Chapter 1041

Wu Tie's true self still sits commanding the giant ship, maintaining the time barrier.

One after another, small god-slaying vessels keep flying out of the time barrier; as Wuguo's pacified territory expands, more and more people are rescued, and Wuguo's efforts to gather resources grow stronger.

More and more Divine Manifestation and even Venerable-level demon corpses are being sent back, continuously fed into the time barrier.

The information from 'Study Nine' has been fully absorbed by Da Tie, and new-model colossal god soldiers are continuously deployed to the battlefield. As the old-model colossal god soldiers suffer constant losses on the battlefield and are repeatedly recycled and remade, the proportion of the new-model colossal god soldiers in Wuguo's army keeps growing.

Rolling off the production line, they possess the strength of a high-level Divine Manifestation cultivator.

The overall strength of Wuguo's army keeps growing stronger; everything is turning for the better.

Especially the new-style warships that accompany the new-model colossal god soldiers in battle—'Study Nine' truly lives up to being a professional developer of divine weapons; the power of the various new-style warships and large war implements in the blueprints he sent is terrifying.

Warships of a hundred zhang in length keep joining Wuguo's fleet; these newest warships have bow-mounted main cannons capable of killing enemies below the fifth heaven of the Divine Manifestation Realm in a single strike.

Wuguo is like a massive war machine, operating at full throttle, frantically devouring resources and growing ever larger.

Vast numbers of demons and monsters are slain, then offered as sacrifices.

Venerable experts in Wuguo keep emerging; whenever a hundred newly risen Venerables gather, they immediately form an independent detachment under their command, which sets out in all directions to join the campaign against those demons and monsters.

With the Glazed Buddha Kingdom as the core, space gates of all sizes blossom in the void like white lotuses, and various ships shuttle through them like schools of fish.

Resources piled up like mountains are sent back from every battlefield and hunting ground, while countless warships and warriors march to the front.

Specially crafted small courier shuttles dart like lightning through the void, delivering all kinds of military intelligence back and forth; as the pacified territory expands, the daily workload multiplies, and Wuguo's civil administration has expanded twentyfold in a short time, yet everyone is still running ragged, anxious and heated, with blisters forming on their lips.

Each day, strands of golden light and purple aura descend from the heavens, merging into the merit gold cake behind Wu Tie that has shrunk to less than half its original volume, causing that merit gold cake behind him to gradually swell, showing a faint tendency to return to its original massive size.

Because this time the entire Wuguo mobilized together, not just Wu Tie's personal effort, of the heavenly-bestowed merit he received only one-tenth, while the remaining nine-tenths were distributed according to merit among Wuguo's civil and military officials, officers, and soldiers.

Before anyone realized it, in just a few months, even the lowest-ranked soldiers of Wuguo's Heavenly Martial Army had a faint golden halo about a chi in diameter circling behind their heads.

Having received this merit power, these Wuguo soldiers became sharp-eared and clear-sighted, quick-witted, and their cultivation speed inexplicably increased greatly.

Wuguo's homeland enjoys favorable winds and rains, with auspicious signs appearing one after another.

In Wuguo's imperial palace, vast amounts of lingzhi sprout from flat ground; fields show five-colored rice stalks; in the mountains and forests, white deer and qilin auspicious beasts appear out of nowhere; the river waters conceal a mighty dragon; domestically, the elderly's ailments vanish without cause, and they even grow young again……

Even Wuguo's average birth rate has increased severalfold compared to previous years, and among the newborns, many are born with all their meridians fully open, moreover they are innately breaking the shackles of the Thirty-Three Heavens and Earth, and as soon as they are born they directly condense a life pool……

Furthermore, some children are born able to speak, able to run as soon as they touch the ground, possessing various innate divine powers, and newborns who can spew water and fire from their mouths or spit lightning from their palms keep appearing one after another.

Layer upon layer of auspicious signs caused the officials left behind in Wuguo's homeland to be startled several times a day, then dozens, then hundreds…… Soon, being startled so often became routine.

All of Wuguo, due to the heaven-and-earth merit descending at this moment, is undergoing the most fundamental, essential changes in secret.

This is a comprehensive strengthening, a comprehensive optimization.

It sweeps away the previous decline of humanity, gradually letting Wuguo's populace step by step return to the vigor of the ancient mythic human race.

If someone were to hover in high altitude and look down upon the battlefield continent marked 'Earth Yi Five' where Wuguo resides, they would see the entire landmass slowly expanding outward, every mountain range on the land lengthening and widening, each peak gradually growing.

Underground, the earth veins have become thicker, more vigorous, and stronger and more dominant.

The concentration of heaven-earth primal energy in Wuguo's homeland has gradually exceeded twice that of the Glazed Buddha Kingdom where Wu Tie currently resides, and the growth of this primal energy continues, with no one knowing how long or to what extent it will persist.

