Chapter 284: Ultra-Long-Range Strike
When the enormous ear of corn gleamed with a crystalline luster and stood upright, it meant the Corn Cannon was fully prepared for launch.
The Corn Cannon had two firing modes. The first was precision fire—guided by Gu Mo's divine sense to strike a locked target with maximum power.
This method allowed the Corn Cannon's destructive strength to be brought to its fullest, though its range was limited to the distance Gu Mo's divine sense could cover.
The second mode was coordinate fire—feeding set coordinates into the Corn Cannon so it could launch at a fixed point. This method had a large margin of error, but its theoretical maximum range was immense, making cross-realm attacks possible.
In theory, Gu Mo could stand in the Qinghe Cultivation World and fire the Corn Cannon into the Tianyuan Cultivation World. Of course, Qinghe lacked a fifth-rank spirit vein, and Gu Mo was unwilling to drain the spiritual energy of his cave-dwelling space. That was why he had moved the Corn Cannon here.
He had no choice—the Corn Cannon consumed far too much spiritual energy. Even a fifth-rank spirit vein could only support one Corn Cannon.
But the terrifying consumption came with equally astonishing power.
For this launch, Gu Mo chose precision mode. His divine sense now extended across most of the Tianyuan Cultivation World. And while with the Corn Cannon's blast radius a deviation of several kilometers hardly mattered, precision fire would maximize its lethality.
Gu Mo rose high into the sky, his divine sense sweeping outward, locking onto the most intense battlefield where cultivators and zombies clashed. That was where he would strike.
"Fire!"
His divine sense locked onto the zombie rear line. In the next instant, Gu Mo willed it, and a massive ear of corn shot forth from its husk, streaking into the sky before roaring across the distance toward the battlefield.
At the front lines—
"There are too many zombies! At this rate, we'll be ground down to nothing!" Gazing at the endless tide of corpses, countless cultivators felt their hearts sink.
With the boundary gate shattered, they had lost reinforcements. Now faced with wave after wave of zombies, they could only hold out in attrition. But how could they possibly outlast the corpse tide?
Behind the zombie ranks, that terrifying Corpse Immortal still loomed like a pillar.
"Shouldn't we retreat? Just find somewhere to hide. Once the boundary gate recovers, we'll leave straight away." Under the crushing pressure, some cultivators' resolve wavered.
After all, this wasn't their homeland. Whether it was destroyed had nothing to do with them. This minor world was fairly vast—if the zombies overran it, it would still take time for them to occupy it fully. As long as their sects reopened the boundary gate in that period, they still had a chance to survive.
"That makes sense."
The idea quickly gained support from many outsiders. Hunting zombies no longer earned contribution enough to exchange for Immortal relics. Why should they fight to the death?
"This is bad!"
The native cultivators—Qing Zunzhe among them—saw swathes of outsiders pulling out. Their hearts sank. The line had already been on the verge of collapse; if more withdrew, it would break outright.
"It's over."
A Taiqing Sect Nascent Soul sighed bitterly. They had fought so hard, for so long—yet in the end, it was still in vain.
"Let's pull back as well. Better to live and fight another day." The Yin-Yang Sword Sect Nascent Soul stared at the endless horde. There were simply too many.
"Wait—what's that?"
Suddenly, Qing Zunzhe raised her head, astonishment flashing in her eyes. From afar, a massive ear of corn was streaking through the sky.
With her cry, the Taicqing and Yin-Yang cultivators looked as well—and froze.
"It's him!"
In that instant, the three thought of the same person. Such bizarre plant-weapons could only belong to that man. And he had said earlier that when things grew dire, he would act.
It seemed he had not gone back on his word. But could one ear of corn really turn the tide?
"What in the world is that?"
The fleeing outsiders, too, noticed the approaching corn. Confusion filled their faces.
If it had been a fireball or glacier spell, they would have understood. But corn? It was far too absurd.
Whistle!
Under countless eyes, the massive corn fell into the zombie tide.
Rumble!!!
An earth-shaking explosion erupted, instantly clearing out a vast swath of zombies. But that was not the end. From the blast spewed countless golden kernels, raining over the battlefield.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The kernels exploded in turn, each blast covering an entire area—and each one powerful enough to rival a Nascent Soul strike.
