Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"Seems so?" Shangluo wasn't sure. But Rome's gameplay certainly seemed much easier, with plenty of interactive mechanics. The pilgrimage was practically like a dungeon, and he even started recruiting people to form a team.

"By the way, why is Rome so focused on such a mechanism?"

I don't understand. If I could understand the Romans, I'd probably stay with them. But one thing is certain—this is even a lot like video games. No matter how powerful you are in the game, it's still fake. How about you ask him? You can ask him what he really thinks. For example, ask him what he wants to eat.

"Mr. Titus, we'll arrange for you to eat when we arrive. What would you like to eat?"

"Radishes," Titus answered without hesitation. "Could I try some of the Aurora radishes? The ones you grow in the New World?"

"You haven't tried to plant it?"

"It's useless. We ate it and it didn't work. I'm thinking, maybe it has something to do with where it's taken? Or maybe it has something to do with the season? Or maybe it needs to be eaten on the land of Zhendan."

It won't work. Magic has created too much karma, a debt they owe the world, and therefore they can't possibly receive its attention. Until they've paid off this karma, carrots won't be of any use to them. This also means they have no chance of achieving immortality. This also means an unbridgeable gap lies between the Romans' future and theirs. This gap is called: lifespan.

"There's no way to change their physical constitution?"

Yes. Even if they could simultaneously cast 99 forbidden spells, the Romans themselves were as fleeting as drifting duckweed. While they could even split into six individuals and practice maneuvers, honing their skills like a game of pigeons, once they logged off, everything was gone. Death, everything was gone. Even with their deeper interaction with the world, a tragic barrier still stood between them and their own extraordinary powers. Perhaps it was precisely because of this 'isolation' from the extraordinary that they were able to play so many tricks with their mechanics and operations. In Aurora, this barrier never existed from the beginning.

"If I had a choice, I'd actually prefer to be a Cathay person," Titus said, unashamedly expressing his envy. "The more we explore the extraordinary world, the more we realize our own insignificance and short lifespan. Heroes and myths endure forever. The figure of the Forest King has lingered in the jungles of Nemi since before the founding of Rome. We pathetic mortals, however, are as fleeting as dewdrops. Tragically, we can even be slain by disease. Do you know how the previous commander of the Internal Guard died?"

Shangluo gave him a questioning look. Titus replied:

"He was hit and killed by a large truck that ran a red light."

Chapter 114 The Fate of the Romans

"what?"

"Yes, you heard correctly. Died in a car accident. With the Aegis in hand, he should have been able to fight against the celestial beings of Cathay. Yet, his death was so casual—he could stand shoulder to shoulder with the gods in the Heroes' Parade, and his presence could have allowed Mithras Helios himself to negotiate with him. Yet, he died in a car accident, as random as a stray cat in the city. He even lived only 49 years, less than the average lifespan of Romans. We don't know how long celestial beings can live, but we always feel that even after more than a dozen generations, we can still see familiar faces sent by your side. How tragic! The average lifespan of ordinary people in Cathay is 96, right?"

Yes, this is public data. The average life expectancy of people in Kinai is approaching 30 years. Thanks to the immortal roots, almost everyone can maintain their innate Dao body before the age of 70. This also delays aging, allowing people to maintain abundant energy even into their 20s and 95s, with true aging not settling until after . After about years of twilight, life ends around . Living beyond is not uncommon.

This was hardly noticeable in the capital. Since almost everyone behaved like this, and since it didn't exceed the limits of human ability, it didn't seem so unusual. Yet, these ordinary, everyday moments in the streets were unattainable in the otherworldly empire. The health of the Roman nobility was always a cause for concern. Their constitutions had never been strengthened, and they constantly held lavish banquets. When birth, aging, illness, and death arrived as expected, it was already too late.

"You should be able to eat radishes," Shangluo replied. Although radishes are expensive, it's not a big deal to treat guests with a few pieces.

"Can you ask for me?"

"Yeah." Shangluo nodded and picked up the phone——

He picked it up and put it down again. It was only a few steps away, so it seemed unnecessary to use the phone. The convenience of the phone gave him some illusions. For a moment, it seemed that he had returned to the era when he could send messages on his phone at any time.

Walking to the next private room, Shangluo knocked on the door. It was Wen Yuan who opened the door, also holding a cream-filled snail in her hand.

"What? You want to eat? But you can't eat it, you're fasting. If you want to eat, wait until dinner and eat some radish."

"I can still hold on. But Captain Lu, the guy next door wants to ask if he can have some radish?"

"Another one? Tsk tsk." Lu Huaiyang shook his head. "It's useless. We treat everyone who comes, but none of them are useful - ah, it's different from your situation. Eating radish will cause some bloating, but it will digest quickly. If they eat radish, it is said that it will be the same as when they see it tomorrow, and they can't digest it at all. So we just give them a little bit of food out of courtesy, it's actually useless."

