Prospects

Tianhe.

The great river that cuts across the north and south of the heavens.

Before the advent of divine weapons, the territory of the Great Qian Dynasty was less than one-third of what it is now.

With the birth of the divine weapon, the previous Emperor Qian and the Imperial Preceptor Tai'a, wielding the power of the weapon's radiance, swept across the eight wastelands and ravaged the six directions.

The places that originally surrounded the Great Qian Dynasty, such as the endless mountains of Hanzhou, the thirty-six tribes of Yanzhou, the eighteen islands of the East Sea, as well as the original countries of Hyuga and Nanyun, have all become Hanzhou, Yanzhou, Lizhou, Daozhou, Muzhou, and so on in the Great Qian Dynasty.

The territory of the Great Qian Dynasty tripled in size.

It extends north to the endless mountains, east to the vast East China Sea, west to the barren deserts of Yanzhou, and south to the three thousand great marshes.

It can be said that under the previous Emperor Qian, the Great Qian had expanded to its limit, encompassing the entire land of Qian.

To expand further, one would either have to traverse the endless mountains teeming with countless ferocious beasts, or cross the vast East China Sea stretching for tens of thousands of miles. Moreover, one would have to confront the Tianyuan Dao, which at that time had a sage in charge. As for Yanzhou in the west and Muzhou in the south, one side was a desolate desert even more expansive than the Black and White Sand Sea, and the other side was the renowned Three Thousand Great Swamps, both forbidden zones for life.

Top cultivators can easily cross this hurdle, but for soldiers to go, the price they would have to pay along the way is unknown.

For this reason, after conquering this vast territory, the Great Qian Dynasty did not expand further, but instead chose to digest and develop, and recuperate.

This period of recuperation and development lasted until a hundred years ago when Demonic Beasts descended upon the world, followed by the chaos caused by the Heavenly Emperor.

During the chaos caused by the Heavenly Emperor, countless saints and Celestial Person perished. This terrestrial immortal even single-handedly slaughtered the Great Qian royal family, reducing the Great Qian royal family's control over the Great Qian Dynasty to its extreme. Even after a hundred years of development, to this day, there is only one Celestial Person in the royal family, Jiang Tianji.

It was precisely because of the decline of the royal family that the internal situation of the Great Qian became increasingly chaotic, gradually evolving into the situation of the Ten Demonic Sects, the Six Immortal Sects, and the fragmentation of various states.

Also because of their individual efforts, some people knew where the Demon Realm Rift was located, but they were unable to summon the Celestial Master to seal it, and could only watch helplessly as the Demon Realm Rift expanded.

Tianhe, Muzhou, and even the Rizhou Rift, which has not yet fully returned to the control of the Great Qian Dynasty, are the most obvious examples.

At this moment, downstream of the Milky Way, on a vast open space resembling a marshland, composed of numerous lakes of varying sizes, people from Gu Jinlai have been observing the surrounding landscape.

After a long while, he finally said, "No wonder we haven't been able to find the location of the Demon Realm Rift in Tianhe for so long. Logically speaking, when Demon Realm Rift opens, the spatial ripples it creates should have a significant impact on the surrounding terrain. The larger the spatial rift, the greater the impact. For example, the Autumn Mountain Rift is so small that only medium-sized Demonic Spirits can cross it, yet it still formed a space with a diameter of several hundred meters in the mountains..."

He looked at the flat ground. "The Demon Realm Rift of the Heavenly River can accommodate large, even special disaster-type Demonic Spirits. Its impact on the landform extends for at least several miles. If we look carefully, it shouldn't be difficult. However, I didn't expect that the Demon Realm Rift of the Heavenly River is actually under the river. It is only exposed during the dry season. Moreover, the water flow during the flood season erodes the landform, creating a natural cover, which further increases the difficulty of our search."

Zhang Yukun nodded in deep agreement. "If it weren't for the fact that a large number of Demonic Beasts in the Tianhe River were killed, allowing us to search carefully place by place, we would never have found this crack."

