Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

All those heavenly soldiers went back to read the notes.

"God, please forgive our sins." The snake uttered the words of the long-bearded mushroom man just now - it was just a fork on the snake's tongue:

"We stole the light of God. We betrayed our Creator and turned to our Savior. Our pathetic emotions became their material, giving rise to monstrous beasts—four in number. Left Hand of God, please allow me to introduce their names to you."

A large blue serpent emerged from the sea, its phantom head baring its fangs at the angel. "Sinners hide in fear. This is the water of hiding."

The tower of Babel began to burn fiercely, and the flaming serpent's head bared its fangs at the angel: "Sinners decay because of their ignorance. This is the fire of foolish anger."

The distant islands sank, while the nearby islands rose high. A serpent's head, shrouded in green, bared its fangs at the angels: "The sinners have been frozen in time for their monstrous sins. This is the Land of Terror."

Finally, it was the white snake's turn: "Sinners grieve over their betrayal of the gods. This is—the spirit of escape. We have evaded the gods' chastisement. But with nowhere to turn to for our fear, sorrow, and confusion, we have no choice. Sinners have already committed their crimes, and perhaps we will receive the ultimate punishment. But for now, we...we still hope to speak with the gods."

Before he finished speaking, the Tower of Babel erupted into a massive torch. A fiery snake burst forth, heading straight for the god's left hand.

"No!!! Don't!" The escaping air swooped down from the sky, trying to intercept the snake head of the Foolish and Wrathful Fire, but it was too late.

A fiery serpent coiled around God's left hand. The angelic legion was scattered by the intense heat, and the serpent's fangs pierced the thumb of God's left hand.

Golden blood flowed down.

“Ah~ It hurts, it hurts!”

The former young general flinched in pain, "Boss! Marshal! It bit me!"

"It's a snake." Another voice joined the channel. It was Fu Yuanshan.

"This isn't just any mushroom. Get started, everyone. Leave me one of the scallops for when I come back."

Hearing this, Shangluo put down his phone, walked out of the doorway into the lounge, and stretched his muscles. "I didn't expect there would be such a big one. It's time to get to work. Apollonia! Turn off the lights!"

In an instant, the sky and the earth became dark and the sun went out.

This is a great terror and a great disaster.

The water of evasion hid within the water. The earth of terror stood frozen. The most visible escaped air fled to the upper levels of the tower. Only the fire of foolish anger still bared its fangs at the sky, oblivious to all that lay above. The fire serpent became the sole source of light between heaven and earth. Amidst the catastrophe, it alone continued to roar at the gods.

But soon, there wasn't just one.

One, two, three, four.

Four giant figures appeared from the east, south, west, and north. They reached as high as the heavens and as low as the abyss of the sea of suffering. Each was taller than the Tower of Babel, and each gazed upon the serpents, as tiny as earthworms.

"This is."

The escaping energy peered out from the tower. From the upper levels, he saw the most, realizing most fully the vast difference between myconids and gods, and this was the source of his sorrow. He also recognized the name of this magical power:

"This is... the law of heaven and earth!"

Chapter 388 Major Sin

Fu Yuanshan entered this world. Compared to the pillar in front of him and the few fancy little loaches, what caught his attention more now was his own condition.

"So this is the Law of Heaven and Earth."

Reading on paper is always shallow; true understanding requires personal experience. As General Bai Feng, personally appointed by the Daoist Patriarch and one of the imperial court's top military forces, he understood the principles of the Law of Heaven and Earth. Yet, in mythology, these powers are also immense, and in Journey to the West, only a handful of powerful figures have ever demonstrated them, such as Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen.

And even Sun Wukong only used it three times in the whole book. Even for Sun Wukong, this is a "big move".

Such a magical power is naturally impossible to learn easily. But now, he has realized it.

His head held the dome of this world, his feet the abyss of this world. He stood a thousand feet tall, his head like Mount Tai, his waist like a steep mountain, his eyes like the sun and the moon. Standing there, he was a pillar of support, a pillar that held the heavens and the earth in its balance.

