Chapter 0743: Five Guardian Armies and the Twenty Banners
Listening to Li Jingzhe's elated words, Zhao Xuanming similarly smiled as he respectfully said, "The Lineage Chief has sharp eyes. Li Luo's talent is extraordinary and uncanny. As a triple resonance wielder, he would be a peak level genius anywhere in the Heavenly Dragon's Five Lineages.
"Li Luo, you truly are the son of the Third Master."
The rest had similarly been roused from their daze, but their faces were still full of surprise as they looked at the youth beside the Dragon Bell.
No one had ever expected the boy who had returned from the outer divine continent to possess such outstanding talent. He had three resonances despite only being at the Fiend Palace Tier, which was as big of a deal as a ninth-grade resonance.
Li Qingpeng was full of smiles as he looked on appreciatively. This nephew of his reminded him of his brother.
Li Jinpan nodded. "His resonance talent isn't bad at all. However, I wonder how his understanding of resonance arts fares in comparison. He should still be in the lesser Fiend Palace Tier, right? His tier is a bit low, but it should be due to the lack of resources available in the outer divine continents. So long as we provide him with what he needs, catching up to Jingtao and Fengyi should not be difficult."
Li Jingzhe's usually stern face was also beaming as he turned to the rest of the lineage elders. "Now that Little Luo has rung the Dragon Bell, he will directly enter the upper records."
At this point, there was no longer any disagreement. Li Luo had followed the rules to the letter, and anyone who dared to speak against this was clearly just out to cause trouble.
Li Luo hopped down from atop the ma.s.sive, bluestone boulder with a face full of calm. He did not reveal even the slightest hint of arrogance despite accomplis.h.i.+ng such a feat. Then he clasped his hands towards Li Jingzhe and the rest.
Li Jingtao and Li Fengyi walked over as they curiously studied Li Luo. "Little Brother, you are truly capable! You hid your strength so well!"
This was met with a veiled smile. "I had thought that the entire inner divine continent was full of eighth and ninth-grade resonances, thus I felt it was better to have a lower profile."
The two rolled their eyes. Although the inner divine continent was endowed with more resources, eighth-grade and ninth-grade were not as common as cabbages!
"Now that you've directly vaulted into the upper records, you've saved quite a significant amount of time and can obtain a good amount of cultivation resources every month. Most importantly, there are upper-grade Fiend Origin Pills and liquids and lights. The value of these items is close to several hundred thousand Skygold," Li Fengyi explained.
An excited glint flashed through Li Luo's eyes. "Upper-grade Fiend Origin Pills? Spirit Liquids and Purifying Lights?"
These were the cultivation materials he most needed, and they could accelerate his refinement of abstruse fiend lights and strengthen his resonances.
"Cultivation resources worth hundreds of thousands a month?" Li Luo secretly wet his lips. This was the foundation of the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li! Just entering the upper records would give him more cultivation resources than any power in the Xia Kingdom could possibly sustain.
Of course, this impossibility was only if they wanted to sustain a large number of individuals. If it was limited to just a few, the royal court might very likely be able to.
Still, this was not sufficient for Li Luo.
This was a bountiful amount to most individuals, but Li Luo understood his own problems. He required a sea of spirit liquids and purifying lights as there was no limit to how much he could use. As long as he had them on hand, he could keep using them.
His waterlight resonance had reached the upper seventh-grade, and Li Luo planned to quickly advance it to the eighth-grade.
Just as he was pondering how to obtain even more resources, Li Qingpeng suddenly opened his mouth. "Father, Little Luo has entered the clan records, so he should also enter a hall."
"Why don't you have him enter the Crimson Cloud Hall as one of the hall's Crimson Cloud Bannermen? I will definitely spare no expense in nurturing him." Li Jinpan took the opportunity to pipe up. Li Luo had demonstrated unquestionable talent, and he would definitely reveal his radiance to the world if he could maintain the position of a Crimson Cloud Bannerman for just a year.
After hearing Li Jinpan's suggestion, Li Fengyi's eyes lit up and she patted Li Luo's shoulder. "My father's recommendation is a great idea. With your age, you should enter the ranks of the bannermen. Once you become a Crimson Cloud Bannerman, no one will dare to cause you any trouble with me by your side."
"Crimson Cloud Bannerman?" Li Luo asked curiously.
"It looks like Aunt Yun did not explain everything to you. It does make sense. Becoming a bannerman is one of the most important things for those of the bloodline. Perhaps she wanted you to make your own decision when it came to it." Li Jingtao smiled.
"Then I would like to beseech Eldest Brother to explain more," Li Luo said pleadingly.
"As you might already know, the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li is split into the Heavenly Dragon's Five Lineages. Each lineage has four halls and each hall has a single banner. The banner is named after our hall, and thus the Violet Spirit Hall possesses the Violet Spirit Banner and the Crimson Cloud Hall has the Crimson Cloud Banner. The Five Lineages thus have twenty banners. They consist of the most elite youths of our bloodline in the Dragon's Fang Domain. Countless exceptional youths seek to enter their ranks. It is the greatest honor, and once you enter their ranks, you are able to enjoy much more cultivation resources than the rest."
At this point, Li Luo gained some understanding of the Twenty Banners. It was a way for the clan to pick and selectively nurture the best of the best. It was similar to what the college had done, but once chosen, it was equivalent to becoming an official force under the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li. Thus, one would naturally no longer possess as much freedom compared to being, say, a Seven Astral Pillar of the college he used to be in.
"You have to know that the Bloodline of Heavenly Emperor Li rules over hundreds of millions of individuals. Each banner has over eight thousand individuals under it, and so the twenty banners mean that there are over one hundred and sixty thousand individuals. Everyone is constantly fighting for the honor to join them every year, willing to bleed and die for it."
"This is something the Ancestor determined, and the vast majority of the Dukes that now belong to the clan were once part of the Twenty Banners at some point in their lives."
Li Luo felt shocked by this. Twenty banners and one hundred and sixty thousand individuals was a veritable army!
Seeing Li Luo's expression change, Li Fengyi grinned. "Do you think that the Twenty Banners are the only force that our clan possesses?"
Li Jingtao similarly smiled. “Although the Twenty Banners are constantly discovering fresh talent for the clan, the true protectors are the Five Guardian Armies. They are the true defenders of the Heavenly Dragon's Five Lineages."
"What are the Five Guardian Armies, then?" Li Luo asked as he sighed.
"Each lineage has a Guardian Army. The Dragon's Fang Lineage is protected by the Dragon's Fang Guardians."
"Being able to enter the Five Guardian Armies is the dream of every youth. In order to even qualify to step into their gates, one has to be at the Heavenly Dipper General Stage. Fengyi and I plan to join it next year," Li Jingtao explained.
Li Luo felt his head spin. Only Heavenly Dipper Generals could join the Dragon's Fang Guardians? This was a frightening thought. In the Xia Kingdom, every single Heavenly Dipper General was considered a supreme expert able to lead an army, but they would only be an elite foot soldier here.
If the Dragon's Fang Guardians were to band together, just what sort of explosive strength could they demonstrate?
Li Fengyi seemed to read Li Luo's thoughts, and she proudly said, "The Heavenly Dragon's Five Guardian Armies, when combined, can form the Heavenly Dragon Formation, which is able to slaughter Kings!"
This tyrannical declaration caused Li Luo to turn numb.
An army of experts that were able to kill a King? The only thing that could summarize his thoughts of a Heavenly Emperor power was a single word.
Terrifying.