Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"I'll say this one last time - I want someone. I won't play dumb with you."

"Okay." Suddenly, Xu Fu stood up, "I won't act in this play anymore."

With a snap of his fingers, the three world-eating beasts stopped.

"I didn't know you had this kind of trick. I invited you to my home because I have a sympathetic heart towards Kunlun. This Yuehai Tiangong is where I have cultivated for 2000 years. If you let people eat this place, you are digging out my Penglai immortal roots. You are forcing me to confront you."

After saying that, he snapped his fingers again - except for him and Shangluo, everything around them began to flow backwards.

Qiuqiu had just arrived and was sucking in the seawater. Now he opened his mouth and spit out all the seawater. The lunar soil that had just been chewed up by the two big dogs was now spit out in its original state, all over the floor.

The spitted-out lunar soil and lunar seas were filled back into their previous positions, and the lunar seas became calm again.

However, the expressions of the three were quite painful, and Ah Heng, who ate the most, was vomiting and rolling his eyes - it seemed that this reverse playback was not simply moving time forward, but accurately taking out everything they had eaten.

When he finished vomiting, Xu Fu snapped his fingers and turned off the reverse playback.

"This is my fairyland. Since I gave you the elixir so that you can come back, I am not afraid that you will cause trouble here. I have read your Journey to the West, and there is a passage in it that I like very much - even Sun Wukong can't get out of the palm of Tathagata Buddha. You, the same. This is my territory. I was planning to feed you some fur, give you a few decades of skills, and then send you away with drums and gongs. I didn't expect that you would force me again and again. You have no righteousness in your heart, don't you have a little kindness to respect the elderly and love the young? You saw an old man rolling on the ground, and you didn't plan to let me go?"

"I say, Old Man Xu, it's not the first day we've known each other. Oh, maybe it's the first day I've known you in person, but it's not the first day between me and your incarnation - in the final analysis, you are the one who started all this. If you hadn't sent people to Yujing to steal Kunlun's magic, how could Master Wang come to kill us?"

"When did I ever send someone to steal your magic?"

"Huh? Didn't you steal that? Didn't you train some ninjas?"

"Why would I deal with those mortals? Those who come in and out of here are all princes who can make deals with me. Besides, Penglai Immortal Path is a separate entity, why would they steal things from Kunlun?"

"It's not you?"

"It really wasn't me." Xu Fu started talking, "I swear by the Luo River - Luo River, you may not believe it, so I'll change someone else."

He pointed to the sky with one hand: "I swear by Xinghan that those ninjas you encountered before have nothing to do with me."

"Wait a minute." Shang Luo pulled out the Spear of the Sun God from his bag. "I don't understand your twists and turns. You swore an oath to Xinghan, but I'm not the one to enforce it. I want you to swear on this spear. How about it?"

"That's interesting." Xu Fu asked, "How do you swear?"

"Hold the tip of the spear."

Xu Fu stretched out his hand and grabbed the tip of the Sun God's Spear. Blood as red as cinnabar fell from his fingers: "I swear, what I just said is true. That thief who stole things has nothing to do with me. If I want it, then I will definitely make a deal instead of stealing it."

[The contract was concluded.] Apollonia replied, [He swore. But the Spear of the Apollo did not punish him, nor did the Star Han he swore to before. It seems that he was telling the truth.]

"Is it true?" Shangluo took back the Spear of the Sun God, "Then here."

"I don't know what you want to do here. You brought the Dragon Palace to attack me, and I do owe them a debt, that goes without saying. You said I also owed a debt to the First Emperor, and I did want to escape, but I never said that the debt didn't exist. But now, you say I stole something, and I really didn't do such a thing. Really not."

"Um"

"So, Shangluo." He looked Shangluo in the eyes, "After knowing all this, what are your plans? Otherwise, let's settle the accounts. If you bring the emperor back, our deal will be settled."