Standing on the top of the world, he overlooks the tiny creatures in the world. Here, the great power of heaven and earth is in his hands.

This was the law of heaven and earth. He realized the state of mind at that moment.

"So this is the Law of Heaven and Earth." He muttered, "I actually got it, I actually got it! Can I get such an opportunity?"

"Good boy." Even Zheng Yin couldn't hold it in any longer. "If I had known this would happen, I would have come in three hours earlier to wait. This kind of opportunity is worth a fortune, you can't even ask for it."

In the west, Master Jinghai, dressed in a Taoist robe, had just arrived.

Her apprentice Lu Liang had asked her to come today. She also knew that Shangluo was working, so even playing with the child could be considered a good relationship.

She didn't expect it to be such a place.

"Qilinzi is indeed worthy of his reputation. This blessing is deeper than the ocean."

Blessed are blessed. But if you still care about others when you are blessed, it is not just a matter of good fortune.

"No wonder such a Qilin child is so blessed. This child is a good person."

"Master Jinghai." Shangluo greeted in the chat group, "Thank you for troubling me today."

"No, no, no, it's not a problem at all. I've learned a lot today."

"You mean?"

"Laws of Heaven and Earth," Master Jinghai replied. "For those who cultivate the Dao, practice itself is certainly important, but realizing what you are 'cultivating' is even more important. You can cultivate anything at any time, but the insights gained through this kind of realization are rare. Once the thought is clear, breakthroughs will follow naturally. I never expected to realize such a great supernatural power as 'Laws of Heaven and Earth' here."

"Does it really have such an effect? I just had a vague feeling about it."

He had indeed experienced this profound feeling before. He was the same size as the other celestial beings, towering thousands of feet tall, towering over the heavens. Looking down at all living things from the top of the clouds, he too had a profound sense of "transcendence."

"So this is enlightenment?"

"Don't you know that?" Nun Jinghai was stunned. "That's even more amazing! The Qilin's auspiciousness is well-deserved. But I've heard about your character. Even if it's true, you would invite everyone to contemplate it together."

"If I knew, I would have called everyone I could today! Can I learn by just going out?"

"I still need to discuss the Dao with my master, Tianshi Sanfeng. When we go out, we all need to talk to our respective masters. Even if we can't learn it right away, we will still gain a lot this time."

"How about we discuss this now?" Fu Yuanshan suggested. "I've probably come to some understanding. The so-called Law of Heaven and Earth means to transcend the smaller world with a 'transcendent body.' When Sun Wukong used Law of Heaven and Earth, he had already transcended the Three Realms and was no longer within the Five Elements. By analogy, a great supernatural power like Law of Heaven and Earth is truly like a mountain pressing down on one's head. It uses a force beyond this world to bear down, revealing the image of a ten-thousand-foot-tall god."

"Can this be learned?" Shangluo asked.

"Yes. You can try. Find a way to channel that power. Or, to put it another way, reaching the Golden Core stage is enough. We're still a little short of that, but today we realized the transcendence of the Law of Heaven and Earth, which has greatly helped us comprehend the Golden Core Dao. It turns out that by breaking free from the constraints of this world, one can display such great power. Speaking of which, who on earth created this cave paradise? It's so complete, even the Golden Wheel, Wind Wheel, and Water Wheel are all complete. If this place were incomplete, there would be no way for us to realize such a complete opportunity."

"Actually it is"

"Teapot?" Nun Jinghai was stunned again. She looked down and saw that her legs were soaked in water. This seemed to be... seemed to be someone's tea.

Somehow, she suddenly felt something strange. She quickly gathered her thoughts—if she saw through it, all her previous understanding of the Law of Heaven and Earth would dissipate.

"Friend Fu, it seems like you already knew this?"

