Inside the Imperial Palace of the Haotian Empire in Central Province.
Here lies a secluded courtyard, lush with flowers and plants, where birdsong fills the air and brings a sense of tranquility.
Inside the study, a distinguished young man was painting. With swift and skillful strokes, he added a few details, and a scene of dragons and tigers fighting appeared on the white paper.
The dragons and tigers in the painting are so lifelike that they seem to leap off the paper, inspiring awe and fear.
At this moment, a delicate maid entered the room, bowed to the man, and said, "Your Majesty, the Haotian Empire Emperor requests an audience."
The young man put down his paintbrush and nodded. "Let him in!"
"Yes!"
Not long after the maid left the room, Long Bo, dressed in royal robes, entered.
"Sit!"
Several wooden chairs were placed in front of the desk, clearly for the convenience of discussing matters. At this moment, the young man gestured for Long Bo to sit down in one of the wooden chairs, looking very relaxed.
The young man was so confident because he was the leader sent down by the Heavenly Court, the Holy Son Lan Gu.
Long Bo nodded and walked straight to the wooden chair, where he sat down.
"Immortal Envoy Lan Gu, I wonder if you're finding your stay here comfortably?"
"Hehe, everything is fine. Your Majesty, please speak freely. I am not like those men under my command."
Lan Gu smiled, a hint of helplessness in his voice.
He also knew that the heavenly soldiers and generals he had brought down from the Heavenly Court had acted somewhat recklessly over the years, which had aroused the dissatisfaction of many noble families, including the royal family.
But these people were all doing a good job in their work, so he couldn't be too harsh on them.
"If that's the case, then I won't beat around the bush."
Recently, a new power has emerged in the Wilderness, called the Chen Kingdom. I wonder if Immortal Envoy Lan Gu is aware of it.
Having dealt with Lan Gu for several years, Long Bo stopped with pleasantries and got down to business.
"Yes, they are of average strength, but they have many unique skills in unorthodox methods, and they have been making rapid progress recently."
What, you have something on their mind?
Lan Gu showed an expression of interest.
"Yes, I plan to recruit them into the Devil-Expelling Alliance."
After Long Bo speaking, Lan Gu asked, somewhat puzzled, " The Devil-Expelling Alliance? With their current strength, they're not qualified, are they?"
After the Abyss Devil Race reached the border of Central Province, Long Bo knew that with the current support of the Heavenly Court, it would be difficult to stop the Abyss Devil Race, so he secretly formed the Devil-Expelling Alliance.
The purpose of the Devil-Expelling Alliance is quite clear: to defeat the Abyss Devil Race. Currently, the Devil-Expelling Alliance consists of three major forces: the Haotian Imperial Family, and the Soul Clan and the Saint Clan from the north.
In order to gain the support of these two major races, Long Bo has even ceded Liang Province and Bing Province to the Saint Clan, You Province and Yi Province to the Soul Clan.
The Soul Clan and the Saint Clan both have super powers backed by mid-level planes, but what does the Chen Kingdom have?
Although much intelligence indicates that they have received support from the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion and the Sword-Questioning Sect, the Heaven-Questioning Pavilion is backed by only a fragmented plane, and the Sword-Questioning Sect is backed by only a low-level plane.
With such strength, he was indeed not qualified to join the Devil-Expelling Alliance in Lan Gu's eyes.
"Actually, I've always had a question: how did the Chen Kingdom manage to make such a desolate place Wilderness so prosperous in such a short time?"
Therefore, I recently reviewed the intelligence on the Chen Kingdom carefully, and even sent people to try to obtain a lot of weapons and Talisman Puppet produced in the Chen Kingdom.
Now, I've finally come to an astonishing conclusion: their productivity is hundreds, even thousands of times greater than that of other cities.
Long Bo spoke eloquently, his eyes filled with amazement.
"A hundredfold or a thousandfold increase in production efficiency, is it really that miraculous?"
Lan Gu looked incredulous.
"Absolutely true! I've sent people to do the math. With their population and territory, it's clear they need to produce enough food and clothing, build houses, and replenish their military."
Normally, it would take thousands of years for something to develop into what it is today, but they completed this transformation in just six or seven years.
"How exactly did they do it? With those steel Talisman Puppet?"
Lan Gu knew that Chen Kingdom's technology for making Talisman Puppet was very advanced, but he thought it was at most a little better than that of the Heavenly Puppet Sect. However, when he heard Long Bo say this, he couldn't help but think of them.
"That's right. It's said that inside the Rune Research Institute, these steel Talisman Puppet are called 'robots'."
I had these robots disassembled and discovered that they were made with only a very small amount of Spiritual Power materials, and their main components were just ordinary metals.
If Chen Kingdom only possessed a small number of robots, that would be fine. After all, given enough time, skilled craftsmen were confident they could create such exquisite puppets from ordinary metals.
However, I have had people investigate carefully, and it turns out that only a small number of robots in the Chen Kingdom are used for warfare. In fact, the vast majority are used for production and construction. Even conservatively speaking, there are over ten million robots within the Chen Kingdom. Such a huge number is definitely beyond the capacity of human labor.
Upon hearing Long Bo's words, Lan Gu's expression turned serious. "You believe they have received support from an extraterrestrial civilization?"
"I can't be sure, but it certainly doesn't look like a threat!"
Given their productivity, it wouldn't be easy for us to wipe them out right now, and our primary enemy is the Abyss Devil Race, so we can't afford to expend too much energy on them."
"So what benefits do you think it would bring us if we joined the Devil-Expelling Alliance?"
"Hehe, the advantage is that we can use them for our own purposes! After all, our biggest disadvantage in our current battle with the Abyss Devil Race is that we don't have as many troops as they do."
If Chen Kingdom can help us deal with the Abyss Devil Race, I believe that we can completely drive Abyss Devil Race out in just a few years.
Long Bo stroked his beard, a look of shrewdness on his face.
Lan Gu pondered for a moment and agreed, "Using one enemy to devour another is indeed a good idea! However, Chen Kingdom may not listen to us. What benefits are you prepared to offer him?"
"Heh, what benefits they receive doesn't matter. Once the Abyss Devil Race retreat, they won't have a say in anything anymore."
Long Bo tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest of the wooden chair, a cold smile on his face.
"Okay, then send someone to do it!"
My orders were only to help you repel the Abyss Devil Race; I have no say in what happens after that.
Lan Gu has no concept of Tao.
"This is no trouble for you, Celestial Envoy. I will handle it myself. I just need your approval of my plan."
Long Bo stood up with a smile, exchanged a few more casual words, and then took his leave.