Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 886 - 731: The First Marshal of Heavenly Court_2

Chapter 886: Chapter 731: The First Marshal of Heavenly Court_2

Its production cost was as high as three thousand taels, but its effective range reached five hundred zhang, and its power was even more formidable.

There was also a four chi long saber and a revolver; the saber could be mounted on the revolver to be used as a bayonet, or for close combat.

Behind them hung a small alloy shield, seven chi in length and width.

This was for individual combat, considering that these heavenly soldiers were frequently ’borrowed’.

This whole set combined had a total production cost of nearly thirteen thousand taels. For twenty thousand sets, that would be two hundred and sixty million taels of silver.

Li Xuan felt extremely anxious about this, sensing that his financial freedom wouldn’t last much longer.

However, he was quite satisfied with the performance of the ’Black Gold Divine Armor’.

With just these two thousand sets of ’Black Gold Divine Armor,’ the two thousand heavenly soldiers equipped with them could match the combat power of the entire Shenji Camp.

But thinking about the cost being several times that of the Shenji Camp, Li Xuan was still very conflicted and saddened.

Therefore, not long ago, he had ended the free trial period for the ’heavenly soldiers and generals.’

Ordinary believers would not borrow heavenly soldiers, and they did not want to.

Those who frequently used them were mostly temple priests, mages, and taoists who worshipped the Xuanhuang Great Emperor, as well as personnel from the Liudao Division.

From now on, if people from the Liudao Division wanted to borrow heavenly soldiers and generals from him, they would have to offer thousands of taels of sacrificial offerings each time and take on the cost of equipment wear and tear.

If they were devout believers of the Xuanhuang Great Emperor, they could get a twenty percent discount; as for his own temple priests and mages, it would still be free of charge for now.

There was no other choice; the majority of the Xuanhuang Great Emperor’s believers were still in the northeast.

The immigrants there were still a bunch of paupers, and naturally, the several hundred temples of the Xuanhuang Great Emperor couldn’t cover their expenses. These temple priests and mages were naturally penniless and completely bereft of assets.

After Li Xuan entered the Tianxingtai, he took his customary glance around, observing his territory.

He soon noticed in the southern part of the Heaven Palace, four colossal sets of armor walking back and forth.

The design of this armor was similar to the ’Black Gold Divine Armor,’ just several sizes larger.

The height of the Black Gold Divine Armor was around one zhang, but the height of these four sets of armor was two zhang.

Li Xuan knew this was the advanced version of the ’Black Gold Divine Armor’ that Leng Yurou was testing, meant for use by officers at the Six Paths Bureau Colonel and Xiaowei level.

His brows lifted in interest, and he flew over, landing beside Leng Yurou, "Is this Black Gold Divine Armor already completed?"

"Still testing, but there shouldn’t be any major issues," Leng Yurou replied lackluster, "It’s basically just doubling the size of the Black Gold Divine Armor and using slightly better materials."

Li Xuan knew that Leng Yurou preferred researching fully intelligent ’Organ Puppets’; this exoskeleton-like armor was not much of a challenge for her.

Yet Li Xuan preferred these ’Black Gold Divine Armors’ because they were cost-effective, unlike the Organ Puppets that cost at least hundred thousand to millions of taels.

Heavenly soldiers were easy to find, and he was not lacking in divine power; naturally, it was more economical to use such equipment.

Expectation appeared on his face, "Have their performance tests been done? How much do they cost?"

Leng Yurou shook her head, "Still undergoing joint tests, but their performance definitely won’t be less than my prediction, and the cost is estimated to be just over seventy thousand."

Li Xuan immediately perked up, "Then complete the tests as soon as possible and start mass production. By July, I need at least five hundred sets of such armor."

Leng Yurou then couldn’t help but give him a doubtful look, thinking to herself that the Yunzhong warships were also scheduled for completion around July.

And also the twenty thousand sets of ’Black Gold Divine Armor’ were set for July.

What exactly does Li Xuan intend to do in such a rush?

What will happen in July? Is it the Meng Wu invasion from the south in the future?