"Of course I recognize the smell of this tea. This is the emperor's teapot that Shangluo accidentally stole. I was just wondering how he arranged this world so brilliantly. Look at those little loaches and snakes, they're so vivid and lifelike. They've actually developed intelligence."

"Who is raising fungi in a teapot?" Zheng Yin muttered.

"Yes," Fu Yuanshan lowered his voice, "it seems to be the eldest princess. I sometimes see the eldest princess holding a teapot and drinking. She raises pandas, so she might bring back some fungus. Because the imperial garden uses panda feces to ferment soil for tea cultivation, she might bring back some tea-related fungi. It's impossible for the emperor himself to grow kombucha in a teapot."

"Can you two wait until we get outside to discuss where these fungi came from? It's so hard to comprehend the Dao, can you please cherish it?"

The gods standing in the four directions were discussing their own secrets, but none of this seemed to concern the mushroom people.

"It's not related." The Escaping Aura looked into the distance. "They were discussing the origins of our clan. I didn't understand, but I was deeply shocked."

He had vaguely understood some of it. But he decided to keep the details about "panda feces" and "drinking from the mouth" to himself. If he actually spoke them out loud, it would be the deepest blow to the already inferiority-ridden mushroom people. Their origins were so humble, it meant they weren't even part of the creation plan.

After knowing his own life experience, the escaping spirit lowered its snake head.

"My crime is grave."

"What did you say?" asked the mushroom people who gathered around.

"I didn't know our sins were so grave. We even..."

Not even a residue—he swallowed these words in his snake's belly.

"My sins are grave. Perhaps we should never have opened our eyes to this world from the beginning. How can we atone for such sins? This is a sin so monstrous that even death cannot pay for it. Only an atonement deeper than death can repay even a fraction of God's grace."

He looked at the fire snake, at the burning heart of the fire snake, and at the secret fire.

I'll take a break on Friday and update three times tomorrow.

Chapter 389 Cleanup

Until Shangluo walked in front of the tower, the snakes did not resist at all.

Several other seniors were around to keep the order, and he planned to do the final finishing work himself.

Before he knew it, the fire snake had disappeared, leaving only some remaining fire in the tower.

Shangluo didn't care much about the snakes' whereabouts or what they had done, because the time for negotiation had passed. Throughout this process, they had never properly positioned themselves, believing they could rely on their tiny powers to contend with the external forces of the Chishijun. Since they had no intention of negotiating properly, Shangluo didn't intend to either.

He pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight. After a long pause, the lightsaber lit up again. When the fire started, most of the feedback posts outside had likely been burned out. There was no need to be cautious now. It was only one night's worth of posts, so the damage was manageable. And he intended to slash the fungus that had caused this damage with one blow.

A towering column of light pierced the clouds, reaching the heavens. Though Apollonia precisely controlled the length of her sword, the sky itself distorted from the burning of the lightsaber. Wherever the sword's tip passed, light from the outer layers of the sky streamed through, creating a long, bright strip across the already pitch-black sky. With every inch the sword's tip slid, the sound of the flames burning the heavens resounded like thunder throughout the world, as if the world were trembling.

[The output has been adjusted. Now the power of the lightsaber will not damage the tower, but will only clear the bacteria inside.]

Without saying anything more, he swung his sword towards the Tower of Babel—

"Please wait a moment!" A white snake head poked out from the upper level of the tower. "Please give us a moment!"

Shangluo didn't care at all. The opportunity for negotiation had passed. Without putting himself in the right position, it would be a waste of time to pay any more attention to them.

"Great Creator! We have treasures to offer you! We hope these treasures can atone for even a fraction of our sins! Please wait a moment! Once we have presented the treasures to you, we will have no regrets even if we perish!"

Shangluo retracted his lightsaber—this was the right attitude. These scoundrels had troubled the true masters of this world and violated the property of the Thunder Department. Negotiations were never their proper course, for the power they displayed was stolen. To attempt to negotiate with stolen power was a grave sin.

