Even with Sun Moon Empire having the assistance of Celenova and managing to enter the race of mecha research to piece together their own mecha legions, they still fell short when facing true hard power.
The Sun Moon Empire's foundation in Soul Tool technology was already behind Haiyuan City, and their industrial base was even further behind, simply incomparable to Haiyuan City, which possessed the Herta.
Even if Celenova gave everything he had, providing the most cutting-edge mecha blueprints and design philosophies without reservation, the limitations of materials and manufacturing processes acted like two insurmountable mountains, tightly choking the neck of the Sun Moon Empire's mecha development.
Those heavily-anticipated Giant Mechas, while theoretically capable of unleashing Titled Douluo-level combat power, were restricted by production capacity. Their numbers were destined to be pitifully few.
By Lu Jingming's estimate, barely managing to assemble a few dozen would likely be the absolute limit of the Sun Moon Empire, even if they exhausted all national resources.
If they were to foolishly pursue an advantage in numbers, they would have to compromise on the mechas' performance, significantly cutting back on core configurations. Consequently, their combat power would be severely reduced, posing virtually no threat to Haiyuan City.
Lu Jingming was acutely aware that the Sun Moon Empire's aspiration to bring their mecha forces up to par with the Molten Knights' Molten Mechas was not something that could be achieved overnight. Without centuries, perhaps even a millennium of technical accumulation and resource gathering, plus incredible luck in finding suitable special materials, it was nothing more than a pipe dream.
Moreover, the Molten Mecha was currently just the first-generation product born from Haiyuan City's research system.
With the Herta, a genius who could be described as omnipotent, overseeing things, Haiyuan City's iteration speed in the field of mechas far exceeded imagination. Continuous updates and upgrades to the Molten Mecha were a matter of course.
Forget just performance upgrades; if these steel torrents were one day upgraded to interstellar battle suits that traversed the star sea, it wouldn't be a fantasy in front of the Herta.
Admittedly, Haiyuan City was currently limited by the overall material and manufacturing level of the continent, and the Molten Mecha could only temporarily remain at its current technical height. But given the current situation on the Douluo Continent, this reserve of combat power was already sufficient to handle challenges and threats from all sides.
"Sister Changli, thank you for your hard work these past few days."
Lu Jingming's voice was gentle enough to melt water. His gaze, fixed on Changli, carried undisguised fondness and intimacy, and his hand instinctively tried to move closer to her.
However, Changli seemed to have anticipated this. She subtly shifted her body, gracefully sliding off his lap and deftly escaping his embrace.
A teasing smile played on her face. She raised a slender finger to her full lips, her eyes twinkling. "I'm not one of those little girls around you who can be easily won over with a few sweet words, you know."
The playfulness in her tone was a reminder to Lu Jingming that he needed to put in more effort to conquer her.
"Alright."
Lu Jingming showed a fitting hint of regret but was not anxious. He hadn't expected to succeed overnight.
"But I meant what I said. Without you, Sister Changli, Haiyuan City wouldn't be what it is today."
He was well aware of the crucial role Changli played in the operation of Haiyuan City. Many complex affairs he didn't have time to attend to were all supported by her efforts.
He had thought he could take this opportunity to get closer to her, but it seemed he was overthinking it.
It's fine, there's always tomorrow. He had plenty of time and patience.
To deal with a woman like Changli, he had to be like he was with Jingliu: slow-cooked, step-by-step, never rushed.
"You really want to thank me?"
Changli blinked her eyes, which seemed capable of seeing into people's hearts, then gave a meaningful, inscrutable smile.
"Then go win over my little apprentice first."
"Jinhsi?"
Lu Jingming was momentarily stunned, then realized what she meant, a look of amused helplessness on his face.
"Sister Changli, are you... thinking of a Master-Apprentice Sandwich? That's quite the unique game you're playing... I like it!"
The combination of the Dragon and Phoenix, master and apprentice, would indeed be a fatal attraction for him if he could manage it.
"I'm glad you like it, then you'll have to try harder." Changli slightly narrowed her eyes, a flash of mischief in their depths.
She had been secretly observing Lu Jingming lately. His pursuit of Jinhsi was too weak; rather than being more than friends but less than lovers, it was more like they were just good friends. He had even asked Jinhsi to comfort other girls and play wingwoman for them. Changli saw all this and felt a rising sense of urgency.
If this continued, when would Jinhsi and Lu Jingming ever settle down? After all, Robin was already pregnant.