Among the Heavenly Martial Army stationed in Wuguo, the difficulty for soldiers to break through realms has suddenly dropped significantly.

Every day, within the Heavenly Martial Army garrisons of Wuguo's states, commanderies, counties, and cities, powerful auras shoot up to the heavens, and soldiers continually break through to the Divine Manifestation Realm.

Even the garrisoned army commanders of each state have seen their strength leap forward, rapidly approaching the peak of the Divine Manifestation Realm and firmly standing on the threshold of half a step into the Venerable level.

These army commanders need only a slight loosening of the heaven-earth laws, and they can break through to the Venerable level relying entirely on their own strength.

This, however, is merely a small-scale sacrificial rite.

Heavenly Court, Lingxiao Palace.

Qingning smiled, standing silently behind the Nine Dragons Holding Up the Sun great screen behind the Great Heavenly Venerable's throne, listening to Gongsun Yao and the assembled Heavenly Court officials' reports and responses.

The common folk of humanity have already drafted large numbers of elite troops and strong generals to be stationed in the Heavenly Court.

Under the Heavenly Court are the Dipper, Thunder, Fire, Water, and Plague divisions, among others constituting the Nine Divisions of the Heavenly Court, as well as the Thirty-Three Heavens, various caves and mansions, and heavenly offices—but how would Qingning care about the functional divisions of the Heavenly Court left behind by Ji Baijie?

Under Qingning's planning, Gongsun Yao reorganized the Heavenly Court's forces into the Five Great Corps of Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, and Qilin, each led by one of five mature and steady warrior chiefs from the Gongsun clan.

The Five Great Corps are immensely large; their commanders are all veteran strongmen from among the common folk of humanity, and the soldiers in the ranks are also elite talents cultivated from humanity over these years.

Within the Five Great Corps, every soldier has activated their ancestral bloodline and possesses various extraordinary divine abilities and secret arts.

About one-tenth of the soldiers have cultivated the Primordial Scripture; amid the vast resources stockpiled by humanity's common folk, these cultivators of the Primordial Scripture have at minimum entered the Dao through three hundred or more grand dao principles.

If placed in the ancient Sui Chao era, any one of these soldiers would be a top-tier 'peerless heavenly pride' of that time, qualified to be ennobled as a king.

Such a massive corps is further endorsed by the elderly matriarchs of Wa Island, who uphold the righteousness of humanity, making them the staunch orthodox armed forces of the direct human lineage.

Edicts keep issuing from Wa Island, and the abundant foundation of humanity's common folk erupts fully.

Resources piled up like mountains are freely consumed; countless human artifact smiths work day and night, just like Wu Tie, humanity's common folk also possess time-attributed innate spiritual treasures, and they have constructed over two hundred time barriers, frantically forging all kinds of armaments and war gear.

The artifact smiths under Wu Tie's command are mainly from the Mohist clan.

The Mohist clan members skilled in forging, plus the outer disciples they have recruited, number no more than a million.

Yet the scale of humanity's common folk is enormous, and they have spent countless years painstakingly accumulating strength; the artifact smiths they have gathered together number in the tens of trillions, and their efficiency in forging armaments and war gear is who knows how many times greater than that of Wu Tie's Wuguo.

In just a few months, all the warriors of Gongsun Yao's Five Great Corps have donned full sets of armor reaching the grade of Ninefold Refined Immortal weapons, and every kind of sword, spear, and halberd, etc., are also of that Ninefold Refined Immortal grade.

And those army commanders, each possessing their family's foundation and inheritance, have armor on their bodies, weapons in their hands, and various personal treasures, all of which are of the grade of Innate Spirit Weapon or higher.

Thunder God vessels spew lightning, Fire God vessels blaze heaven and earth, Water God vessels freeze the four seas, and moreover Star Dipper vessels emit a faint starlight, linking together to form a Stellar Grand Array that radiates terrifying power fluctuations.

Qingning scoffs at inheriting Ji Baijie's plans for the Heavenly Court; to her, the Dipper Division, Thunder Division, Fire Division, Water Division, etc., are nothing but superfluous jokes.

Yet the designs of the various ships and war gear left behind by the Heavenly Court have earned the applause of humanity's top-tier artifact smith masters.

The power of these ships and war gear is several times greater than what humanity itself can currently forge.

Therefore, the artifact smiths gathered by the Heavenly Court are forging all their war gear these days strictly according to the diagrams and data left behind by the Heavenly Court.

Gongsun Yao sits upon the grand throne, with three thousand strands of white vapor swirling behind him, his majestic aura filling Lingxiao Palace.

When he first took this throne, Gongsun Yao was still a bit apprehensive; facing the various clan elders below, he felt a little guilty and weak-kneed.

But after just a few months of tempering, Gongsun Yao now handles everything with ease; in every gesture, a strong imperial majesty washes over him, causing all the department elders in the hall to involuntarily click their tongues in amazement.

