If Heaven hadn't given birth to me, I would be arrogant.

"Haha! Nephew Zongze is indeed exceptionally intelligent! He knows so many things that none of us know. No wonder many people praise you as the future Soaring Saint of our Luen Empire!"

When Zong Ze finally finished his lecture, Lan Qizhan laughed heartily and said, "According to historical records, the Sage Tengyun back then, just like my nephew Zong Ze, knew a lot of knowledge that others did not know. It seems that my Luen Empire is truly going to prosper!"

"However..." Lan Qizhan changed the subject: "Nephew Zongze, I have another idea. I wonder if you could enlighten me?"

Seeing that there seemed to be a problem with the Blue Chess Battle, Zong Ze, who had been lecturing with great enthusiasm and pride, looked up and said, "Your Majesty, please ask. As long as I, Zong Ze, know the answer, I will answer it without reservation!"

"Good!" Lan Qizhan waved his hand, his smile becoming even brighter: "I'd like to ask my nephew Zongze, what method do you use to make our soldiers fly into the sky? Do you perhaps have some secret method for training flying magical beasts?"

"Tch!" Zong Ze scoffed. "When His Majesty conferred an official title upon me last time, I said that an air force composed of flying magical beasts could not form any real combat power! The combat power of the air force nowadays can only be formed by dense combat groups. For example, my Divine Machine Battalion needs to gather 50,000 soldiers, of which at least 30,000 need to go into the sky. Even if there are flying magical beasts that can carry people, it is impossible to find 30,000 of them!"

"Ze'er is right!" Old Flort's support for Zong Ze was boundless. He either nodded in approval of everything Zong Ze said or provided concrete evidence to support his points: "Ancient records state that the Griffin Army during the War of Gods and Demons only numbered three hundred at its peak!"

“I’ve seen it too!” Zong Xiaozhang nodded and said, “Back then, the Griffin Squad wanted to expand, but after searching the entire continent, there were only a few hundred Griffins. They simply couldn’t find any more! But even so, the Griffin Squad’s aerial reconnaissance and assassination capabilities were enough to make everyone tremble with fear!”

"Then..." Hearing the two old ministers say this, and hearing Zong Ze's disdainful tone towards the Griffin Force, Lan Qizhan's eyes almost lit up with fire: "Nephew Zong Ze, General Zong, Marquis Zong, how exactly did your air force get into the sky?"

"If I were to explain this problem verbally, I simply couldn't make it clear. Even if I did explain the principle of thermodynamics, I doubt everyone would understand it, just like when I explained pressure!" Zong Ze scratched his head. "How about this, I'll demonstrate it for you myself!"

After saying that, Zong Ze said to Lan Qizhan, "Your Majesty, please arrange for someone to prepare some things: a small pot for boiling water, paper, the bigger and thinner the better, water, flour, kerosene and tinder for lighting lamps, and some twigs, the thinner, lighter and softer the better!"

Lan Qizhan gave a signal, and someone had already prepared it. Before long, what Zongze wanted was placed in front of him! Zongze first cooked flour and water into a paste in a small pot, and then began to weave the first Kongming lantern in the other world!

While Zongze was making Kongming lanterns, a group of ministers surrounded him in silence. In the end, even Lan Qizhan squatted down next to Zongze and carefully observed his every move, afraid of missing any details!

After a while, Zong Ze finished making a Kongming lantern of moderate size. He glanced around and immediately noticed the jade pendant hanging on Fox's waist. Judging from the straight rope hanging from the pendant, Zong Ze knew that the pendant was not only expensive but also very heavy!

"Lord Fox!" Zong called out, and Fox was startled. Fox was now on edge, unable to contain his fear. Zong's arrogant aura as a martial god was simply too powerful!

"General Zong, is there something you need?" Fox asked cautiously.

"It's nothing serious!" Zong Ze said nonchalantly. "My flying vehicle is finished, but to demonstrate its carrying capacity, I need something relatively heavy to assist it. After looking around, I think the jade pendant on you, sir, seems to be the perfect weight and size!"

"Oh...ah?" Fox felt a sense of relief when he heard that Zong wasn't targeting him, but then he realized that this guy wanted to use his jade pendant for the experiment, and his heart ached: "Damn it, if you want weight, can't you just find any stone? Why do you have to use my jade pendant?"

Speaking of this jade pendant, it can be said to be Fox's most prized possession. In this Holy Word Continent, jade products are not common. It is said that only in ancient times could jade products be used as currency. However, as time went by, jade products gradually disappeared.

The jade pendant on Fox's body was once a family heirloom of a small family. Fox found out about it and tried every means to destroy that small family in order to obtain the jade pendant. Now that Zong Ze wants him to hand it over with just a word, how can he not feel the pain?

But now, it seems he has no choice but to offer something. Zongze's series of actions and behaviors have deeply piqued the interest of the Blue Chess Battle and all the nobles. Now everyone is waiting for Zongze's Kongming lantern to take flight, and Zongze has specifically requested his jade pendant...

Fox, with a mournful face, took off his jade pendant and handed it to Zong Ze, who then hung it below the Kongming lantern: "Your Majesty, esteemed officials, what I made is called a hot air balloon. Of course, this is just an experimental product; a real hot air balloon is not this simple!"

After saying that, Zong Ze said something that made Fox even more frustrated: "This hot air balloon is very small. I will make one much bigger in the future. Lord Fox's jade pendant is equivalent to our soldiers. In the future, our soldiers can ride in such hot air balloons to fight in the sky!"

Then, Zongze carefully lit the oil-soaked rope that was tangled at the bottom of the Kongming lantern. Right before everyone's eyes, the Kongming lantern slowly rose up and continued to fly into the sky!

Everyone just looked up and watched as the Kongming lantern, carrying Fox's jade pendant, wobbled and flew higher and higher in the sky until it could no longer be seen!

"Little Zongze...I..." In the end, Lan Qizhan was incoherent and didn't know what to say. The Kongming lanterns made by Zongze made him truly believe that the Shenji Battalion could really fly into the sky and become the empire's air force in the future!

“Xiao Ze, I have a question!” Old Freud also came to his senses, and as intelligent as he was, he immediately thought of a very important question: “The hot air balloon you made has proven the inevitability of the air force, but from what I’ve observed, what you made only goes with the wind. So how will the soldiers control the direction while on it, and how will they land?”