The Aegis of Phi floated suspended in the air above the valley that once belonged to this humble Taoist. That valley, however, no longer existed. It had been utterly razed by the tripartite conflict between the Dao Alliance, the Holy See, and the Pantheon of Gods. Following that, the area became a focal point of contention between the Earth Federation and the Roman Kingdom. Years of relentless fighting had leveled the land, leaving only the dormant ember of the Golden Crow Heavenly Fire, left by the Taoist Chen, burning fiercely beneath the massive Bagua Jade Tablet.

The colossal warship slowly descended toward the ground, gradually hovering less than two hundred meters above the surface. The Roman troops below cried out in despair, scrambling for cover, while the officers and soldiers of the Earth Federation struggled to maintain their footing against the immense pressure. Any creature with sentience, upon seeing such a monstrous metal leviathan suddenly appear overhead, would only feel sheer terror.

Gu Xiechen, leading a contingent, drifted down from the mothership. He strode quickly to the edge of the jade tablet housing the Golden Crow Heavenly Fire.

Gazing at the searing flame, Gu Xiechen smiled at Ducat and hastily retrieved vast quantities of Innate-grade materials and Postnatal auxiliary components from his Azure Lotus Ring, presenting them to the pillar of fire. The heat of the Golden Crow Heavenly Fire was boundless. In the blink of an eye, these materials were refined into a mass of intense, almost gaseous light. Gu Xiechen, without uttering a word, directed thousands of hand seals toward this brilliant light, condensing it into a half-liquid, half-gaseous substance roughly a square before quickly storing it back within the Azure Lotus Ring.

All of this took barely fifteen minutes, yet Gu Xiechen was already drenched in sweat. Wiping the moisture from his brow, Gu Xiechen gently tapped the center of his own forehead with his right hand.

Thirty-six streaks of golden light flashed, and the thirty-six Golden-Armored Puppets, the treasures of the Heavenly Works Hall, materialized from the void. These ten-zhang-tall behemoths simultaneously projected searing beams of intense light from their eyes upon seeing the column of Golden Crow Heavenly Fire before them. Gu Xiechen chuckled and inquired, "Is this Golden Crow Heavenly Fire seed sufficient for your use?"

One of the puppets replied with evident joy, "It is more than enough, Master. Please stand back."

Gu Xiechen hurriedly gestured for everyone to retreat. Then, one of the puppets reached out and violently swept aside the jade tablet laid down by the Taoist Chen. Immediately, a column of golden fire, several zhang in diameter, erupted skyward, its intense heat wave sweeping across the surroundings. The temperature within a hundred-mile radius soared instantly, and in the blink of an eye, a lake of magma, dozens of zhang deep and several hundred meters wide, formed where they stood.

The thirty-six puppets roared in unison. The hammers held in their hands swung down forcefully against the column of fire, separating a nugget of fire—the size of a human head, shimmering with golden light, within which the shadow of a three-legged Golden Crow faintly appeared—a dark-cyan fire seed that ascended slowly with a heavy, muffled sound. Thirty-six consecutive bolts of purple heavenly lightning whistled down from the puppets’ hands, cleaving the fire seed precisely into thirty-six uniform pieces. The heavy golden armor plates on the puppets’ chests rapidly opened, and streams of radiant light sprayed forth from beneath, drawing the fragmented fire seeds into their interiors.

A sound like a dragon’s roar burst forth from within the puppets. Their external surfaces suddenly blazed with intense golden light, enveloped tightly by a layer of golden flame several feet thick, viscous as glue. Gu Xiechen used his divine sense to check their power, discovering that the combat strength of these thirty-six puppets had skyrocketed, increasing more than tenfold in an instant.

Each and every puppet now solidly possessed the strength of a Heavenly Immortal.

Not daring to delay, Gu Xiechen swiftly retrieved the materials he had prepared in advance, following the method left by the Great Simple Hermit for refining Fire Spirit Hearts, and used the Grand Yin Scorching Flame to rapidly smelt them. Thirty-six spheres of human-head-sized golden light hovered in the air. The puppets stared blankly at this light, their bodies emitting the distinctive crow-caw associated with the raging flames of the Golden Crow Heavenly Fire.

The method for refining the Fire Spirit Heart had been simulated thousands of times in Gu Xiechen’s mind; there was no hindrance in the process now. As the final few hand seals were thrust into the golden light, accompanied by a soft chime, thirty-six golden liquid masses shaped like hearts, still faintly pulsating, shot out and precisely slotted into the opened armor plates on the puppets’ chests. The Golden Crow Heavenly Fire seeds, which had been surging throughout their bodies, rapidly converged upon the Fire Spirit Heart embryos, and gradually, the Fire Spirit Hearts ignited with supreme, blazing flames, transforming into pure golden light.

The golden armor plates on the puppets’ chests slowly closed, and the golden flames on their surfaces receded into their bodies. Not a single trace of energy leaked from them, yet Gu Xiechen knew they were fundamentally different now. Before integrating the Fire Spirit Hearts, the guardian puppets were mere half-finished artifacts of little value; now, they had become his most powerful allies.

Roaring with laughter, Gu Xiechen swept his hand, recalling the puppets back into the Heavenly Works Hall. With these thirty-six Heavenly Immortal-level enforcers, Gu Xiechen was confident he need not fear even if all the deities of the Roman Pantheon merged into the Roman Warriors. If the Romans dared to cause trouble, he would unleash these puppets to annihilate the Roman Kingdom. Of course, drawing upon his instinct as an arms dealer, it was naturally better for the Romans to remain as they were, allowing him to occasionally sell them some weaponry—that would be even better.

