The Divine Ring underwent a sudden change as Chu Yuan entered the Heiming City.
The Divine Ring tried to break free from Chu Yuan's arm, flying in a certain direction.
Chu Yuan thought, releasing the Divine Ring from his arm. Instantly, the Divine Ring flew towards the Heiming Palace's direction, stopping at a certain spot.
"Indeed, I was right."
Chu Yuan looked at the ruins of Heiming Palace and said, "The ancient Shang Kingdom had three Divine Artifacts that safeguard the nation, the Divine Ring being one of them. When the country fell, the three artifacts were said to be distributed in three different places. This Heiming Palace might be where the second national artifact was stored!"
"King Loyal and Brave, have your men dig in this area!"
The construction of Heiming Palace was magnificent, befitting its millennium history. Plus, the entire Imperial City stood athwart a supersized mining vein, even larger than that of Qianzhou.
Guided by the Divine Ring, deep excavation revealed a colossal ancient city beneath Heiming Palace, identical to the previous one.
"Is this the ancient Shang city of the Five Star Imperial Dynasty a million years ago?"
Through the formation, Ji Fuling was awe-struck as he gazed upon the ancient city's interior.
The spiritual energy leakage will take a few days. We can enter the ancient city then."
Chu Yuan was ecstatic to have discovered another ancient Shang city. Last time, he had used the Meteorite Fine Gold found within the city to forge numerous great cannons and Divine Crossbows, making the war of annihilation much easier.
Black Heiming Dynasty's thousand-year-long oversight was due to the fact that the Heiming Emperor regarded this area as the vein of the dragon and forbade mining. He only allowed the slow extraction of mana crystal gas.
On the other hand, in Qianzhou, continuous mining of mana crystals caused the formation to display anomalies.
"Good! While we've acquired a large amount of war supplies last time, they've been nearly used up after a year. No matter how many of these resources I have, they never suffice. If we construct all crossbow arrows with meteorite fine gold, even those observing gods couldn't resist."
A few days later, Chu Yuan entered the ancient city as the spiritual energy leakage finished.
The interior of the underground city was identical to the previous one, as if they were carved from the same mold. It also stored large amounts of meteorite fine gold, precious medicinal herbs, and various weapons and armors.
Chu Yuan had these items collected and recorded by Ji Fuling.
"A supreme divine artifact, the Soul-Cutting Sword!"
The only difference was that the supreme divine artifact stored here was a gleaming long sword, called the Soul-Cutting Sword.
As Chu Yuan touched it, he immediately received a stream of information.
"It's no wonder that such an ancient kingdom from tens of thousands of years ago, even a single treasury of it holds items that three-star dynasties would have trouble finding."
Ji Fuling marveled at the amount of treasures. Her eyes were nearly blinded by the dazzling array of treasures, especially the Soul-Cutting Sword, which exuded an extraordinary sharpness, as if it could shatter any magic shield with a single slash.
"I read from the ancient books of the Infinite Trade Union that when the ancient Shang Kingdom faced the crisis of annihilation, they stored numerous treasures in three treasuries. The first two were merely side treasuries. Their main treasury, which houses the strongest Spiritual God Tool, made from the gathered qi and veins of the ancient Shang Kingdom, has yet to be found by anyone."
Ji Fuling said, "Moreover, it's the main treasury that stores most of the ancient Shang Kingdom's resources. If Your Majesty could acquire it, our national power would certainly see a significant boost."
"Spiritual God Tools are indeed extraordinary, but I have the Divine Ring and the Soul-Cutting Sword. Perhaps I can acquire some information. After all, the ancient Shang Kingdom stored them in hopes that they would be reopened someday."
What Chu Yuan cared about most was not that Spiritual God Tool, but the abundant resources Ji Fuling mentioned.
An empire's development requires tremendous resources. Under Chu Yuan, the combined population of His Majesty's Empire and the Heiming Dynasty was around a hundred and forty to fifty billion.
Resources are a significant limitation for many dynasties. With sufficient resources, swift development is possible.
He activated his mana. Suddenly, the Divine Ring and the Soul-Cutting Sword resounded with a hum, and a piece of information was transmitted into Chu Yuan's soul.
"Within the Forbidden Area of Shang Realm."
Chu Yuan knew that what was now the Suspended Realm used to be called the Shang Realm.
But where was this Forbidden Area?
He still didn't know yet.
"We can leave now. This underground ancient city can continue to be sealed. Pour in the mana liquid crystal, turning this place into a blessed paradise where everyone can cultivate."
After collecting so many war resources, Chu Yuan immediately began to refine elixirs, manufacture great cannons, and create Divine Crossbows, among other things, within the System Space.
The stronger the national power, the more armies needed, and the army size of Dawu in the past was certainly not enough. Expansion was imperative.
The Five Corps were in early stages of creation.
Chu Yuan did not lack resources now, but powerful individuals.
If it were any other dynasty, massive recruitment in a short time would lead to a shortage of resources. But Chu Yuan did not have that problem. He had procured the treasures of Heiming Dynasty and the treasury, fully capable of supporting the formation of more armies.
The initial plan for the Five Corps was to have twenty million soldiers in each, with King Loyal and Brave, Lu Qianfu, as the head of the corps.
The twenty million was only for the initial stage. This number would continue to increase. As far as Chu Yuan was concerned, the more soldiers the better, for the resources he held could support the formation of a substantial number of armies.
The size of armies always depended on the amount of resources and population.
Dawu was thriving, growing more prosperous each day.
Having gained such a large amount of resources this time, he exported spiritual yuan rice to the Qiankun Trade Union. The abundant supply of elixirs piled up like mountains. Almost every soldier could have one or two each day. With such a boost in resources, wouldn't their cultivation speed increase significantly?
Bear in mind, not counting the recently subjugated Heiming Dynasty, almost everyone in Dawu had reached the Meridian Opening Realm. If they joined the army, they could quickly advance to the Soul Formation Realm.
Seeing the rapid development of Dawu, Chu Yuan was very pleased. The mere annihilation of Heiming Dynasty was far from satisfying his ambitions. He intended to build an invincible army.
In the thirty-second year of Dawu, September.
Several months had passed since the war of annihilation. Most of the Heiming Dynasty citizens had surrendered to Dawu, consuming Dawu's spiritual yuan rice and even receiving mana crystals and elixirs through their own efforts.
Moreover, Dawu's reputation spread far and wide. Everyone had spiritual yuan rice to eat, astonishing others. During this period, numerous people came to join Dawu, some of them even being wandering entities at the Observing God Realm.
These people arrived just in time. Chu Yuan incorporated them into the Five Corps.
"Over the past few months, my mana has grown rapidly, stabilizing at the peak of Observing God Realm. I only need an opportunity to breakthrough to the Illuminating God Realm!"
Over these months, apart from dealing with national affairs, Chu Yuan had been cultivating. Time seemed to fly by.
"Master of Dawu, receive the Suspended Sphere Order!"
Suddenly one day, a tremendous aura emerged, and a figure appeared in the sky, the power he emanated terrifyingly reaching the Concealing God Realm