On screen, the Gold Guards were led by Lu Wu, Lu Qingluan, and others. They were tasked with protecting Haiyuan City and excelled at defense.
Each carried a modular Black Tortoise shield—superb defense, sealing abilities, and could form combined soul arrays.
Ten thousand Gold Guards could form a defense array strong enough to withstand a full-power attack from Changli, now a Level 99 Ultimate Douluo.
The shield could even withstand a Level 9 fixed soul guidance shell—unmatched defensive capability.
Without the mecha and antimatter legions, the Gold Guards would dominate the continent.
Their fusion genes were all defense-oriented, and research into the Xuanming Sect's martial soul led to the Xuanwu Shield soul device—Level 5 to Level 9, all focused on defense and control.
Especially the Level 9 shield: once a Title Douluo was caught, they couldn't break free.
The Gold Guards' main role was city defense and law enforcement.
With a beauty in his arms, Lu Jingming couldn't help acting up, wrapping his arm around Changli's waist and focusing on the screen.
Seeing the Gold Guards' growth, he smiled with pride—they were his creation.
Changli rolled her eyes at his roving hand but didn't stop him, and kept scrolling.
Next appeared a diverse legion, more offensive in nature and with complex troop types—a tightly integrated, efficient fighting force.
First, the Windfist Vanguard: black-green armor, wind-beast genes, soul-guided iron fists, wind element shields and purification abilities.
Next, the Thunderhammer Vanguard: purple-black armor, giant thunder hammers, thunder-beast genes, destructive attacks.
Then, Water Gun Heavy Guards and Ice Gun Heavy Guards: water and ice beast genes, using soul-guided cannons for attack and control.
Earth Mage Skirmishers: soul guidance staves, earth genes, shields and ranged attacks.
Fire Gun Skirmishers: fire-beast genes, soul-guided sniper rifles for long-range precision.
Elite units included Fire Debt Collectors (assassins), Thunder/Ice Firefly Sorcerers (elemental attacks), Mirror Ladies, Wind Servants, Frost Servants, and more—each with unique abilities, making the Fatui Legion the city's ace force.
To create such diverse troops needed many soul beast genes—mainly provided by Miss Gu Yue, the soul beast queen.
Without her, there wouldn't be so many powerful fusion warriors.
The screen showed the Fatui's Harbinger 11th Harbinger "Skywing" Yu Mengdi and 10th "Gold" Ye Wuqing training the troops.
As early followers, Lu Jingming spared no expense—soul bones, stigmata, Honkai energy, rare treasures.
With such resources, Yu Mengdi and Ye Wuqing had advanced rapidly, now mighty Soul Douluo.
In the Fatui Legion, this was enough to be a Harbinger.
Their talent rivaled the Shrek inner court disciples, and with Lu Jingming's resources, their progress was even faster.
But he didn't want them to burn out their potential—growing too fast on drugs would limit future progress.
So they focused on all-around development, not just soul power.
Competition for Harbinger positions was fierce—many eyed those spots.
Lu Jingming even let Keqing and Ganyu fill in some positions for fun; eventually, more suitable people would take over.
This constant competition drove the Fatui to produce ever-stronger warriors.
Each soldier could serve as a mid-level officer in any other empire's army.
Changli knocked away Lu Jingming's hand from her thigh, then scrolled the screen again.
Now appeared the Wuchang, modernized troops skilled with soul detection devices, drones, and vehicles.
Mainly responsible for logistics and support, they were also well-armed.
The Wuchang numbered thirty thousand—the largest legion.
Some scouted with drones, some handled logistics, some provided long-range firepower.
The Fatui focused on combat, Gold Guards on defense, Wuchang on intelligence and support—these were Haiyuan City's three main legions.
These fifty thousand, though fewer than other empires' armies, were elite.
In simulated battles, they could crush the thirty-thousand-strong Northwest Army of the Star Luo Empire—its best force, led by the White Tiger Duke.
Simulations showed that only the Sun-Moon Empire's Defender Hands were truly troublesome; other armies were no match.
Haiyuan City's military might was strong and growing.
Despite Changli's earlier rebuff, Lu Jingming didn't give up. His hand slipped under her clothes.
Changli shifted for comfort, pretending not to notice.
Finally, the screen showed a special five-hundred-strong legion.
Lu Jingming sat up straight, hugging Changli tightly—he was too excited.
Changli glared at him for squeezing too hard.
He apologized, but couldn't help his excitement: on screen stood five hundred silver-white mechas, the Molten Knights.
Each was piloted by a fusion warrior Soul Sage or above, fiercely loyal to Lu Jingming.
The mechas were based on Firefly's SAM Mecha, capable of bonding with their pilot and evolving.
Made from premium Ice Extreme Divine Crystal—a living, sentient metal—each mecha had a Honkai energy furnace, a beam cannon, plasma sword, anti-gravity field, spatial phase transfer, and stellar propulsion.
Each could match a regular Title Douluo in combat.
Five hundred mechas meant five hundred Title Douluo-level fighters—a force that could once sweep the continent.
Even in the Holy Grail War era, with servants, this was still a trump card.
Lu Jingming personally oversaw the Molten Knights, with Firefly as their leader and ultimate controller.
If a mecha evolved enough, it could break free, but by then, Lu Jingming would have other ways to maintain control.
All the pilots were his loyal creations.
With this power, even a continent-wide war wouldn't threaten Haiyuan City.
Even the Voidranger, without Destruction Fate, couldn't reach cosmic disaster levels.
And Celenova, as a memory, lacked Herta's completeness.
Still, the Voidranger's technology was not to be underestimated. Their starships and cosmic weapons could advance Sun-Moon's technology rapidly, but Celenova only used them as tools.