Changli felt exasperated with both Jinhsi and Lu Jingming for their inaction. This was why she had to personally intervene, using the slightly provocative "Master-Apprentice Sandwich" idea to seduce Lu Jingming and force him to be more proactive.
"I understand, Sister Changli."
Lu Jingming immediately patted his chest to guarantee it. Stoked by Changli's teasing, plus a bit of yearning for the "Master-Apprentice Sandwich," he felt he could no longer let things drift naturally.
"I promise, as soon as this Holy Grail War is over, I'll start moving. I will win over Jinhsi!"
For this goal, he felt it necessary to change his strategy and hit Jinhsi with a heavy punch.
"Oh? Then I shall wait and see."
Changli crossed her arms. This simple action accentuated her already stunning curves, captivating Lu Jingming's attention.
Although he always felt that the girlish types, like Robin and Keqing, were more to his taste, the mature, voluptuous, and sophisticated type like Changli... well, those who understood the beauty of it, understood.
Putting aside these romantic affairs, Lu Jingming was actually quite concerned about the overall development of Haiyuan City. This wasn't limited to just boosting the combat power of the Three Great Legions and the Molten Knights.
Haiyuan City was now like a giant magnet, attracting the attention of countless Soul Master families across the Douluo Continent.
After all, this was the birthplace of the Stigmata, a brand-new power system that was subtly beginning to replace the traditional method of hunting Soul Beasts for Soul Rings as the new way for Soul Masters to increase their strength.
In order to be the first to customize their own Exclusive Stigmata, for better family development prospects, or simply because they were attracted to the increasingly favorable living conditions and safe, stable social environment of Haiyuan City, large numbers of Soul Master families traveled great distances to relocate there.
Haiyuan City's attitude toward these seeking families was: all are welcome.
Their arrival not only brought substantial resources but also ample manpower, and even supplemented the large numbers of mid-to-low-level combatants. This was undoubtedly a timely help for Haiyuan City's expansion and development.
The scale of the Three Great Legions had now reached 50,000 personnel and was still expanding.
Lu Jingming had a grander blueprint in mind: if a completely new Empire were to be established in the future, a standing army of one million would be the minimum configuration.
Of course, this million-strong army could not all be Fusion Warriors, as the resources consumed would be an astronomical figure, impossible to sustain.
Therefore, they would definitely need to recruit a large number of ordinary soldiers or low-to-mid-level Soul Masters to fill the ranks.
Just like the current Three Great Legions, they weren't entirely composed of Fusion Warriors. Their core strength was the Fusion Warriors, which ensured both the loyalty of the army and absolute control over the Legions.
Even so, there were also members of other Soul Master families and sect disciples who had relocated to Haiyuan City serving in the Three Great Legions.
For example, Yu Mengdi and Ye Wuqing, and members of the Lan Family (Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo's family), all had many family members holding positions in the Three Great Legions, serving Haiyuan City.
The composition of a faction is never a pure monolith.
As the scale continuously expands, it is bound to form a community of intertwined interests.
After all, as long as people are involved, selfishness and partiality are inevitable. This is human nature, and Lu Jingming never harbored any extravagant hope of eliminating this phenomenon.
What he needed to do was maintain absolute control over power to ensure that everything remained within his grasp.
For instance, the drivers for the Molten Knights were entirely die-hard Fusion Warriors he had personally groomed. It was absolutely impossible for people from other Soul Master families to become Molten Knights at the current stage.
Of course, this was only the current situation.
If he were to gain even greater power in the future, enough to deter all unstable factors, he might consider loosening the restrictions on joining the Molten Knights.
Lu Jingming knew very well that if everyone lost their own ideas and thoughts, blindly obeying only his will, then the future Haiyuan City would become a stagnant pool of dead water, completely devoid of vitality.
He certainly didn't want the massive faction he was building to eventually turn into a "giant baby" that required his personal attention for every matter.
He needed to cultivate various types of outstanding talents, allowing them to shine in their respective roles, sharing the pressure and resolving problems for him and Changli, rather than running to him for instructions whenever an issue arose.
It was based on this consideration that Lu Jingming decided to appropriately delegate authority, freeing Changli and Keqing from complex trivialities so he could also be an easy-going "hands-off manager."
Ultimate authority must remain firmly in his grasp, but there was no need to desperately cling to some insignificant minor powers.
Appropriate distribution of power could instead stimulate the vitality of the entire faction, making the enormous "Haiyuan City" operate more smoothly and efficiently.
