William Grant said proudly, “Although the scale of our Spirit Beast Garden can’t compare to the Companion Tiger Hall of the Seven Great Sects of the Grand Sui, the truly elite beasts are not fewer at all. In Companion Tiger Hall, there are one hundred and twenty spirit beasts of grade six or above; in our Spirit Beast Garden, we have one hundred and ten. Moreover, we have as many as thirty-six spirit beasts of grade four or above, even more than Companion Tiger Hall!”

Brian Carter noticed a hint of hostility in his tone when he mentioned Companion Tiger Hall, and couldn’t help but wonder: Aren’t the Seven Great Sects supposed to fight side by side against the demonic cultivators?

David Reed sneered, “You actually believe that? There are millions of cultivators in the world, but only so many resources. In this tiny patch of land that is the Grand Sui, there are seven great sects—how could they not compete for resources? No matter how much of a genius you are, from genius to powerhouse, it’s all built up with real resources!”

Brian Carter understood: So that’s how it is.

As William Grant was speaking, a tremendous roar suddenly echoed from within the Spirit Beast Garden. The pine forest beside the residence swayed as if struck by a gale, branches and leaves rustling loudly.

Samuel Grant also looked proud and said, “Listen, that’s the roar of the most powerful grade-two spirit beast in our Spirit Beast Garden—the Nine-tailed Dragon-scaled Leopard. This beast was bred right here on our Su Bao Mountain. Even though Companion Tiger Hall specializes in spirit beasts, they don’t have anything this powerful. They’re absolutely green with envy.”

Edward Foster now had a rough sense of Su Bao Mountain’s strength, and his face lit up with excitement. “Senior brothers, it’s truly our great fortune to belong to such a powerful sect.”

“A bunch of idiots!” In Brian Carter’s mind, Matthew Clark’s disdainful voice sounded: “The roar of that Nine-tailed Dragon-scaled Leopard is hoarse—there’s definitely something wrong with how it’s being raised. Its roar shakes the pine forest, but can’t reach the heavens. Clearly, there’s an excess of fierce wind energy and a lack of resilient water energy. The problem must be in the spirit feed—the combination of white fruit grass and fire crocodile meat is off.”

Brian Carter naturally didn’t believe it. “Just from a single beast’s roar, you can tell all that?”

If David Reed had questioned him like this, Matthew Clark would have flown into a rage and had a huge argument with David Reed, never letting it go.

But since it was Brian Carter asking, Matthew Clark only gave a cold laugh. “Ignorant child. Just wait and see—within the time it takes to burn one stick of incense, that Nine-tailed Dragon-scaled Leopard won’t be able to take it anymore.”

Brian Carter still didn’t believe it, and hurried along with Samuel Grant and the others. Before long, they had passed by the vast residence. As they got closer, the roars of the beast grew louder, strong winds buffeted them, and Edward Foster was even more ecstatic, feeling lucky to have joined such a powerful sect.

The four continued forward. Suddenly, the stone steps curved, winding around a mountain hollow, and the Spirit Beast Garden was out of sight.

Ahead, another building appeared.

This building stood atop a tall mountain peak, shaped like a round platform. What was on top made both Edward Foster and Brian Carter freeze in surprise.

“A cannon?!”

Gunpowder had been invented in the Grand Sui Dynasty centuries ago. It was said that during the first emperor’s struggle for the throne, cannons played a decisive role.

Now, the Grand Sui even had a special “Divine Fire Battalion,” an army dedicated to operating cannons.

So, even though Edward Foster and Brian Carter came from mountain villages, they weren’t unfamiliar with cannons. Atop the peak, on the massive round platform, there stood a gigantic iron cannon!

The largest caliber iron cannon of the Grand Sui’s “Divine Fire Battalion” could fit a person inside and weighed thirty-six thousand jin! Even with the Grand Sui’s might, only four were ever made, each placed on one side of the imperial capital’s city walls.

But the iron cannon on Su Bao Mountain was more than ten times larger than all four of those combined.

This cannon was twenty zhang long, eight zhang tall, and had a caliber of three zhang! You could even stuff the Nine-tailed Dragon-scaled Leopard from the Spirit Beast Garden inside and fire it out.

Samuel Grant looked on with reverence. “This divine cannon was personally forged by the seventh-generation ancestor of Su Bao Mountain, Master Howard. Master Howard was a renowned master of artifact forging in the history of the cultivation world. The top-tier ancient forging method, the ‘Nine-layered Fire Refining Technique,’ had been lost for thousands of years, but Master Howard managed to restore this ancient divine art with his own talent and a fragmentary ancient text!”

“This ‘Great Sun Heavenly Fire Cannon’ was forged using the Nine-layered Fire Refining Technique. To this day, our Su Bao Mountain is the only sect in the entire cultivation world to inherit this ancient divine art.”

“This Great Sun Heavenly Fire Cannon can directly draw on the divine fire of the blazing sun, striking enemies from tens of thousands of miles away. The entire Grand Sui is within the range of our Su Bao Mountain’s Great Sun Heavenly Fire Cannon. So, many times, we don’t even need to leave the mountain to punish those clowns who dare offend the Su Bao Sect!”

William Grant added, “The power of this Great Sun Heavenly Fire Cannon is unmatched—it could flatten an entire mountain with a single shot.”

Brian Carter and Edward Foster were shocked: This is truly a cannon of annihilation!