But she had tested Li Xuan, and it seemed like he had no such plans.

"Right," Li Xuan said with a somewhat stifled expression, "I’ve negotiated with Shaofu Yu regarding the order for revolvers, and he insisted on increasing the order to two hundred and fifty thousand pieces."

Leng Yurou didn’t know what to say. She simply crossed her arms and stared fixedly at Li Xuan.

Li Xuan looked slightly embarrassed, and just at that moment, a red sty light hurriedly flew towards them.

It was none other than Dugu Biluo, who landed beside Li Xuan: "Your Majesty, Master Zhongliu has arrived at the Lingxiao Hall."

Li Xuan, as if granted a great reprieve, hurried off immediately: "Let’s settle this matter then. Don’t worry! This business won’t incur losses. The silver yuan you all collected, I guarantee it won’t depreciate."

※※※※

The Lingxiao Treasure Hall of this ’Heaven Emperor,’ Li Xuan, was less than ten zhang in length and width, not even a third the size of the Jinluan Palace at Taihe Gate.

When Li Xuan arrived, Master Zhongliu was standing with his hands behind his back, looking around.

Upon seeing Li Xuan, he bowed and said, "Zu Zhongliu pays respects to Your Majesty!"

His gaze at Li Xuan, however, was slightly peculiar.

Before this, Master Zhongliu had never imagined that the ’Xuanhuang,’ whose legend had begun to spread recently in the northeast, Shandong, Shaanxi, Hebei, and other places, would be Li Xuan.

He had never even thought that Li Xuan would have such ambitions.

However, for him, this was actually a most welcome development—

"Please rise, Master," Li Xuan said, extending his hand in a vacant gesture to help Master Zhongliu up: "Since the Master has honored us with his presence, I presume you have reached a decision?"

Master Zhongliu immediately raised his eyebrows: "If Your Majesty possesses such capabilities, then I, Zhongliu, naturally should not shirk my responsibilities."

Li Xuan didn’t hesitate any longer. He first concentrated and felt the immense divine power contained within his ’throne,’ and then he took out a kun leather scroll and began to write the ’Heavenly Decree’ with his own blood.

"The stranger Zu Zhongliu, being the Yuanling of the former revered minister ’General Zhenxi, Cishi of Yuzhou’ Zu Shizhi, created by combining the Secret Technique of Taoism ’Blood Creation.’

For seven thousand years, Zu Zhongliu has protected the people of Middle Earth and upheld the Taoist orthodoxy of Huaxia. Though he has colluded with White Lotus, causing chaos in Capital City, his past merits are immense. His crimes must be punished, but his merits should also be rewarded. I hereby grant you the precious talisman and decree to appoint you as ’Marshal Zhongliu,’ a position of deputy Shumishi, temporarily in charge of the military power of Heavenly Court."

As this ’Heavenly Decree’ was completed, Li Xuan stamped it with the Haotian Seal. He immediately felt the divine power within his ’throne’ draining at an astonishing rate.

Li Xuan thought that the divine power required to decree the ’Marshal of Heavenly Court’ was indeed on a different scale compared to the previous decrees for two divine generals.

Fortunately, with the widespread cultivation of the crops potatoes and sweet potatoes, the faith in the ’Xuanhuang’ had also begun to spread in the world, and he was now receiving ten times the divine power he had before.

Moreover, the ’Solar Furnace’ had taken on nearly ninety percent of it.

It wasn’t until the end, when the scroll of the Heavenly Decree merged into the forehead of Master Zhongliu, forming Li Xuan’s Mysterious Yellow divine seal, that about twenty percent of the divine power remained in the ’throne.’

"How does it feel?"

Li Xuan looked up, extremely curious to see the first ’Marshal of Heavenly Court’ he had enfeoffed.

"Not much change."

After sensing for a while, Master Zhongliu opened his eyes: "This must be due to the ’First Emperor’s Yuanfeng,’ where in this domain, no one can attain a true heavenly level. However, once in the Outer Void, Zhongliu might be able to test the true power of Extreme Heaven."