Lu Jingming's guiding principle was "The Fist is Power." As long as he held absolute power, everything would be within his control, with no need to worry about things spiraling out of control.
Those Soul Master families who came to pledge allegiance would inevitably use their positions within the Haiyuan City system to seek some benefits for their own families.
As long as it wasn't overly excessive and didn't cross any bottom lines, Lu Jingming could actually turn a blind eye to this situation.
After all, as long as they were still contributing to Haiyuan City and shining brightly, then some harmless selfish motives could actually be tolerated.
At least at the current stage, the relocated Soul Master families and sects were still behaving quite peacefully and responsibly, diligently working for Haiyuan City and acquiring resources and benefits through legitimate means.
Lu Jingming was also quite generous in this regard. 10,000-year Stigmata, and even occasionally 100,000-year Stigmata, would appear on Haiyuan City's exchange list.
As long as the merit was sufficient, no matter the reward, it was not impossible to create a Titled Douluo on the spot.
The prerequisite for all this was absolute loyalty to Haiyuan City and to Lu Jingming, to dutifully serve as a competent "workhorse" for him.
As long as they achieved this, glory and wealth would be theirs for the taking.
It was precisely under the temptation of such immense benefits that Haiyuan City could maintain such a rapid pace of development and possess the necessary financial and material resources to support behemoths like the Three Great Legions and the Molten Knights.
It's a known fact that maintaining an army is the most expensive undertaking, especially powerful elite troops. The resources required to maintain their combat effectiveness are immeasurable.
Therefore, the one thing Haiyuan City does not lack now is "workhorses" willing to serve it.
To secure a position in Haiyuan City, countless people would cross thousands of mountains and rivers, just to find a place here.
"I feel more and more like an evil capitalist."
Lu Jingming stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the prosperous scene of Haiyuan City outside—the busy traffic, the bustling crowds—and couldn't help but sigh.
Controlling a colossal entity like Haiyuan City, a single word from him could instantly destroy countless families or change the destiny of an unknown nobody overnight.
This feeling of controlling the fate of others was certainly easy to get addicted to, but Lu Jingming always maintained a degree of clarity in his heart, not allowing the taste of power to completely corrupt him.
At least in Haiyuan City, no commoner would die from hunger or cold, nor would they have to worry about attacks from Soul Beasts or harassment from Evil Soul Masters.
Here, Soul Masters dared not casually oppress commoners. Even so-called "nobles" were strictly forbidden from arbitrarily bullying commoners without sufficiently valid reasons.
After all, the purpose of the Golden Guards was to maintain order in the city. They wouldn't care if the offender was a Soul Master or a noble; any violation of the rules was met with severe punishment.
In Haiyuan City, while commoners were still at the bottom of the social hierarchy, they at least had basic dignity. They no longer had to toil day and night over subsistence, nor did they have to worry about encountering unreasonable Soul Masters or nobles who might casually beat or kill them.
Moreover, a commoner's background did not restrict their opportunities to find work.
Furthermore, if a child in the family awakened a Martial Soul and possessed Soul Power, they even had the chance to enter St. Freya Academy for study or join the military, potentially changing their destiny through their own efforts.
Haiyuan City provided free Martial Soul Awakening services and also issued living subsidies to low-level Soul Masters below the Soul Elder rank within the city.
Lu Jingming actually borrowed this rule from the Spirit Hall of ten thousand years ago.
The Spirit Hall of that era, by providing free Martial Soul Awakening for commoners and subsidies for low-level Soul Masters, managed to almost net the vast majority of commoner Soul Masters on the continent at the time, once controlling over 70% of the continent's Soul Master population.
The influence of a faction controlling 70% of the continent's Soul Masters is unimaginable, essentially making it the uncrowned king of the continent.
The ultimate downfall of the Spirit Hall had various complex reasons, but it was unrelated to the policy itself of providing free Martial Soul Awakening and subsidies to low-level Soul Masters.
Strategically speaking, it was a very excellent measure.
After Haiyuan City implemented this policy, the effect was immediate.
The commoners' sense of belonging to Haiyuan City rapidly increased, and low-level Soul Masters were grateful to Haiyuan City, willing to contribute their strength.
And now, across the entire Douluo Continent, only Haiyuan City offers free Martial Soul Awakening and subsidies for all commoners.
This policy has undoubtedly attracted a massive influx of the commoner population to Haiyuan City.
Even if it meant leaving their homes, they would come to Haiyuan City, just to give their children a chance to awaken a Martial Soul for free—a chance to change their destiny.
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