"It's a bit pitiful. He said their leader of the previous generation died in a car accident."

"Oh, let alone something as sudden as a car accident. His predecessor's predecessor, a man named Pompey, came from the famous Pompey family. He was a formidable figure. He was well-educated, well-spoken, and in his forties, he looked very promising. But one day, he ate an extra bowl of noodles and collapsed. It's said that he kept his eyes wide open during the rescue efforts, unwilling to die so hastily from such a common disease."

"Since they are proficient in alchemy, theurgy, and astrology, is there no way to prolong their life?"

"Yes, they do—but Pandora's Box brought them miracles, but also certain death. They won't live long, and how much power they have or how long they live is completely irrelevant. Some have tried to forcibly break through the limits of their lifespan, but their fates haven't been good. Some are said to spit venom, some explode, and some have fire coming out of their mouths. Some have turned into stone statues, and even worse, some have turned into mud. A lump of cellular mud without intelligence, but capable of endless reproduction."

"So miserable?"

"There's no other way. Heaven's will cannot be defied. We have the power of creation from the immortal roots, which allows us to postpone, or even prevent, the end of our lives. After ascending to celestial beings, we will live the five decays of celestial beings, without the sufferings of birth, old age, sickness, and death. So, let's give them some radishes and leave them a little hope. It won't make them think we're not giving them a way out—the way out has already been given, and it's their fault for not being able to grasp it."

"Okay, that's what I'll say to him. Oh, by the way, Captain Lu, I can't eat for a while anyway, so I'll just go back."

"Remember you can't eat at night, you have to continue to starve. The fasting will be almost over by tomorrow. If you really can't eat, drink some glucose." He threw a box of glucose over.

"Thank you so much." After accepting the glucose, Shangluo knew that tonight would probably be a difficult night.

Before leaving, Lu Huaiyang gave another instruction: "You have to take a leave tomorrow afternoon. His Majesty just sent a letter saying that you are going to open the treasure chest of the Golden Branch, right? Good thing, you all go. Rome will deliver the diving equipment tomorrow at noon, so you can try it out at noon. While you are here, please call Han Xingzhi from your team, he is very useful."

With that, Shangluo left. The smell of cream in this private room was truly unbearable. The thought of having to eat only glucose until tomorrow had already made him dizzy. He was afraid he'd have to hold back his sleep for quite some time tonight.

At 9 o'clock in the evening, Shangluo, who was so hungry that he was dizzy, finally felt sleepy in bed.

"Good night, Apollonia," he mumbled.

[Hu~~] A soft breathing sound was heard, Apollonia had fallen asleep long ago.

"Buzz~"

"Buzz!"

"who!"

【who! 】

There was a vibration next to the bed, and they both woke up almost at the same time - it was their cell phone. The phone's panel was lit, glowing upwards.

[Who is it?! Why are you not letting me sleep so late at night? It's only 2 o'clock now. Look who it is.]

"Ah, I'm so sleepy and hungry." Shangluo squinted his eyes and opened his mobile phone.

He blinked, afraid that he had seen it wrongly.

"Yes, the Emperor."

[These grandparents and grandchildren are a never-ending tangle, aren't they? Why do they enjoy making these last-minute calls so much in the middle of the night?]

"Forget it, forget it. That's how the Zhu family is. It was like this during the Hongwu era, and it was also like this when Daozu was young. They don't sleep themselves and don't let others sleep. They are full of energy, as if they had been injected with chicken blood. I'll see what he wants. It must be very important."

He opened Fetion and took a quick look.

"Hmm?" He became more energetic. It was good news.

Apollonia also took a glimpse:

He concentrated the radish fivefold, reaching 5% abundance? So fast? He must have spent the past two days working on the elixir without sleeping! I urge you to go quickly. If you don't, I'm afraid he'll die suddenly in Yuxi Palace.

"He asked me to inspect it, so I definitely have to go. He's indeed a genius in alchemy certified by the Dao Ancestor, and he's truly professional." Shang Luo punched himself in the head twice to sober himself up a little. "Let's go, let's get it over with sooner rather than later. Maybe I can even get some sleep. I can't sleep in class again today."

Today's other updates will be around noon (before 12 o'clock)

Chapter 115 Light and Radish

When he rode his bike to the gate of Xiamafang, he found Wen Yuan standing there waiting.

"You didn't sleep either?"

"It's my turn to stand guard tonight." Wen Yuan looked very energetic. "The emperor just called and told me to wait for you here, in case you got lost. He's not in Yuxi Palace, he's in his office. Get in the car, I'll take you there."