"Now all we have to do is wait."

This Gu Jinlai.

"Ancestor, we have already built a city on the outskirts of the Milky Way. We will form a defensive line by building six fortresses to resist the invasion of the Milky Way Demonic Beasts. The nearest fortress is less than sixty miles away. We might as well go there to cultivate first, and come back after the Demon Realm Rift opens."

Gu Luochen asked for instructions.

He has now replaced Gu Chifeng as the new commander of the Demon God's personal guards, leading six thousand Demon God's personal guards to guard Huangzhou.

Currently, he is building fortresses to defend against Demonic Beasts while leading his demon guards to hunt down Demonic Beasts emerging from the Milky Way.

In the two months that Gu Jinlai went to Lingxiao City, the number of Demonic Beasts who died at the hands of him and the Demon God's personal guards had exceeded four figures.

"Then let's go take a look. You leave a team here to keep watch. Notify us immediately once the Demon Realm Rift opens."

Gu Jinlai, he paused slightly. "Leave some extra, in case the Demonic Beasts try to take back the rift when it opens in the Demon Realm."

"Yes."

Gu Luochen said in a deep voice, "I will immediately dispatch three thousand demon god guards to set up artillery positions here. If Demonic Beasts dare to act recklessly, they will be made to return without ever coming back."

Gu Jinlai nodded.

The group soon arrived at a fortress under construction sixty miles away.

The fortress was about a mile in diameter and was built on a mountain.

The reason for choosing to build it on the mountaintop is that there is a spring at the top, so it will not end up with a water shortage.

In addition, this place needs to be used to place some sharp swords and heavy cannons. The geographical location has a significant impact on the range of the heavy cannons, and the high vantage point can better defend against Demonic Beasts.

Gu Jinlai examined it for a moment, but found no problem, so he ignored it.

He and Zhang Lihuo and the others went directly to a temporary storage warehouse outside the fortress.

Although the warehouse was somewhat shabby, the items inside were extremely valuable.

Three modified Xuan Bird fighter jets.

Five modified Xuan Niao fighter jet models.

And the Chengying mech that was never fully forged.

Leaving aside the Xuan Bird fighter jet, the Cheng Ying mech alone requires more than 600 portions of Immortal Refined Gold.

If we consider the market price, 600 portions of Immortal Refined Gold are equivalent to 6 billion taels of silver.

In contrast, the population of Star Province, a state with nearly 60 million people, is only 300 million in tax revenue per year.

In the central states of Jiangzhou and Huangzhou, the total revenue at their peak was estimated to be only around 200 million.

Without any expenditure, it would take a Central Continent thirty years to produce one Shadow Mech.

However, it is almost impossible without expenses.

This is like asking someone with a monthly salary of 5,000 to save 60,000 a year, 600,000 in ten years, and 1.8 million in thirty years.

In reality, he only has a monthly salary of 5,000 yuan, which is barely enough to cover his own expenses. He can only save 10,000 to 20,000 yuan a year at most.

In thirty years, that's at most three or four hundred thousand.

At this moment, Gu Jinlai, Zhang Lihuo, Si Tianyan, Zhang Yukun, Guan Xingyun, and Xiang Fengyun were busy, using the method of shared spirit to infuse portions of immortal essence into the Cheng Ying mecha, allowing it to be perfectly integrated.

"A mech entirely forged from immortal adamantite! And it has all sorts of energy configurations inside, which can be accelerated by two sets of thrusters... Of course, the thrusters need further spiritualization to function, and so does its electromagnetic cannon..."

Guan Xingyun gazed at the mecha, his eyes gleaming. "I really wonder what kind of power it will unleash once all its equipment is fully integrated and it steps onto the battlefield."

"Once we have more Immortal Refined Gold, we can all have a Shadow Mech and charge into battle."

He said with a smile, "Gu Jinlai."

"Promotion is difficult."