Gongsun Yao's progress, they have seen with their own eyes.

From a clumsy novice, he became a scheming, decisive superior; the change in just a few months is visible to all. Everyone inwardly praises: Gongsun Yao's talent is indeed excellent, but Qingning's training also cannot be underestimated.

The human race, the situation is dire.

According to scout reports, our human race daily has hundreds of millions of civilians slaughtered and abused by the demonic lackeys.

Gongsun Yao's imposing voice made the Lingxiao Palace tremble slightly.

Therefore, we cannot stand idly by, we cannot wait any longer.

Order: today we mobilize troops, tomorrow we sacrifice to heaven and set out; the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise—four legions will each sweep… the Qilin Legion will provide central support. I hope everyone can exert their full strength, sweep away the demons, and carve out a bright blue sky for our human race!

Gongsun Yao looked down from his high position upon the many subjects, his voice deep: 'Any problems?'

A Fuxi-surname tribe Elder strode out from the ranks, his voice deep: 'No problem at all. The five legions' drills, bolstered by each department's reserves, are enough to suppress the enemy's venerable-level experts; as long as we spare no lives, we can slay them.'

But, our armaments are still insufficient.

Gongsun Yao waved his hand: 'First we allocate resources for combat; later armaments will be gradually replenished. Our human race cannot wait. If we do not crush the arrogance of those demons and monsters, our human race this time may truly face annihilation.'

He stared sternly at that Fuxi-surname Elder: 'You all should know, those demonic lackeys take our human race as sacrifices; after slaughtering a place, their power surges greatly. If we do not launch a head-on assault, with them waxing and us waning, our prospects are dire.'

Inside the Lingxiao Palace, the tribe Elders exchanged a glance and then responded in unison.

Amid hurried footsteps, the tribe Elders walked out of the Lingxiao Palace.

Long horn calls echoed from all directions, followed by thunderous war drums, and urgent commands swiftly spread to all sides.

Gongsun Yao exhaled lightly, turned his head toward the large screen behind him, and asked softly: 'Mother, are today's orders appropriate?'

Qingning smiled as she stepped out from behind the screen, lightly patting Gongsun Yao's head: 'Appropriate, certainly appropriate, Yao'er, you must believe—you are the outstanding one among countless human civilians, the sole exceptional one… because your mother is me, Qingning!'

Squinting her eyes, she smiled and said calmly: 'Rest assured, for now it's merely a human army gathered in the name of the Heavenly Court… later, the entire human race, this Mu Dalu, will be yours.'

Gongsun Yao stared, then shook his head: 'Mother is joking; at most I am merely a great general commanding the human forces. Wa Island and the Xi Huang lineage are the true leaders of the human race…'

Qingning smiled softly: 'Good, believe mother's words; mother says you are the future lord of the human race, you are the lord of the human race. Ah, those dead old ladies, those rotten old men… they ought to have been swept into the dustheap of history long ago to rot. What do you have to do with them?'

Gongsun Yao gave a dry laugh, not daring to respond.

Since childhood, he has heard Qingning tell him that the elderly matriarchs of Wa Island are a bunch of dead old ladies, the great elders of the Xi Huang lineage are a bunch of rotten old men, and that the human race's survival under their leadership is purely luck, having nothing to do with their efforts.

Having heard these words from childhood, Gongsun Yao has grown accustomed to Qingning's sayings.

But being accustomed is one thing; to actually speak them out, Gongsun Yao still dare not. Given the atmosphere among the human race, Wa Island and the Xi Huang lineage represent the orthodox lineage, representing the purest inheritance of the human race.

They are the totem of faith and the spiritual pillar of the human race; Gongsun Yao dare not speak rashly.

Seeing Gongsun Yao's cautious, timid demeanor, Qingning couldn't help but curl her lips: 'Enough, enough, hurry up and get ready. Tomorrow we sacrifice to heaven and set out; make yourself look spirited.'

In the boundless void, the pitch-black, boundless space, crystal stones sped in rapid flight.

Inside the enormous crystal hall, Qingning, wearing a jade-green long robe, stood before the five leaders including Xuanwu, and smiled softly: 'Have you five princes considered it? It's been several months; it's time for you five to make a decision.'

Youmo gazed at Qingning with a deep look, speaking slowly: 'Such a matter allows no mistake. Let us wait and see.'

Xupo said softly: 'Indeed, our followers are advancing rapidly; the offerings we receive each day are countless. As long as we patiently stay here, we can continually improve… For now we see no need to take risks.'

Yizun bluntly said: 'Woman, you are a woman of the Conspirator Divine Clan… you have just betrayed all your kin, slaughtering every Conspirator Divine Clan scout post clean. We do not trust you; take back the reward we promised, you can get lost!'

Qingning sighed, glanced at Yizun, and said softly: 'Then let us wait a bit longer… someday you will come seeking me.'

Hehe, wanting to conquer the human race, without my help you cannot do it!