The Grand Palace remained lit up at night. The two rows of streetlights along Suzaku Avenue were illuminated, and the three main halls along the central axis were also ablaze with golden landscape lights. The various government offices on the mountain were also still lit, with personnel on duty there in the middle of the night. Dots of light were arranged across Purple Gold Mountain like the constellations in the sky, their arrangement seemingly corresponding to the positions of the stars in the celestial zodiac.

But Zhu Xianxun was not there, he did not live in the palace.

The carriage stopped in front of the palace gate on the west side of the palace. This place was outside the palace city, within the imperial city, not within the imperial confines, and in fact, in the same area as the six ministries. The architectural specifications did not conform to the royal etiquette, and he could see the layout inside from the outside. The main building was two stories high and was roughly in the center of the entire complex. But the surrounding area was divided into several irregular blocks like the Huarong Road, each containing different landscape trees and houses. Even in the dark, the lush greenery inside could be seen, and the pines and cypresses swayed in the breeze like a canopy.

It is more like a garden than a palace. However, the gate still maintains the shape of a palace, with a plaque of "Eternal Spring Palace" hanging on it.

"This is the Western Garden, where the emperor lives."

"Doesn't the emperor live in the palace?"

"He doesn't attend court, so why would he live in the palace? The court doesn't need an emperor to function anyway, so the emperor has lived in the Western Garden for a long time. It's much more convenient here than in the palace. After all, there are restrictions on entering and leaving the palace, and even if there's no one inside, you still have to follow the rules. It doesn't matter here, just tell the guards."

The guardhouse was right at the entrance, occupying a north-facing room at the base of the wall. Shangluo had expected a Thirteen Guards to guard the gate, as they did at the warehouse and the back entrance, but there wasn't one. Instead, ordinary Jinyiwei guards appeared, two of them showing their badges and entering.

The entrance was filled with a small screen wall and a small garden. The two of them took a shortcut along the stone path, using the garden's landscape lights to guide them.

"By the way, I thought there would be the Thirteen Protectors here too. Aren't there any here?"

"The Thirteen Guardians? They're from the Northern Town. The Northern Town doesn't handle imperial errands, they handle official errands. So they don't work directly for the Emperor himself; their duties are very heavy. The areas they guard aren't centered around the Emperor, but rather areas where important secrets need to be kept secret. So it's us who work directly for the Emperor. Otherwise, I wouldn't be on duty here. I was drinking tea in the duty room just now before I received the call."

"So, between you and them, who has a harder time?"

"It depends a lot on the Emperor's personality. In theory, the North Town has the hardest time, because they take on most of the Jinyiwei's official duties, traveling all over the capital, and the Thirteen Guards also have to stand guard. The South Town's official duties are only the Imperial Prison, and the internal work is only related to the Imperial Prison. Ha, but if the Emperor is difficult to deal with, we'll be very busy. The previous Emperor enjoyed playing chuiwan, and thankfully it's a relatively common hobby. A group of friends in the South Town played with him every day, and they were quite happy. As for what happened before that, I don't know."

Upon hearing this, Shangluo felt a strange sensation, a vague unease. Qigong practitioners should have more personal concerns, not be busy with mundane matters. However, the key here is that the Daozu also serves as the Emperor's ancestor, and the Emperor himself becomes the sole link between heaven and earth. Therefore, for Qigong practitioners, the Emperor, who can communicate with the Daozu, has become an extremely important existence. After all, without the Daozu, Qigong practitioners are left groping in the endless darkness. Only with the Daozu's presence, the light shines, and the path to immortality is always clear.

Shangluo's unease stemmed from the fact that this path now had two passages to the heavens. Although he had yet to meet the Dao Ancestor, he seemed to be paying him special attention. This attention wasn't like that given to a descendant, but rather to a disciple—a somewhat distant master-disciple relationship separated by generations. The Dao Ancestor hadn't yet provided him with any instruction, merely offering covert assistance. But if he could truly communicate directly with the Dao Ancestor in the future, it might even shake the connection between the Son of Heaven and the cultivators.

Although the emperor himself seemed unconcerned, the less he cared, the more troubled Shangluo became. Many problems were invisible to him as a child, but the adult world was undoubtedly cruel. As he grew older, he would likely be subjected to all sorts of "expectations."

Wen Yuan patted him on the shoulder and said, "I know what you're thinking. Actually, at first, I was quite envious of you, since you could communicate with Daozu."

"what about now?"

"Of course I'm still envious now. But on second thought, you're a very kind person, you're very kind. Besides, how should I put it? We Qigong practitioners don't have so many petty things to do. We believe that we can forge our own paths. The Taoist ancestors are shining a light for us, but they don't want to watch us perform monkey shows. Contributing to the world is to maintain the heart of Taoism. When it comes to specific cultivation, you still have to rely on yourself. But..."