Naturally, the weaponry Gu Xiechen sold to the Romans could not be used to attack Earthlings. However...

If the Star Alliance were to engage in a devastating war with the forcefully returned ancient demon, and the Alliance suffered heavy losses, it would be quite attractive for Gu Xiechen to lead the Hardwood Defense Company to take over the planets ruined by the Romans.

"The future is bright!" unable to suppress the elation in his heart, Gu Xiechen laughed a few more times, taking Fu Yaming’s small hand and gesturing slightly toward the nearby mountain forests. Back when Gu Xiechen was merely the weakest, most ordinary Innate Fighter, it was through the fortuitous inheritance of the Taoist Chen that he began his rise, finally achieving his current accomplishments. No matter how powerful Gu Xiechen became in the future, the Taoist Chen would forever remain the benefactor and predecessor he honored in his heart.

Now possessing the strength of the Void Realm, with the nascent power to move mountains and drain seas, Gu Xiechen summoned a water cloud to cushion the group’s feet and ascended high into the sky.

The Aegis of Yafik also slowly rose, hovering nearly ten thousand meters above the ground.

His divine sense spread across the ground like an intricate net, encompassing the mountain ranges within a radius of several hundred kilometers. The Five Waters Dragon Whisker Fan was casually tucked into his collar, and Gu Xiechen slowly pressed his hands downward. "From this moment on, anyone who dares to disturb a single blade of grass or tree within a thousand-mile radius, I shall use all my power to ensure their death!" A chilling, ominous voice saturated the entire Heaven Star. Gradually, the water molecules in the atmosphere began to rub against each other due to the energy vibrations, resulting in lightning flashing everywhere above the Heaven Star, synchronized with Gu Xiechen’s voice, making it resemble the apocalypse.

“Crack, crack, rumble…” A series of enormous sounds echoed from underground. Gu Xiechen, exerting considerable effort, slowly raised his hands upward. As his hands moved, a valley, identical in every detail to the one where the Taoist Chen once secluded himself for cultivation, began to rise from the earth, matching Gu Xiechen’s memory without the slightest deviation.

“Where are the wind, rain, thunder, and lightning?” Gu Xiechen suddenly roared.

“Your subordinate is here!” Feng Bo (Wind Master), Yu Shi (Rain Master), Lei Gong (Thunder Master), and Dian Mu (Lightning Mother) transformed into four streams of multi-colored light and rushed toward the valley below. Dark clouds swept in from all directions, accompanied by dull thunder, as bolts of lightning continuously struck outwards. Fierce winds rose from the ground, and a torrential downpour began. The four generals of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning cooperated with Gu Xiechen’s magical power, swiftly stabilizing the chaotic spiritual energy of the ground beneath the valley. Simultaneously, they forcibly drew in several large nearby energy veins, coercing them to converge beneath the valley to form a massive spiritual nexus.

Dense spiritual energy from heaven and earth sprouted from the ground. Feng Bo, laughing heartily, transformed into a fierce gale, instantly traversing tens of thousands of miles of forest in the vicinity. Ancient pines, towering cypresses, ten-thousand-year peach wood, thousand-year bamboo, spirit-herbs, ginseng, orchids, and other rare flora and exotic vegetation were swept up by the gale, surging toward the valley in an overwhelming tide.

In the blink of an eye, the area inside and outside the valley was densely covered with purple vines, emerald creepers, peach groves, pine forests, bamboo groves, flower beds, and herb gardens—all exactly as Gu Xiechen had seen them before.

Gu Xiechen retrieved the screen and the Water Venerable he had seized from the Heath Empire, spraying a stream of spiritual energy onto them.

The True Essence Profound Water from the Water Venerable roared out, and Yu Shi happened to summon a rain cloud. The torrential rain, mixed with the True Essence Profound Water, drenched the valley. All the vegetation within the valley grew at an explosive rate, as if injected with hormones; in an instant, the soil was rich and fertile, and the plant life luxuriant. A spiritual wind swept out from the screen, carrying several dozen rare birds and strange beasts with frightened cries, descending from the high altitude into this valley that already resembled an immortal realm.

“Rumble, rumble!” With several peals of thunder, Lei Gong and Dian Mu established their formidable Lightning and Thunder Array near the valley. Using the immortal artifacts Gu Xiechen gifted them, they laid down several layers of ultimate killing methods within the formation. With the immortal artifacts serving as the array’s eyes, coupled with the massive spiritual nexus beneath constantly supplying the array’s required spiritual energy, only a handful of individuals could hope to break this formation. The Lightning and Thunder Array—this was the Punishment Array of the Heavenly Court, possessing immense deterrent power even against Immortals, let alone mortals?

Fu Yaming and Jin watched in trembling awe as Gu Xiechen artificially recreated a massive valley in the short span of fifteen minutes. The saying that the sea turns into mulberry fields truly happened within the flip of a hand!

“A god… these are powers only gods can possess!” Fu Yaming stared at Gu Xiechen blankly, her soul utterly intoxicated.

“A god… how can I seduce him?” Jin gazed at Gu Xiechen with profound melancholy. The several drugs she had prepared were more than sufficient to deal with silicon-based life forms, but against a true deity, the potency might not be fierce enough, she worried.

“Hmph!” Seeing the valley restored and the array solidified, Gu Xiechen patted the sword box on his back. A strange sword cry sounded, and everyone sensed a faint glimmer of light before their eyes. On the cliff face to the right of the valley entrance, large characters had been carved: The secluded cultivation site of Senior Chen. Those who dare to offend shall have their entire clans exterminated!