Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

Chapter 305 Departure

19 minutes 21 seconds.

19 minutes and 20 seconds. Shangluo and Zhu Xianxun try to open the lead coffin.

18 minutes and 20 seconds. Tried to give Te Jiuwu the Creation Pill.

18 minutes and 00 seconds. A single bottle of Creation Pill is ineffective. Take the entire bottle.

17 minutes and 50 seconds. The Creation Pill is indeed ineffective, so all the Small Rejuvenation Pills are used.

15 minutes and 21 seconds. Zhu Xianxun's medicine bag was empty, and there was no improvement. At Shangluo's suggestion, chest compressions began to perform CPR. Meanwhile, Shangluo began to question the Akashic Records through dialogue.

13 minutes and 00 seconds. Start using Master Lan's thunder method to perform electric shocks

At 8 minutes and 25 seconds, Shangluo began pinching the philtrum of Te Jiuwu. He didn't know what to do anymore.

"Wake up! Wake up!" His fingers were all red, but Te Jiuwu, who was condensing the Sha Dan, showed no sign of waking up, and his soul that had left his body was unable to return to it.

"Ha..." Te Jiuwu shook his head. "Let's just give up. Even if you two find a way to wake me up and let me return to my body, I don't know how to stop the evil spirit from forming a pill. Let's stop here. Thank you all. Thank you two, thank you Master Lan, and thank you to the two brothers who were flying the plane up front. And, I want to especially thank this little sister. You've been carrying the camera the whole time, allowing me to talk to everyone the whole time. Thank you very much."

The unprecedented feeling of powerlessness made Shangluo place his last hope on Apollonia.

"Apollonia, how long will it take? Until we get results? How can we save him?"

At least a bit more. I don't know. I can't see the progress bar moving at all. It's not moving at all. This question might be too big, or maybe no one has asked it before. This is completely uncharted territory.

"Forget it. Let's end it."

He slowly sat down. Reflecting on his previous experiences, he felt no different from a shaman performing a ritual, as he had no idea whether his actions would be effective. In a completely new realm, their cognition was only that of an infant.

The dog sneezed, and it rained. So, did the rain come because the dog sneezed? So, next time it doesn't rain, do we need to make the dog sneeze to pray for rain? Where does rain come from?

After a meaningless dance, no miracle happened - this was the evil spirit that even the miracle of spiritual energy could not eliminate.

The evil spirit blocked Shangluo and others' exploration of the ultimate goal. As if deliberately preventing the birth of miracles, the dark cloud of evil spirit hovered over the building of the immortal way.

"Apollonia, I have another question."

[Ask.] Apollonia was no longer in the mood to joke. [What do you want to ask?]

"What is our greatest enemy in the past, present, and future?"

Are you sure you want to ask this?

"I'm a little confused."

【All right. 】

Both of them knew the significance of this action - at a time when the common people were unable to respond, at the very last moment, they could burn tortoise shells and animal bones and use temple divination to predict good or bad luck.

The vague answers will soon emerge.

[Shangluo. The answer is out.]

"Then tell me. What is our greatest enemy in the past, present, and future?

[It is——it.]

"it?"

【it.】

The answer came quickly, but it did not eliminate any uncertainty, because Shangluo had no idea what "it" meant.

"So, what do you mean?"

I don't know either. We haven't had a conversation, so I don't know how this answer came about. Regardless, this is an answer that I may not understand, but you will definitely understand, because you are the one asking the question. Therefore, the answer is also based on you.

"But what does that even mean? Does it mean that other people are hell?"

The time for thinking passed mercilessly.

In the last few minutes, everyone was silent, with only the noise of the detonation engine.

1 minutes 00 seconds.

Suddenly, Shangluo felt his feet lighten and he began to float.

"This is the edge of the atmosphere." The fading influence of gravity and Lan Daoxing's words interrupted Shangluo's thoughts. "The White Star doesn't carry oxidizer, so it can't operate in rocket mode. The engine has been shut down. We have one last minute."

Lan Daoxing turned and walked over to the lead coffin. "In a minute, I'll have to push it into real space. I don't want to do that. I don't want to step into the starry sea for the first time and abandon a patient."

"So, Master Lan, you've never been to heaven?"

"I could even ascend to heaven, but that would be meaningless. Even gods can ascend to heaven, right? But for a human to ascend to heaven is an unprecedented feat. It's a pity that I can only start with this bad thing. This is a bad omen."

