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

After this incident, the loyalty of the Shenji Battalion soldiers to Zong Ze reached an unprecedented level. While all the generals of the empire were marveling at the remarkable effect of the ideological and political education created by Zong Ze, they did not know that in the hearts of all the soldiers in the Shenji Battalion, they belonged only to Zong Ze!

The Shenji Battalion is now an impregnable fortress. After a year of training, soldiers who are entitled to leave home will receive the same reply from anyone who asks them about the Shenji Battalion, no matter what the question is: "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask!"

Therefore, the Shenji Battalion is not currently training with the cultivation techniques of the Holy Word Continent, but rather with the "Hundred Battles to Form an Army" cultivation technique that Zong Ze obtained from Xiao Hei, which is suitable for soldiers.

According to Xiao Hei, there are actually many mortals in the Immortal Realm. As long as these mortals join the army, they will cultivate the "Hundred Battles to Form an Army" technique. This technique allows mortals to quickly cultivate and break through to become Foundation Establishment cultivators. Afterwards, the army commanders will give soldiers higher rewards based on their merits, and the technique can help them break through to the Golden Core stage!

After studying the Hundred Battles Technique, Zong discovered that although it was the worst technique in the Immortal Realm, in this Sacred Word Continent where spiritual energy was abundant, the Hundred Battles Technique, if practiced diligently, could allow one to break through the Foundation Establishment stage and even condense the Core within a hundred years!

In other words, as long as these soldiers persist in their cultivation, one day they will become beings like Martial Venerables! However, Zong Ze doesn't have high expectations for them right now, since not everyone is suited for cultivation! As long as they can break through to the Martial Madman level, Zong Ze will be satisfied!

Imagine the sheer scale of a battlefield suddenly filled with 50,000 highly trained, disciplined warriors—what a shocking sight that would be! What are the Light Empire's heavy cavalry legions? What are the Dragon Empire's dark warbands? They're nothing but trash before the Divine Machine Battalion!

Aside from two hours of political study and two hours of training in "Hundred Battles to Become an Army" each day, the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion dedicated the rest of their time to construction work, contributing bricks and tiles to the construction of the Shenji Battalion's city walls!

Zongze originally planned to let the imperial engineers build a wall for the Shenji Battalion at will. He planned to add some protective measures on the wall once it was built. However, an unexpected conversation changed his mind!

Zong Ze heard about a mountain called Iron Sand Mountain, which was located twenty miles away from the Divine Machine Camp.

This Iron Sand Mountain is said to have been a large iron mine during the war between gods and demons. A century into the war, all the iron in the mine was extracted by the gods and forged into weapons. The excavated soil piled up nearby, eventually forming a mountain!

Because this soil was produced from iron ore mining, it is rich in iron powder. However, many people have tried every means to extract the iron powder but have failed. So it has remained there for thousands of years. There has been no life on this mountain, not even a single blade of grass!

Upon hearing this news, Zong Ze personally went to Iron Sand Mountain to investigate. After confirming that the soil contained iron, he decisively ordered the demolition of the Shenji Camp's perimeter wall, which was nearing completion. After that, the training content for the Shenji Camp soldiers was expanded to include an additional item!

Every day, they would walk twenty miles to Tiesha Mountain, rest for half a day, and then carry a large basket of soil from Tiesha Mountain back in pairs to mix into mud and begin rebuilding the walls of Shenji Camp!

At first, everyone's speed was relatively slow, but later, as the soldiers trained and improved their physical fitness, they were able to move soil and build the wall faster and faster!

At first, two people could carry one basket, but later one person could carry two baskets, resulting in the Shenji Battalion soldiers' physical fitness improving significantly. The large amount of iron sand also transformed Zong Ze's initial idea of ​​building a perimeter wall into the idea of ​​building a massive, square city wall!

In just three months, Zong Ze personally led 50,000 soldiers to work together to finally level the Iron Sand Mountain, and a city wall twelve meters high and seven meters thick was built around the Shenji Camp!

The city wall was built entirely in imitation of ancient Chinese city walls. Its seven-meter thickness ensured soldiers could move freely on its surface, and its twelve-meter height inspired awe in all who beheld it. Each of the four sides of the wall had a gate, and these massive gates were also constructed from iron sand and clay!

On the very day the walls of the Shenji Camp were completed, Zong Ze did something that shocked the capital once again. He first ordered all 50,000 warriors of the Shenji Camp to move to the Zong family army's camp for lodging, and then Zong Ze actually burned down the Shenji Camp!

This devastating fire, which shocked the capital, burned for ten days and ten nights, spreading rapidly. Even those who wanted to fight the fire were powerless to do so; whenever a southerly wind blew, the capital, dozens of miles away, could feel the scorching heat!

It wasn't until Zongze himself admitted it that everyone realized why the fire burned so fiercely. It turned out that under Zongze's orders, all the soldiers were using oil instead of water when mixing the iron sand! In addition, Zongze later led his soldiers to cut down trees and piled all the wood under the city wall!

It's no wonder the fire got so big!

Zongze's actions naturally led to another complaint from the noble ministers, and this time even old Flort couldn't help Zongze, because he really didn't understand why Zongze did this!

The nobles filed numerous accusations against Lanqizhan, including the wanton murder of imperial counts and garrison commanders, the fact that the Shenji Battalion had been under construction for a year and a half without a single person ever flying into the sky, the arbitrary digging of mountains, the construction of city walls, arson, and many other crimes.

This time, Zong Ze did not listen to the summons at all. Lan Qizhan ordered someone to bring Zong Ze to the palace to answer questions, but Zong Ze did not go. He only sent a note with the emperor's attendant!

Zong Ze's disobedience made Lan Qizhan lose face, but the note instantly relieved Lan Qizhan's gloomy mood: "Your Majesty has important matters to study and cannot leave for the time being! If successful, it can increase our army's combat power a hundredfold. As for the complaints from the public, Your Majesty will give a reply within six months. If there are any problems, Your Majesty will atone with your death!"

What is Zong Ze doing?

Zong Ze was indeed conducting research, because just as he was about to hollow out the Iron Sand Mountain, he discovered something beneath it that had excited him for a long time—gunpowder!

Over the past five hundred years on Earth, Zong Ze has witnessed humanity's gradual transition from the era of cold weapons to the era of firearms. Even as a rogue immortal, Zong Ze is somewhat apprehensive about modern firearms. While he is not afraid of ordinary bullets and shells, he would not be able to withstand an atomic bomb! Therefore, Zong Ze spent a considerable amount of time researching firearms.

The instant Zongze saw the gunpowder after hollowing out the iron sand mountain, a scene flashed through his mind: enemy soldiers were charging forward when suddenly they saw a dense mass of hot air balloons floating overhead, and then... black iron balls fell from above, and then... bang...