The correct option is to unconditionally offer everything and then wait for the fate of the true master of this world. Standing in a corner with your head in your hands and surrendering unconditionally might offer a chance of survival, but daring to resist will only lead to death. And the death will be extremely horrible.

As far as the current situation is concerned, as long as they put themselves in the right position, the bottom line is to destroy them humanely, rather than burning them from top to bottom with a single sword like pouring hot oil on an ant nest. As for whether to let them go, it depends on what treasures they offer.

Seeing Shangluo stop, the escaping aura of the white snake head continued:

"This time, your kindness will not be in vain! Please wait a moment, no more than 100 base moments! It will be completed in no time!"

It clenched its fangs and spat out human words from its mouth, crimson flames streaming from the corners of its mouth like blood—this must be what it was busy with. They seemed to be dealing with the "Fire Snake" that had disappeared.

Shangluo didn't answer them directly. He nodded slightly, extinguished his lightsaber, and began to check his phone. He needed to check the extent of the forum's losses so that he could formulate a plan to deal with the mushroom people.

"Tsk, there really isn't anything left."

The fire that destroyed the entire forum at the time of Fire Snake's birth destroyed everything. Even the thread titled "How to Use the Forum" vanished, and even the posting tools were destroyed. However, the thread titled "Where Are the People?" somehow survived, becoming the first post in the chronological order. The thread's popularity was rapidly climbing, and everyone who had been following the forum was engrossed in it.

"Saying 'my sins are grave' is truly self-aware—though they may not truly grasp that. What they do realize is the nature of this whole thing. It's like a rat getting into our rice barn, and that rat biting our former young general."

"Wuwu~~" the former young general cried in his backpack, "Boss, you have to avenge me. Wuwu~~"

"I know. Besides the reward, I'll treat you to a delicious meal tonight. You can order the takeout yourself."

Overall, this loss is significant—but not irreparable. The forum posts from the first day were burned, and those first days were a precious experience. However, server instability crashes aren't uncommon. With the network still in its infancy, a little "fluctuation" isn't a big deal.

The former young player's hand was bitten and it hurt a lot, but it has been bandaged now and he is waiting for a snack outside.

[How about it, what do you think? ]

"I don't intend to let them go easily, but they do have brains after all. I can't bear to see them die if I see them alive. If they hand over the slough of that fire snake, I can consider stripping them of their intelligence and then releasing them all, allowing them to continue living as mushroom beasts."

"Great Creator, the treasure has been refined." 100 benchmark moments passed quickly. A white snake head emerged from the top of the tower:

"Please extend your hand."

Reach out? Shangluo pondered the request for a moment—snakes can bite. The snake looked rather creepy, roughly the size of a small python. Its flat snout concealed its fangs, its head lowered, its eyes fixed on Shangluo. However, Shangluo wasn't prepared to catch the snake with his hands. If he encountered a snake that large outside, he would definitely call the police.

But here, this is his territory. There is nothing to be afraid of.

The god stretched out his right hand, and the escaping energy clung to the tower, slowly extending its snake head into the air:

"Please answer it."

Immediately afterwards, a look of pain appeared on the face of the escaping Qi. A ball larger than the snake's head surged from its abdomen, moving up its throat and all the way to its mouth.

yue~~

The snake's mouth opened to its limit, revealing the white ball, followed by the entire ball.

Poof, a white ball the size of a billiard ball fell into Shangluo's hand. It didn't have the sticky, damp feeling of a reptile; it was dry and slightly warm.

"Please wait a moment! There are more! There are two more!"

The escaping aura retracted its white snake head. Two more snakes, one aquamarine and one khaki, coiled up the tower, reaching the height of Shangluo's right hand. They also released two aquamarine and one khaki pellets. The three pellets resembled billiard balls, and they were quite substantial. Each one was equally warm, remaining unchanged in the palm of his hand even after a long moment.

Chapter 390 Eye of the Sky