About an incense stick of time later, Master Chu Hua returned from Langhuan Pavilion, bringing with him an imperial edict. "Your Excellency, there is indeed an imperial edict with this title, and it does indeed contain a decree ordering Zhao Rongchang and others to descend to the mortal realm to survey the land."

Fang Jian took the imperial edict with surprise and took a look at it. It was exactly the same, and it was also stamped with the seal of the Grand Envoy of Taixuandu Province.

"When was this edict issued?" Fang Jian asked Master Chu Hua.

Master Chu Hua replied, "It was over two hundred years ago. At that time, the Heavenly Court wanted to annihilate the Zhenyang Daoist Palace in Dongsheng Shenzhou. The Great Lord sent an imperial edict ordering the Southern Heavenly Gate Demon-Slaying Captain and others to descend to the mortal world to survey the land in preparation for sending troops to attack the Zhenyang Daoist Palace."

At this point, Master Chu Hua added, "The chief emissary at the time was the Lady of the Nine Heavens."

Fang Jian paused for a moment, then glanced at the imperial edict in his hand. He then asked, "Afterwards, Zhao Rongchang and the others secretly hid the imperial edict and never returned it to the Taixuan Province?"

"That should be the case," said Master Chu Hua. "At the time, the officials of Taixuan Province did not demand the return of the imperial edict, so Zhao Rongchang kept it hidden."

All edicts issued by the Grand Envoy, whether completed or not, must be submitted to the Taixuan Province on time to be invalidated or archived.

But it was naturally impossible for the Queen Mother of the West to take care of such matters personally, so all the replies to the imperial edicts were collected by the immortal officials of Taixuandu Province.

However, this imperial edict slipped through the net because Zhao Rongchang intentionally kept it hidden.

Fang Jian slammed the imperial edict onto the jade table, then looked at the four Tiangang generals and said, "The matter has been investigated and the four generals are not guilty. Please return to guard the Nantian Gate."

Hearing Fang Jian's words, Gao Yan and the other three breathed a sigh of relief and immediately bowed and said, "Yes, Master Hongqing."

As Gao Yan and the other three left, someone outside the hall announced, "Director General, Master Lu Ban of the Tiangong Academy has arrived."

Upon hearing this, Fang Jian immediately said, "Please come in."

Afterwards, Lu Ban from the Tiangong Academy entered the Wuying Hall. When he saw Fang Jian, he bowed and said, "Master Hongqing, there's a result."

"Oh?" Fang Jian's face lit up with joy, and he quickly asked, "What's the origin?"

Fang Jian was asking about those 'self-destructing' heavenly soldiers. After Fang Jian suppressed them, he found that there was no life in them at all. They were just puppets, not real heavenly soldiers.

So Fang Jian handed them all over to the Tiangong Academy and asked them to study the origins of these puppet heavenly soldiers.

As Fang Jian asked, Master Lu Ban immediately said, "Those are not ordinary puppets, but 'Yellow Turban Warriors'."

"Yellow Turban Warrior?" Fang Jian was startled when he heard this and said, "Isn't that a Golden Immortal Puppet made by the Taoist sect?"

"That's right," said Master Lu Ban. "But they're very different from the other Yellow Turban warriors. These puppets are born to self-destruct. Normally, they're just like ordinary heavenly soldiers, their magical energy barely discernible. But once activated, they unleash all their power in an instant, as if they were specially designed for this purpose."

When Fang Jian heard this, he immediately asked, "Where can this kind of puppet be refined?"

After a moment of contemplation, Master Luban said, "Tianhefang, Laojun Pavilion."

Soon, thousands of heavenly soldiers, led by seventy-two Earthly Fiend generals, arrived at the Laojun Pavilion in Tianhefang and read out Fang Jian's edict in public: ordering all the immortal masters of Taiyi Tower in the Laojun Pavilion to go to Taixuandu Province for questioning.

After the imperial edict was read, seventy of the seventy-two Earthly Fiend generals stayed in Laojun Pavilion, and only two of them returned to Heaven with a hundred heavenly soldiers and several Taiyi Tower immortal masters.

When the immortal masters of Laojun Pavilion and Taiyi Tower, led by Xie Lingyun, arrived at the Wuying Palace, Fang Jian immediately ordered people to move out those self-destructive heavenly soldier puppets.

"Masters, do you recognize this thing?" Fang Jian asked, pointing at the heavenly soldiers and puppets.

A group of immortal masters stepped forward to take a closer look, and then Xie Lingyun said, "Yes, these heavenly puppets were all made by our Laojun Pavilion. But how did they end up in the Heavenly Palace?"

Fang Jian frowned and asked, "Why can't they be in Heaven?"

Xie Lingyun smiled and said, "The Heavenly Court has Heavenly Soldiers. Those who come to our Laojun Pavilion to refine these Heavenly Soldiers puppets are generally cultivators outside the Heavenly Court. They want some puppets to guard their caves or protect their juniors. Because of the majesty of the Heavenly Soldiers, most of the puppets are required to be refined in the appearance of Heavenly Soldiers and Heavenly Generals."

"Master Hongqing, this doesn't violate the laws of heaven, right?" asked another immortal master, Yang Zhu.

This does not violate the heavenly rules, because these heavenly soldier puppets are only refined to imitate the appearance of heavenly soldiers, and are not clearly equipped with the logo of heavenly soldiers. At most, they can be regarded as high-level heavenly soldier "figures".

Moreover, there are countless gods who have made puppets in the style of heavenly soldiers and generals. This is mainly because of the majesty of the heavenly soldiers. Whether traveling or fighting, it would be more prestigious to have a team of puppets that look like heavenly soldiers around, right?

Fang Jian asked Xie Lingyun and Yang Zhu, "How many of these puppets has Laojun Pavilion refined?"

"That's a lot." Xie Lingyun said, "At least tens of thousands."

"Are they all puppets of the Golden Immortal?" Fang Jian asked.

"Yes." Xie Lingyun nodded and said, "This puppet is only a Golden Immortal, and has no other level of cultivation."

Fang Jian asked again: "Can all of them be recalled and destroyed?"

"It's difficult." Xie Lingyun shook his head and said, "It's very difficult."

Fang Jian said calmly, "Is it difficult for me to pacify Xiniu Hezhou?"

"." When Xie Lingyun and others heard this, they were all stunned and speechless.

After a while, Xie Lingyun bowed and said, "Master Hongqing, rest assured. After we return, we will do our best to recall and destroy these puppets."

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