Zhang Lihu shook his head. "This mech reduced the number of power-related components, so it only used 600 units of Immortal Refined Gold. If you include the power components and use Immortal Refined Gold as engine material, the final consumption of Immortal Refined Gold will reach about 800 units, and one unit of Immortal Refined Gold is worth tens of millions..."

"Not necessarily."

Gu Jinlai, "If there were enough gold mines and celestial masters, the cost of immortal refined gold would be reduced to about one million taels per unit. Muzhou has the largest mine. Before Muzhou fell, it produced dozens of units per year. This was because there were not enough celestial masters. If there were hundreds of celestial masters, the annual production of immortal refined gold would be hundreds of units. If we could improve the mining equipment and even manufacture professional mining instruments, obtaining two hundred, three hundred, or four hundred units of immortal refined gold per year would not be a problem."

"Hundreds of portions of immortal refined gold per year..."

"This is just one gold mine in Muzhou. Within Qiantian, there are quite a few mines smaller than the Muzhou gold mine. If we could control them all, and with enough Celestial Masters... the annual output of Immortal Refined Gold could reach several thousand units."

Gu Jinlai smiled and said, "At that time, we might be able to produce several Cheng Ying mechs a year."

The Celestial Master's efficiency in refining immortal gold was not high.

However, with the Myriad Spirits Array and an unlimited supply of raw materials, it would be no difficult for a Celestial Master to refine one batch of Immortal Refined Gold in a year.

In addition, the existence of the Nine Refinements of the Morning Light Visualization Method can quickly enable cultivators in the Core Forming Realm to step into the Celestial Master Realm.

At that time, with dozens of gold mines in hand, thousands of celestial masters will be able to conduct a grand alchemy...

Zhang Lihuo, Zhang Yukun, and the others couldn't help but gasp when they thought of this scene.

A few Cheng Ying mechs a year is by no means a pipe dream.

As for the combat power of the Cheng Ying mech, while it may not be comparable to that of a Saint, it is by no means difficult to be on par with a Celestial Person.

In other words...

Their Lingxiao City will produce several Celestial Person -level combatants every year!?

"If we can really reach that level, let alone recreating the glory of the Heavenly Master Lineage a hundred years ago, even returning to the splendor of the Holy Domain a thousand years ago would not be a pipe dream."

Zhang Lihuo's tone was tinged with excitement.

"The magnificent scene of the sacred land a thousand years ago..."

Gu Jinlai, there have been many reflections on this.

That was the most glorious era for the Celestial Masters. The Creators had even ventured deep into space and established bases on other stars. The Demon Realm Demonic Spirits of the Demon Realm, which were now a major threat to humanity, were being suppressed to the point of exhaustion.

Pity...

At that time, the Gods Mountain, the Sea God Temple, and the Underworld, which were also created by the Creators, were dissatisfied with the Holy Domain's absolute control over heaven and earth, and a massive civil war broke out within the Celestial Master system.

This civil war swept across the land, directly leading to the decline of the Celestial Master civilization.

Gu Jinlai.

This civil war is almost as serious as the nuclear war that is destined to happen on Blue Star but has yet to occur.

In the end, the Holy Land, the Underworld, Mount Pantheon, and the Temple of the Sea God all perished, and the Celestial Master civilization was destroyed in an instant. No one emerged as the ultimate victor.

If we have to talk about the winner...

It's probably the cultivator system.

During the great war, countless floating islands and floating cities located in the heavens fell to earth, and the Creator even dragged meteorites from outer space to collide with the continent, causing the environment between heaven and earth to become extremely harsh.

The sky was obscured by smoke and dust, and the darkness lasted for decades or even centuries.

It is precisely because of the harsh environment that cultivators have risen to prominence.

Because cultivators who are strong enough have a greater advantage in surviving harsh environments than celestial masters.

Shaking his head, Gu Jinlai gathered his thoughts and said, "Alright, let's finish forging this mecha as soon as possible."

Zhang Lihuo nodded.

Time flies, another month has passed.

During this period, the Demon Realm Rift remained closed.

But...

The three-month ultimatum issued by Lingxiao City to Lizhou arrived first.