He paused, a rare heavy expression on his face:

"You know, not everyone is like me. I'm still young, but many people are no longer young. My path is still very long, but for some people, it's almost over. Didn't you see those Romans today? They're constantly worried about the end of their days. They're too fragile. But even celestial beings will show signs of the five minor signs of decline before the five major signs of decline."

"Do you suspect that the two celestial beings in seclusion sensed the Minor Five Degenerations?"

Wen Yuan nodded. "Perhaps when they sensed Xiao Wu's decline, they would no longer be free in an instant. This reminds me of Lu Liang's lack of spiritual roots. I always feel that this gap has suddenly separated her from the infinite future. But, hehe~"

He smiled. "You've come up with something really amazing now. You did a great job. I just tried a bottle of that radish. The minute I took the first sip, I knew it wasn't just a battery. It could save many, many people. And guess what? It won't digest! Yes, it won't digest! It can't be digested in such a short time. It's been two hours and it's still swirling in my stomach. Now, when I burp, I feel like I'm bursting with Qi. I feel like my Qi sea has been opened up! No, I can't burp, otherwise the Qi will all come out. I'm as confident now as I was on the first day of practicing Qi. You did a great job! When we go to break the golden branch, let's each drink three bottles of it first, and then we'll talk. I feel like I can even penetrate the celestial beings!"

Chapter 116 Abundance 15 Immortal Root Extract

Chapter 116: 15% Abundance of Immortal Root Extract

"I feel like I can even penetrate the gods now?"

"Really?"

The familiar scene reappeared. Unnoticed, Fu Yuanshan's voice appeared behind them.

"Ah! Uncle-Master! How come you suddenly appeared behind me?"

"The thunder technique we practice is all about speed. If you don't master it, you won't even be able to hear someone approaching. Tsk tsk tsk."

He said "tsk tsk tsk" and reached out to pinch Wen Yuan's cheeks, pinching them again and again. An invisible breath was "squeezed" out of Wen Yuan's mouth, but Fu Yuanshan could see it.

"You really do have some real energy. You're emitting steam like a little train right now."

"I told you it's true~" Wen Yuan, whose mouth was pinched, made an unclear sound.

Fu Yuanshan released his hand. "Anyway, I just received a quick message from His Majesty the Emperor, and I rushed over. Did you provide the formula?"

He looked at Shangluo.

"Yeah, yeah." Shangluo nodded repeatedly.

"You're amazing! You've managed to solve a problem that so many people have been working on for so many years without success."

"So this recipe is actually very difficult to obtain?"

"Let His Majesty the Emperor explain it to you. This is his expertise."

Changchun Palace, Jiuhua Tower. Zhu Xianxun's home.

After showing their badges again at the door, the three of them went straight upstairs.

Zhu Xianxun lived on the second floor, and his office was also on the second floor. The door of his office faced the stairs and was closed.

There is also a ceiling caisson on the second floor. A light bulb is held in the dragon's mouth of the caisson, and cold air from the central air-conditioning blows out from the secret compartments around the caisson.

Unlike the first floor, which was paved with imperial gold bricks, the second floor was covered in wooden flooring, and the office door was also wooden. Shangluo waited for 10 seconds beside the potted pine tree at the entrance—it was the dead of night, and someone was still on the phone.

Ten seconds later, Zhu Xianxi opened the door himself. The probe confirmed the identities of the three people and he made way:

"Come in and sit wherever you want. Wen Yuan, go get the medicine from next door."

This was Shangluo's first time in the emperor's office. Although the words "emperor" and "office" seemed a bit strange to pair together, this was indeed an office.

There was a small table next to the door, which should have been the secretary's seat, but it was now empty. The office was not large, but it was well located, facing north and south.

The door was in the southwest corner, and Zhu Xianxun's seat was not facing the door, but slightly tilted in the northeast corner, leaning against the wall.

The outer side is lined with floor-to-ceiling windows. During the day, the lighting here would be excellent. Even at night, one can still see the bright moon and the shadows of the trees in the garden. From outside the palace, this location would be obscured by the cloud-like pine and cypress trees; but the view outside the palace is excellent. One can directly see Suzaku Avenue in the distance, the streetlights now lit on both sides of the road. One can also see the city of Nanjing on the other side, and the densely packed urban area within.

But the office was anything but tidy. Several makeshift desks sat in the middle of the room, piled high with stacks of manuscript paper. Next to them stood a portable blackboard, its underside thick with chalk dust. The entire surface was covered in inscriptions in a mysterious script that Shangluo couldn't understand at all.

"It's off-duty time now, and the attendants have gone home, so you can make yourselves some tea—but I don't think you're in the mood to make tea."