken teleportation array on the island? You have many hands; I believe in your speed." Long Xuan immediately looked at Di Xin, pinning his hopes on her.

All the other crew members also looked at her.

Di Xin rolled her eyes and said helplessly, "Broken, my foot! That teleportation array isn't broken at all; that Island Lord is just fooling everyone on the island."

"His courage is lacking! He couldn't bear the cost of the teleportation array and couldn't bring himself to destroy it."

"Or perhaps he is afraid of death, fearing that if he destroys the teleportation array and loses the battle, he will have cut off his own path of survival. He likely wants to keep this teleportation array as a backup."

"Of course, this secret must only be known to that Island Lord. He needs to let everyone know that the teleportation array has been destroyed, that there is no way back, and that the only way to survive is to defeat the Black Dragon Pirate Group—a desperate army will surely win."

"Such a strategy of burning the bridges will increase the army's combat power by thirty percent, and the chances of defeating the Black Dragon Pirate Group will greatly increase. This Island Lord is quite clever; he has achieved multiple goals with one move."

"The Black Dragon Pirate Group will suffer a huge loss against such a cunning Island Lord."

Leng Yan nodded and said, "He wants to drag everyone who has taken refuge on the island into this war to increase his chances of winning."

"All the foreign Gu cultivators who entered the island for refuge will become cannon fodder in this war, so we must leave as soon as possible; we absolutely cannot delay."

"We must leave before the Black Dragon Pirate Group rushes onto the island, otherwise we will be in big trouble."

Long Xuan didn't dare to delay and hurriedly said, "There is no time to lose. We will head toward the teleportation array now. I will think of a way to charge into that teleportation array."

Di Xin looked at the hundred-plus people and frowned, saying, "There are too many of us. Making such a big commotion will surely attract the Island Lord's attention."

"You must hide in a space. The Heart of the Ocean cannot be used in the middle of the island, and the city is already under lockdown. You should hide in my Heart of the Earth."

"My Heart of the Earth can also hold living people."

In order to leave stealthily, Di Xin went all out, exposing the secret that she possessed the Heart of the Earth.

The Heart of the Earth was an Innate Spiritual Treasure, existing on par with the Heart of the Ocean.

At the same time, the abilities of the Heart of the Earth and the Heart of the Ocean were completely opposite.

The Heart of the Earth's abilities could only be used on land and would fail at sea.

The Heart of the Ocean's abilities, conversely, could only be used at sea and would fail on land.

The Heart of the Earth could mobilize the power of the entire earth and contained a vast land space within it.

The Heart of the Ocean, however, could mobilize the power of the ocean and contained a vast oceanic space within it.

In terms of practicality, the Heart of the Earth was stronger than the Heart of the Ocean. After all, humans were terrestrial creatures and spent most of their time on land, so the Heart of the Earth ranked higher among Innate Spiritual Treasures and was more valuable.

Long Xuan never expected Di Xin to possess such a heavy treasure. No wonder she told him that day not to worry about disposing of useless items, as her space could hold no matter how many things there were.

She possessed such a vast space; of course, she could hold as many things as she wanted.

This was truly a little rich woman; she had all kinds of treasures on her. Long Xuan was envious.

Di Xin quickly took out a mysterious earth-brown sphere, its volume exactly the same as Long Xuan's Heart of the Ocean.

The crew members didn't have time to be shocked and ran toward the space inside the Heart of the Earth one after another.

"Wait! Me too! You can't just leave me on this island to be killed by pirates!"

Just at that moment, something seemed to have slipped into the Heart of the Earth and then disappeared.

Long Xuan rubbed his eyes. What was that thing that just went in?

At this moment, the area in front of the hall housing the teleportation array was in chaos.

"Let us in quickly! The Black Dragon Pirate Group is about to break in. Do you really want us to be buried here with you?"

"Why hasn't your teleportation array been repaired yet? How much longer do you need to fix it?"

"I think the story about the teleportation array being broken is fake. You did this on purpose. I think the teleportation array was also deliberately destroyed by you! You want to use us as cannon fodder!"

Incited by someone, everyone here was furious. It looked like a riot was about to break out, when the aura of a Gu King suddenly suppressed the entire scene, and everyone fell silent, stopping their chatter.

But the crowd's eyes remained furious, glaring at the figure in the sky.

This person was the Island Lord's wife, known for her beauty and kindness, hailed as the First Saint Mother of Big Solitary Island, and she was currently pregnant.

She never participated in the affairs of the island, but she was a genuine Gu King, so even as a pregnant woman, she was enough to suppress the voices in the field.

After she slowly descended from the sky, she held a Honesty Gu in her hand and said apologetically to the crowd, "I am truly sorry, the teleportation array is indeed broken, and it was destroyed by the Black Dragon Pirate Group."

"We heard from our informants that a group of people stole the Black Dragon Pirate Group's Heart of the Ocean, and that group is on the island."

"The Black Dragon Pirate Group was afraid that this group would escape through the teleportation array, so they sent people to destroy it immediately."

"This is also the reason why the Black Dragon Pirate Group couldn't wait to attack Big Solitary Island before the Heavenly Wind had completely ended."

"Otherwise, they could have waited for everyone to leave before attacking Big Solitary Island. Why would they be in such a hurry? The people of the Black Dragon Pirate Group aren't fools; they wouldn't increase their own casualties for no reason..."

In the crowd, watching this pregnant woman full of lies, Di Xin was completely shocked. She looked at Long Xuan and asked via soul transmission, "She is full of lies here, yet that Honesty Gu has no reaction. How does she do it?"

Long Xuan showed no surprise. He was the ancestor of deceiving the Honesty Gu and was most skilled at deceiving it. He knew many ways to trick the Honesty Gu.

For example, the time with the Honesty Gu in Long Lie's hand at the Empress's Ancient Tomb, he had easily fooled it with wordplay.

But wordplay didn't apply to all lies. This pregnant woman had said such a long paragraph; it clearly wasn't wordplay.

At this moment, Long Xuan thought of another possibility: that this pregnant woman was indeed telling the truth.

Since she was telling the truth, the Honesty Gu would naturally not glow.

But whether what she said was a fact was something the Honesty Gu couldn't care less about.

This was one of the limitations of the Honesty Gu: it could only judge whether a person was lying, but if the person believed the information they had was true, the Honesty Gu was powerless.

Even if someone said one plus one equals three, as long as they truly believed it in their heart, the Honesty Gu would not glow.

Therefore, Long Xuan was almost certain that the pregnant woman was indeed telling the truth, only that this simple-minded pregnant woman had been fooled by that cunning Island Lord, who had given her incorrect information, leading her to deceive the Honesty Gu as well.