The sheer number of simultaneous explosions multiplied the devastation. Even a late-stage Nascent Soul zombie caught in the blasts would be gravely wounded—perhaps slain outright.
"This… this…"
Cultivators stared slack-jawed at the apocalyptic scene. That single ear of corn had almost wiped the entire corpse tide off the map.
Only a handful of peak Nascent Soul zombies survived—but even they were battered and broken.
"Kill!"
Someone roared, and instantly the retreating cultivators surged back, hacking down the scattered stragglers.
Hoo…
Seeing this, Qing Zunzhe and the others finally exhaled.
They remembered Gu Mo's calm assurance that he would act when the time came. He had not boasted—he truly had the strength to alter the war's course.
"As expected—impressively powerful."
Gu Mo watched the carnage his Corn Cannon had wrought and sighed inwardly. This was a weapon worthy of being called a war-ender—one shot, and all creatures were made equal.
The only drawback was the long reload. His gaze fell on the now-empty husk. Inside, another ear was slowly growing. When it matured to full size, the Corn Cannon's second shot would be ready.
But at this rate, it would take half a day. By then, the battle would already be decided.
Fortunately, one blast had already ended the front-line struggle. The corpse tide would need a long while to regroup.
In the Nine Nether Domain—
"What… what just happened!"
The sudden annihilation of the corpse tide left remnant soul stunned. He could scarcely believe it. This horde had cost him no small effort to muster—and now it was gone, just like that.
"Sir, it should be some kind of powerful spiritual plant." One of the invading demonic cultivators gave his judgment. That blast from the Corn Cannon hadn't only wiped out that wave of the zombie horde—quite a few disciples of the demonic sects had perished in it as well.
"My eyes aren't blind. Go find out who did it." Remnant Soul spoke irritably. For some reason, a strong unease had begun to stir in his heart.
"Yes!"
At his command, the invading demonic cultivators quickly left the Nine Nether Domain to investigate the source of that terrifying corn. The extreme range of the Corn Cannon made it very hard for enemies to immediately lock onto Gu Mo's position, giving him the chance to prepare a second strike.
This time, Gu Mo intended to fire directly into the Nine Nether Domain. He had noticed the zombie tide retracting toward it—clearly that unease in Remnant Soul's heart had driven him to subconsciously pull his forces back in preparation for what was coming.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Gu Mo's gaze shifted into the distance. Several powerful auras of death energy were approaching. Clearly, some of the invaders had methods—so quickly finding this place.
Gu Mo, however, ignored them. His eyes stayed fixed on the massive ear of corn that was still charging, preparing for the second blast from the Corn Cannon.
"Stop him!"
Those demonic cultivators who had rushed over caught sight of the Corn Cannon and immediately realized this was the one who had wiped out the zombie tide earlier. Without hesitation, they charged, killing intent rolling off them.
But just as a late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator—pushed to full perfection—was about to close in on Gu Mo, a vast purple maw appeared in the void and swallowed him whole. Then it vanished without a trace.
The other cultivators were left stunned. A Nascent Soul Perfection expert, devoured just like that—the sheer horror of it made their scalps prickle.
"There can't be more than one of those plants. If we go together, we'll definitely win!" one shouted. "Take down this man, and the lord's rewards will be plentiful."
The words stirred greed in their hearts. The cultivator who had just advanced to Nascent Soul Perfection had originally been late-stage only, but thanks to his outstanding performance, he had been rewarded by that lord—and in a very short time, had broken through to perfection.
Normally, the leap from late-stage Nascent Soul to perfection required centuries of bitter cultivation. If one lacked resources and fortune, it might take a thousand years—or result in being stuck at the bottleneck for life.
But here, with the lord's rewards, all that could be bypassed.
Tempted by such great rewards, the cultivators suppressed their fear and charged at Gu Mo. But despair met them instead—purple, gaping maws erupted throughout the void, swallowing every one of them that dared draw near.
Gu Mo now had dozens of Bigmouth Flowers at his disposal—all of them at fifth rank. He had even more of lower ranks.