After saying this, he placed his hands on the lead coffin and said, "Make way. I'm going to send him out."

"Wait! Wait!" Zhu Xianxun lay on the lead coffin: "Master Lan, we still have a chance! I... I still have a chance."

"Your Majesty, the medicine jar is empty. 39 seconds left."

"But...I..."

"I know you're unwilling to accept this. This is a problem everyone will have to face sooner or later, but none of us can do anything about it. Now, there are only 30 seconds left."

"Get out of the way." He dragged the weightless lead coffin, stepped through the air, and walked with it toward the door. The air in the cabin began to evacuate, and Master Lan looked upward—inky black space, boundless and endless. It was cold, and there was nothing familiar there.

He didn't want to be the first person in space, but now that things had come to this, even though he wasn't ready, he had to go.

0 minutes, 0 seconds. "Woo~" The hatch opened, and the remaining air inside escaped with a weeping hum. Master Lan floated out, followed by the lead coffin. He would carry it into real space.

"Wait a moment!"

Shangluo slid along the bulkhead to the door. There was no air, but the conversation between heaven and man did not require air to transmit sound.

Master Lan glanced at him and said, "The time has come. Sijun, don't stop me."

"Wait, I don't know if it will work, but there is one last way!"

"Time." He didn't say much, just looked up and reached out to grab it.

"???" He stretched out his hand but grabbed nothing, the lead coffin disappeared.

He looked back and saw that Shangluo had shaken off the bag in front of his chest and wrapped the entire lead coffin in it!

The lead coffin vanished. Vanished without a trace within the wrapping, just like the furnishings and windows in Zhu Xianxun's room.

Looking at the patterns on the bundle, the five-colored and five-sided dragons, and the dark patterns of mountains and seas on the flag, there were also the sun, moon, and stars on the flag, as well as the Wuhao bow and the sky-shaking arrows that symbolized Emperor Xuanyuan.

"Is this the Mountain, River, State and Society Map in your hand???"

Chapter 306 The Map of Mountains and Rivers

1 seconds

2 seconds

3 seconds

It was already 4 seconds since Shangluo put the lead coffin into the bundle.

But no one spoke. Everyone, including Special Nine-Five, sat still. Even Master Lan didn't know what to say. Only the two pilots in the cockpit kept talking—they were also shocked, but they had to continue with the descent and re-ignition procedures. They still had to communicate with each other, but their tone was stiff.

5 minute later.

Lan Daoxing suddenly looked up: "It exploded."

"It did explode." Te Jiuwu looked at his hand. "I can feel that some thread has been broken. But I'm still here. Master Lan, will I disappear again after this?"

"You didn't disappear at that moment, so you won't disappear now. Hands up."

Te Jiuwu stretched out his hand, and Master Lan took his pulse—

"Master Lan, you actually managed to touch me?"

"Because my true self isn't here either, it's still in Yuxi Palace. What you saw was the Yuanshen—but this Yuanshen is the Yangshen. When Lu Zu spoke of the Yangshen, he said, 'I can see people, and people can see me. When I gather, I take shape; when I disperse, I become wind. My magical powers are unpredictable.' Do you two see that?"

He then asked Shangluo and Zhu Xianxun. They both shook their heads, not noticing anything at all. It was practically the same as if the real person were there.

"Shangluo is learning thunder magic from Sa Zu, and he should be able to learn the Shenxiao School's 'Heavenly Dao Shadow Puppet'. Once he learns that, he will be able to achieve Yang Shen like me. This is the dual cultivation of body and soul, which can prolong life and achieve true trance. While in trance, he can also attend parties and eat. It's very convenient."

"What's Researcher Wu's current condition?"

"It's the Yin Spirit. What a pity! If I had another 49 days, perhaps I could have let you leave your body with your Yang Spirit to preserve a trace of Yang energy. Unfortunately, things happened too quickly, and there was really no way. But saving the Yin Spirit is a blessing in disguise. Lu Zu said: 'The Yin Spirit can only see people, but people cannot see you. You can only attend meetings, but cannot bring anything. You can only receive anger, but cannot eat.' But leaving the Yin Spirit is better than being completely destroyed. You should be grateful to Shangluo."

"I... I really don't know how to thank you." Although he still needed Phaethon to hold the camera for him to appear, Te Jiuwu looked much better.