"Let's not talk about the previous matter for now. As for the emperor's matter, I want him in person. If this problem is not resolved, I'm afraid there will be some things between us that need to be dealt with."

"I can't. I really can't."

"In this case."

Shangluo turned into a ball of black fog, which was gathering momentum and gradually grew larger.

"What do you want to do!!!" Xu Fu waved his hand violently, causing the black mist to condense into a rabbit.

The rabbit is about the same height as other rabbits.

Xu Fu panted, still frightened: "You turned into a rabbit, right Shangluo? Don't use violence. I will send you to your room. You can play whatever you want. The Jade Rabbit's body doesn't consume much energy, you can do whatever you want. If you don't want to play, you can go out at any time. Really. As long as you go out at any time. I have already said that I just want to make a deal with you that neither of us is satisfied with, why do you have to do it?"

Before he could finish, a bunch of noise suddenly flashed across the rabbit's form.

Shangluo, who turned into a rabbit, rose into black mist again. Xu Fu's transformation could not trap him at all, so he turned into a dragon man.

"You actually learned 72 transformations! You...you dodged it! You actually learned 72 transformations to avoid the three disasters!"

Without saying anything to Xu Fu, he immediately snapped his fingers - the three giant beasts were put back into his bag, and the black gas he turned into also suddenly grew larger, until it became the same size as heaven and earth, and turned into a taller, bigger, and stronger Tengu.

"Wait! What are you doing!?"

"In fact, I had no intention of doing it. But, you just said there is 2000 years of power here. I suddenly feel a little hungry. Ah, then there is nothing I can do. I'm really sorry. We in Kunlun are like this. When we see something good, we can't help but take action."

The movement floated beside him: "Well, there is still one second. I bet you that I can eat everything here in one second. Since you can't help my brother, I will have to eat you and then find a way to restore him."

Chapter 1234 Surrender

"Since you can't help my brother, I have no choice but to eat you and then find a way to restore him."

This was Shangluo’s last words before he started eating.

"So, you just ate him?" Phaethon stood there in astonishment.

It was indeed only five seconds for Shangluo to get out, a full five seconds.

Nothing happened in the first four seconds. In the fourth second, the Spear of the Sun God was taken away from her hand. Before the end of the fifth second, Shangluo walked out of the shrine. Phaethon even went up to help.

"What about me! Shangluo, what about me!"

How do you get him out?

"Wait a minute." Shangluo turned his back, retched a few times, and vomited out two balls of fur. The balls of fur rolled on the ground and turned into two rabbits.

[How about your cosplay as Bo Yikao? You spit out the rabbit after eating it, right? ]

"Then what can I do? This is the only way."

He picked up the rabbits one in each hand, and he was used to pulling the rabbits' ears - but he felt that something was wrong, so he took the rabbits back one in each hand.

He stuffed the rabbit into Zhu Xianxun's hands.

“???” Zhu Xianxun took the two rabbits with a confused look on his face.

He and the rabbit exchanged glances and saw a familiar look. It was him.

"Shangluo! Thank you! You actually saved me! Although it's a bit hard to hold on after becoming Bo Yikao, but ah! I'm alive!"

"It's just that I'm still one step away from changing back."

"It's okay! It's easy as long as we rescue them! I say, don't you want to thank Shangluo?"

One of the two "rabbits" was dozing with his eyes closed, while the other was in a daze with his eyes open. They obviously recognized Shangluo, but they didn't seem very satisfied with Shangluo's "rescue". It seemed that they had had a lot of fun playing the creative mode in there before.

"Okay. Thank you on my behalf."

"By the way, how did you decide who stayed and who left?"

"No decision has been made. In fact, neither of them wanted to go out, and I was the only one who was willing to go out. After all, the conditions offered by Xu Fu were really good. We were all very tired. As long as one of us could go out and fulfill our responsibilities, the other two would still want to stay. I didn't want to leave them behind, and I tried, but I finally accepted Xu Fu's proposal - to take what I wanted, leave there forever, and leave them behind. From this point of view, it is not an exaggeration to say that Xu Fu and I murdered them together."

