Chapter 404

"I only need three tenths—no, I shouldn't be greedy, two tenths will do."

The elf goddess thought.

But sometimes she felt that if absolutely necessary, one tenth would suffice.

Because the Lord of Flame did not respond, she felt he was especially aloof; such an aloof god's power was likely even greater than she had guessed, powerful enough to ignore her entirely.

So she felt she must not be greedy.

"Such an aloof god—I wonder if he's a male god or a female goddess."

The elf goddess thought again.

Meanwhile, in the south, a month had passed, and the Spirit Kingdom remained a scene of bustling activity.

Those three edicts were too effective.

As a result, vast tracts of land had been cultivated throughout the Border of the Spirit Kingdom.

A commoner had to first report to the nearby civil official, obtain permission, and only then could he cultivate.

The Yingnuwang Sect's people had roughly demarcated the cultivable lands within the Border of the Spirit Kingdom, preventing excessive environmental destruction.

Within the Flame Kingdom, large-scale cultivation was also underway.

On the grasslands once inhabited by the Wolf Clan, cattle, sheep, and horses had been raised on a massive scale.

The number of cattle and sheep was equal to the number of horses.

Cattle and sheep were naturally for food, and they also produced vast quantities of dairy products—magic played the most vital role here: preservation!

This caused the Flame Kingdom's dairy products to become wildly popular within the Border of the Spirit Kingdom.

Meanwhile, every day, squads of Zhanshibei Sect warriors were dispatched to the Spirit Kingdom.

The number of Zhanshibei Sect warriors had now reached sixty thousand.

The fox maiden Sister Qing Ling had also summoned a thousand dwarves from the City of Miracles.

These thousand dwarves had a simple task: to help the Spirit Kingdom's royal army and temple army refurbish their equipment.

Of course, not by remaking it entirely.

But by passing it once through magma fire, granting the equipment enhanced magical protection.

After more than a month of reorganization, the Spirit Kingdom's royal army had largely developed sincere faith in the Lord of Flame.

The original church army had been restructured.

Among the former temple knights, those willing to stay, after meeting the faith threshold for the Lord of Flame, were reassigned.

Those unwilling to stay were not forced—they could, like commoners, cultivate land or go into business.

After witnessing the changes within the Border of the Spirit Kingdom, these temple knights began to realize the Lord of Flame was not only stronger than their former god.

The Lord of Flame's certain philosophies were likely far superior to those of their former god.

Their former god did everything solely to gain faith.

But the Lord of Flame, beyond faith, was also making the Spirit Kingdom prosper better.

Thus, under the leadership of that giant dwarf, ninety percent of the temple knights stayed.

The mage corps needed no mention.

After reorganization, the temple knight corps still consisted of one thousand per unit.

The temple knight corps would permanently retain five thousand-man units.

Their armor, after being forged by specially treated magma fire, bore a red flame symbol.

Their magical protection had improved further.

Additionally, the divine blessings on their shields had been broken by Lin Yan through his virtual divine essence.

Then Lin Yan infused them with two new blessings.

This allowed these temple knights, when uniting their shields in groups of a thousand, to withstand two spell-level attacks or one legendary-level attack!

At once, these temple knights clearly felt the Lord of Flame's power.

After Lin Yan performed one blessing, the temple knights' faith in the Lord of Flame deepened.

And after the Spirit Kingdom's nobles amassed vast quantities of gold from trade with the Hunhe Duchy, the Yingnuwang Queen unleashed her ultimate move.

That was to strip the nobles of their right to arm private armies!

Nobles could still retain their private armies.

Barons were capped at one hundred men.

Viscounts were capped at five hundred men.

Earls, the great nobles, were capped at two thousand men.

Hou Jue-level nobles were capped at five thousand men.

Beyond their private armies, they no longer had the right to arm any additional forces!

This was centralization of power.

If this edict had been issued a month ago, resistance would have been immense—but now, few nobles opposed it.

Even some mid- and small-sized nobles breathed a sigh of relief.

For these mid- and small-sized nobles, having their own private army was already enough.

During wartime conscription, they had to provide armor, weapons, and pay—last time, each noble had paid a huge sum.

Now, this actually saved them expenses.

Only a few great nobles realized this was stripping the nobility of their conscription rights.

But over the past month, these great nobles had gained vast gold from trade with the Hunhe Duchy—let them take it; the Lord of Flame was so powerful, they had no right to oppose.

Some great nobles even voluntarily reduced their private armies, using the extra money to expand their trade caravans.

With military power fully centralized, the Spirit Kingdom expanded its royal army.

The former royal family could not support too many troops, but now they can.

There is no shortage of grain or gold coins.

The royal army has been expanded to four hundred thousand, doubling in size.

The regional armies have also increased significantly.

"The noble-led armies are not particularly strong and carry many hidden dangers; this is better—let these nobles engage in trade and stimulate commercial prosperity."

In the temple, Meng Ying analyzed.

Although Luo Ying is the queen of the Hellin Kingdom, many decrees were actually devised jointly by several priestesses.

Their goal is very simple: to make the realm of the Flame Lord stronger and more prosperous.

A realm is not powerful merely because its territory is vast or its population large.

Military strength is hard power.

Economic strength is the true foundation and backing.

The more prosperous the realm, the more faith power their god can receive from the same population.

This is certain.

In the past, the god of the Hellin Kingdom exploited the realm far too crudely.

With over twenty million people, if properly utilized, that god, having held power for over a hundred years, should not have been defeated by the god of the Horden Kingdom.

"Luo Ying, continue expanding the army. When my god's revelation arrives, we will launch an attack on the Horden Kingdom."

Meng Ying said.

Luo Ying nodded.

This past month, she spent considerable time on the Hellin Kingdom, while Meng Ying continued advancing toward the High Realm.

As for their god, Lin Yan, he was now deep within a demonic abyss.

"Once this demonic abyss is fully analyzed, I should be able to open a line."

Lin Yan muttered to himself.

For this period, Lin Yan had continued using abyss analysis to locate the Abyss.

After the Abyss rift closed, it became difficult to enter the Abyss for two reasons: first, the barrier; second, the inability to locate the Abyss's position.

Every twenty years after the Abyss rift closes, the Abyss drifts like an unmoored balloon, its position relative to the Continent of Gods constantly shifting.

After so much time, the virtual divine core had already roughly mapped the Abyss; the barrier was no longer an issue.

What remained was to pinpoint the Abyss.

Finally, on this day, Lin Yan's face broke into a smile.

"Found it."

He used divine power to activate the virtual divine core and, through his pact with the Abyss succubus Succubus Natasha, swiftly opened a line.