"No, no, no, no need to thank me. We all do this for the sake of the world, same to each other. Now, we are all fellow Taoists." Shangluo didn't expect this person to "repay the favor" in the future. Because although they were on different fronts, their paths were the same, which inevitably led to the same ambitions, and the same ambitions led to the same actions.

This is "like-minded," a fellow Daoist. Like-minded Daoists don't need to rely on personal emotions or "debts" to constrain each other; simply walking on the same path is enough. Just like how "Special Nine-Five" has transformed into a Yin God, he can do what "Yin Gods can do," and if you have any problems, you can simply ask him for help.

As long as Shangluo keeps walking on the right path, he will be able to shake off his fellow Taoists - this is what is meant by "the right path brings many supporters."

However, he still has a big problem that he has not figured out:

"Master Lan, I'd like to ask, what exactly is the Mountain, River, and State Map?"

"Wait a moment, I was just asking Daojun, and I found out that this is the case. What you have in your hand is indeed the Mountain and River State Map. However, it is a blank Mountain and River State Map."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, Daojun has given you a piece of heaven and earth, but it is empty. You need to fill it with what you have inside."

"Can it become a paradise?"

"No, no, no." Lan Daoxing shook his head. "It's not just a paradise. It's a place that contains paradises. The Shanhe Shejitu is a world of its own, so whether you want to make it a paradise or a dangerous place is up to you. There's only one of this thing in history. I don't know if Daojun gave it to you directly or made another one for you."

"Maybe he did," Zhu Xianxi replied. "I remember now. I asked Huang Zu about this matter at the time, and Huang Zu specifically mentioned that his pole was very important."

"I see." Lan Daoxing suddenly realized, "That's right. The empty one in your hand is a brand new, unopened Shanhe Sheji Tu. It's not a second-hand item. It's just because it's empty inside, without up and down, or square. So after you threw it in, it can exist 'anywhere' and 'not anywhere'. It's the same whether it exists or not."

"Huh? So after I put the lead coffin in, it exploded. So what will happen to the Shanhe Sheji Tu now?"

"I don't know." Lan Daoxing answered bluntly, "Because I haven't come across this kind of treasure either. This blank map of mountains and rivers is like a blank imperial edict. It can be used to build territory and seal borders. How much you can conquer depends on your ability. But now, I don't know what happened inside. But it's best not to set foot in the unopened cave. It's very dangerous. Unless we can find a way in..."

Didi, beep, beep.

As he was speaking, the badge on Zhu Xianxun's waist suddenly rang.

"Sorry, I'll take the call." He stood aside with the jade token in his hand, glanced at the caller, and immediately became angry:

"Zhu Ling, what are you doing! I told you not to call me during working hours, you..."

"Brother, brother, brother! Your room is spewing fire!"

"Huh? What a mess! Is there anyone else next to you? Give him the phone."

"Captain Lu! Here you go!"

On the other end of the phone, Lu Huaiyang took the receiver.

"Captain Lu, what happened? She's talking nonsense, tell me."

"Your Majesty, your room is on fire."

Zhu Xianxun put down the phone: "Everyone, I think I found the door. It's in my office."

"Huh?" Shangluo was stunned for a moment, "Could it be..."

"It was that window. I asked Zhu Ling to go home first, but she saw him see my office spewing fire."

"Are you okay? Is Lou okay?"

"That's the strange thing. Although it was spitting fire, it wasn't burning. But she said she heard a faint muffled sound, as if something had exploded, coming from my study. She went to the door and looked—she said she saw fire spitting out of the wall."

"Ah this."

"Shangluo, don't you think it's a bit..."

"I know" Shangluo has three parts of apology, three parts of regret, and three parts of

"This is so cool! A portal in the room! When I was a kid I always wondered if there was a portal in my closet, and now I actually have one in my room!"

"Brother, is this what you think?"

"Ahem," Zhu Xianxun coughed. "But for safety reasons, although it's a bit regrettable, we still have to find a way to move this hole. By the way, how do you feel now?" he asked Te Jiuwu. "Since you've become a Yin God, your 'possession' should be in the Shanhe Sheji Tu. How do you feel?"

"Nothing really," Te Jiuwu replied. "I feel everything is normal, but I seem to vaguely see something. There is a table, a pen? An ink tank?"

"Ah yes, yes, that's mine. Everything in there is mine."