If not for the Sun Essence being reserved to upgrade other plants, their numbers would have been far higher. As it stood, unless the enemy came in numbers greater than the Bigmouth Flowers themselves, no one could even get close to Gu Mo.
"It's ready!"
The disappearance of the demonic cultivators didn't even draw Gu Mo's attention. At that moment, the Corn Cannon's second shot was fully charged.
This time, he aimed using coordinates. After all, the Nine Nether Domain was a fixed location. As long as the math was right, it would strike true.
He avoided using divine sense lock-on, worried it might alert the corpse-immortal Remnant Soul inside.
"Whoosh!"
The massive corn shot from its husk and soared into the sky, streaking toward the Nine Nether Domain.
Seeing this, Gu Mo recalled the Corn Cannon into his Black Mist Space. Being able to fire twice was already extraordinary—most Corn Cannons only had a single shot.
Nine Nether Domain.
Remnant Soul's brows suddenly furrowed. A few of the auras he had left on his demonic subordinates had vanished. Those were precisely the ones sent to track down the earlier attacker. Their disappearance spoke volumes.
"Hmm!"
In a flash, he appeared in the skies above the Nine Nether Domain—just in time to see a colossal ear of corn plummeting toward him.
"Hmph!"
Snapping coldly, he immediately withdrew from Yao Shifeng's body and entered the corpse-immortal's true form. The towering corpse raised a finger with difficulty and pointed at the oncoming corn.
"Rumble!"
The massive corn exploded in midair. Clearly, a fifth-rank Corn Cannon was no match for the corpse-immortal.
"I'll need to rest for a while."
Though he had neutralized the threat, using the corpse's true power had drained Remnant Soul heavily. Abandoning control of Yao Shifeng, he fell into slumber.
"Advance."
Regaining control of his body, Yao Shifeng's expression was lifeless as he issued the order. Instantly, the zombie tide that had been gathered surged forth like a black tidal wave.
Within moments, the Nine Nether Domain was nearly emptied, its zombies and demonic cultivators sent out to hunt souls—to restore Remnant Soul's strength.
Then Yao Shifeng cast a secret art to cloak himself and the sleeping Remnant Soul, concealing their presence. His eyes swept the horizon.
"It's been a long time, Gu Mo."
"It has indeed."
At his words, Gu Mo's figure emerged, gaze locked on him. "So now, should I call you Boss Yao, or Corpse Immortal?"
"Either works. After all, I probably can't escape him anymore—or maybe I don't want to. He gave me great power." Yao Shifeng shrugged.
"Of course, I don't want to be anyone's puppet. But Gu Mo, if you can force that Remnant Soul to act again, then I'll have the chance to devour him. And then the crisis facing the Tianyuan Cultivation World will resolve itself."
Yao Shifeng knew well that with his strength alone, he couldn't escape being turned into Remnant Soul's puppet. But Gu Mo's arrival had given him hope.
"Agreed."
Gu Mo nodded. With Yao Shifeng as an inside agent, the problem of the corpse-immortal would indeed be much easier to handle. And even if Yao Shifeng betrayed him in the end, Gu Mo was unafraid—his original plan had never counted on Yao Shifeng's help.
After reaching a simple agreement, Gu Mo vanished, reappearing outside the Nine Nether Domain. He began laying down purification arrays to cleanse the death energy polluting the land, so he could plant his spiritual flora there.
Gu Mo's plan to deal with the corpse-immortal was simple: build a defensive front of plants to seal off the Nine Nether Domain, then keep grinding away at its power until he finally suppressed it.
Originally, with all the zombies gathered inside, he had considered directly linking his Cave-Heaven space here to rapidly deploy the plant battlefront. But now, with Yao Shifeng having sent the zombies and demonic cultivators away, Gu Mo had the perfect chance to set up his battlefront on site.
............
ps: Many readers may have noticed—the story is about to end. According to the outline, there were still arcs planned involving the Grand World and the Dark World Mushroom Plants. But since the book's performance has been poor, I'll be wrapping it up at the end of the Small World arc.
Though the word count won't be high, I'll at least give it a proper ending. I won't just disappear and leave it unfinished.
(Show your support and read more chapters on my Patreon: [email protected]/psychopet. Thank you for your support!)