[Ah, now that I think about it, he did have this sign before. This person was very depressed most of the time. But the remaining one seems to be very positive. This seems to be the side of him that is most willing to face the world. It's not bad, after all, it's his own choice.]

"Shangluo! I don't know how to thank you! When I go back and publish the research results of this pill, I will give you the title of second author. Oh no, I will give you the title of co-first author!"

"Oh my! How can this be so embarrassing!"

"This is what you deserve. If you rescue me, I will give you my sister's salary voucher! She has 5 taels of salary voucher!"

"Wait a minute." Phaethon asked, "I won't ask why it's the princess. What is a lottery?"

"It is a kind of bond we use to settle the royal family." Zhu Xianxi replied, "You can receive 3% interest on the face value every year, and you can inherit it."

"So, why is it your sister's?"

"Because I don't have any. When I become an emperor, I no longer have the Lu Coupon. I can't give my sister to him, my sister is not an object. Of course, if I give the Lu Coupon to Shangluo, the two of them should be able to see each other more often."

[Ah! He's probably trying to get an advance on your dowry to keep you in check! Why has he suddenly become so aggressive?!]

"Perhaps this is his ambition, which has always been balanced by his own laziness."

[Whose ambition is to arrange a marriage? 】

"Ahem," Phaethon said, "Let me correct you. The so-called 'matchmaking' is to forcibly bring together a man and a woman who have no emotional foundation. These two do have some emotional foundation."

"What kind of emotional basis is this?" Shang Luo wondered. "She keeps me as a lucky charm. Is this called emotional basis? Then can it also be understood that we have business dealings, a relationship of raising and being raised?"

In short, he rejected Zhu Xianxin's proposal:

"Forget it. Zhu Ling's certificate is hers, how can I take it?"

"Oh, that's a pity." Zhu Xianxi shook his head. "Then I'll give you this. Just consider it as a deposit."

[What is a deposit? He wants to reserve you, right?]

Shangluo also discovered that Zhu Xianxin's current "aggressiveness" was not of the same order of magnitude as before. If he didn't accept the deposit, he might come up with other ideas.

"Okay, I'll take it. But what is this key to?"

"You'll know when you get there - so, what are you going to do next?"

"As expected, the Jindan stage is the Jindan stage after all, and it is really difficult to break through. I will find a way. I also want to study it."

"This is a very valuable research material. After all, so far, no real person in the Jindan stage would take out his own 'Jindan' for others to study. This is a one-of-a-kind piece. If you need assistance or research funds, just let me know."

"Eh? Brother, do you have money now?"

“I’ve always had money.”

"But you used to say that when it comes to spending money..."

"Ah, that's because of a different mindset. In the past, I was frugal because I thought I might need the money at a critical moment. Now I think that money should be spent when it's needed, because it's an investment. So if your research requires money, materials, or perhaps a place, just tell me directly."

"It shouldn't take long. At worst, I can split the golden elixir or refine it in other ways. But the harder it is to manipulate the golden elixir, the more powerful it is."

"I suggest you meet with Master Lan and have a good talk about what the Golden Core Stage is - if you can successfully refine it, then the first step to the Heavenly Court will be secured. By then, except for Master Lan who can fight against you, you will be completely above everyone else in the mortal world. The Heavenly Masters above you are extraordinary, so that means you are almost invincible."

"So what about you here, brother?"

"As long as you rescue me, there will always be a way. My progress has been very successful, and now I have also reached the foundation building stage. The two people next to you who only have the appearance of rabbits have not lost their sanity at all, and their strength is also at the foundation building stage. I can divide my work between the two of them - ahaha, now there are three of me working, and there will be no chaos caused by the 'three suns in the sky'. This is simply the best result! Better than the two of them recovering to human form, and even better than me being three in one!"

"Well, in that case, Xu Fu's body is really full of treasures."

Before he finished speaking, Fu Yuanshan next to him suddenly picked up the phone. He spoke a few words hurriedly to the person on the other end of the phone, then turned around and said to the two of them:

"Your Majesty, and the Heavenly Lord, if something goes wrong, do you remember that Xu Fu said before that he assembled a fleet in Qianye to prevent the enemy from crossing the sea?"

"Is this true?" Zhu Xianxun asked.

"That's true." Shang Luo nodded, "Xu Fu told me this - the enemy is coming?"

"Yes." Fu Yuanshan nodded, "Our reconnaissance plane discovered that a large fleet is heading towards Edo. It seems that they appeared because Xu Fu's formation disappeared completely. It is also possible that they were trapped by the formation before, and came out to continue to execute orders after Xu Fu disappeared."

"What is that? A large fleet? How many warships are there?"

"They're not warships. There aren't any warships. They seem to be cargo ships. There are about 20 of them, and they all look exactly the same. They're airtight like a square box. Our scouts said the air around them smells like baking bread, as if they were baking bread while sailing."

Chapter 1235 Bread Boat

Zhu Xianxi, who had solved the problem, returned with two rabbits in his arms. Although this operation was a bit frightening for him, it was an unexpected surprise. First of all, his "great achievement" had a good start. The sample of the medicine that could heal the world was finally completed, and the only thing left was to distribute the medicine.

He had been prepared to pay a huge price, and he had always been prepared. Because accepting the country's disgrace and misfortune has always been the code of conduct, his personal gains and losses are secondary. But he didn't expect that Shangluo would actually redeem his personal "great loss" and even double it. Now he has two more experimental assistants, two moon rabbits who can help him pound medicine, and both are top students who graduated from the chemistry department of a top university - and they don't ask for wages.

And the most important thing for him personally was that he ascended to the realm of heaven and man through this "merit".

"So it seems that the path of meritorious service is indeed feasible." Although it is hard to say what the ancient saints, such as Shennong, were like, it is clear that Zhu Xianxun did rely on "merit" to be promoted.

"But one thing is still unclear - how is the causal relationship between them established? Because it seems that Senior Brother was promoted to the Foundation Establishment Stage first, and then he has now fully established his merits. The moment he was promoted, he only had poison in his hand, and he poisoned himself to death."

[I think the cause can come before the effect, and the effect can come after the cause.]

"Can it still be like this?"

[To put it in detail - although he did not establish merit at the moment of his promotion, he has already established merit in the near future, so the 'Way of Heaven' favors him.]

"Interesting. So what does the Way of Heaven rely on to reward and punish?"

[I can give you some references - in Rome, there are three types of magic users. The first type is that he chooses magic, which is the usual sense of magician; the second type is that magic chooses him, which is relatively rare, but very powerful; the third type is that he neither chooses magic nor magic chooses him, but he can cast spells. ]

"The first two are easy to deal with. What is the third one?"

[The third type is actually the most common. Because broadly speaking, everyone can be a third type magician - mysticism generally believes that wheels, flames and throwing are the three original magics of mankind. These three magics have enabled humans to completely transcend nature. So as long as you have ridden a bicycle, you are a magician. Human civilization itself is based on magic, and everyone can be a magician. ]

"Is this possible?"

【So I said it in a broad sense. The third type of magicians in a narrow sense is actually very rare. They are magicians beyond mystery, and have the ability to control chaotic systems. For example, pilots belong to this category. From this perspective, magic is everywhere, but even if humans cannot understand magic, they can control it - all cognition in this world is circulating between magic, religion and science. For example, fire was magic at first, then became religion, and now it has become science. Who knows if it will become magic again one day in the future. Flying an airplane is magic now, but who knows if it will become religion one day in the future.】

"It will become a religion that is meant to please machine spirits, right?"