Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"Mmm!!! Delicious! Incredibly delicious!"

"Oh my God!" he said, watching her take a mouthful of porridge. "I say, are you sure you know what greasy barbecue tastes like? I'm beginning to doubt your taste in food. Don't invite all the guests tomorrow, set up the barbecue, and then you don't like it."

"No problem, just eat this!" She answered incoherently with the paste in her mouth, and there was a circle of stain around the corners of her mouth.

"Oh my God!" He couldn't bear it any longer. He grabbed a napkin and walked behind her, holding her head and wiping her mouth. "I'm a bit of a germaphobe and can't stand this. Can you please be more careful with your table manners? And can you please not hold the spoon with your whole hand? Are you a panda?"

"How do you hold it?"

"Hold a spoon the same way you hold a pen."

"How do you hold a pen?"

He took the plate and wiped the spoon handle with a piece of paper. He scooped a spoonful and handed it over. "Open your mouth. Ah."

"Ah~"

"Open your mouth wider, my Lady Apollonia, or you'll get slurred again. Open it like a tiger."

"what!!!"

After finally letting her finish a clean bite, Shangluo felt his hands a little sore: "Why do I feel like I'm not working in the Thunder Department, but in a kindergarten?"

He looked into Apollonia's eyes and said, "You want greasy barbecue? Fine, I'll satisfy your request. But how you eat it is up to me."

"Why? I want to decide for myself."

"Because I realized you have no idea what barbecue is. Wait until you figure it out before you tell me 'decide for yourself'. Here, have another spoonful. Hmm? Why don't you eat anymore?"

"I am full"

"Are you full after three bites? There are still two left. Don't waste food. This is grown with great effort. You have to eat it even if you are full."

"Ah, you have so many rules. It's really hard to eat a bite of your food. Fine, fine. I'll eat it."

"Tsk, if you don't complain about being hungry in a few hours, I'll have to control your food intake tomorrow. Don't protest, I'll make the decision, because you have no idea how much you should eat."

Chapter 431 Insula Village

The most troublesome part of barbecue is cleaning up afterward. That's why Shangluo brought out the Tianbing—letting the Doudou handle all the odd jobs. Some wash dishes, some wipe tables, and some disassemble and repack the grill.

There was no need for a faucet, two Doudous brought him a basin of water for washing.

After washing his hands, he dried them on a towel and waved his hand for the doudou to leave.

"God, are you satisfied with the food we offer you?" At this point, he no longer mentioned things like "fire is a sin".

Shangluo just nodded slightly, without commenting: "Take me to see your father. I have something to ask him."

"Yes! Please come this way."

"You don't need to lead the way. Just go back on your own. We'll be there soon."

Supported by golden palms, Shangluo stood above the village called "Insura" with his hands behind his back, while Phaethon and Apollonia did the same, standing beside him.

"This place looks very ancient."

The walls of the houses are made of stones, the roofs are covered with hay, and the fields outside the village are crooked. Everything looks very ancient. It can be said that it is "not far from the ancient times", a scene of the primitive times.

And, the most "ancient" thing is the terrain of this village.

Insula Village is located on the alluvial fan of a valley. The valley flows out from the mountain stream and accumulates fan-shaped water veins here. From the canyon to the plain, the terrain gradually decreases.

The farmland is located on higher ground, which is convenient for irrigation and drainage. The house is located on a slightly lower ground, so that the harvested crops can be directly transported to the house along the terrain.

"It's truly the Primordial Era," Apollonia squatted down, looking at the ground. "Early human agricultural production was carried out on this kind of alluvial fan terrain. Compared to the exposed plains, these alluvial fans are more likely to nurture the seeds of civilization. The Great Plains of North America are a barren land. The nascent seeds of civilization took root only a few years before being snuffed out by floods and strong winds. The local indigenous people struggled in the harsh swamps until we arrived."

"Have you developed it?" Shangluo asked.

"I haven't figured out how far they've developed yet. After all, there's still the steppes of Eastern Europe and the Amazon River basin to the south. The New World is too far from civilization. But after Colombia's independence, they'll probably start cultivating the plains. They'll first need to repair the river channels to contain the overflowing rivers, then use other commodities to supplement the lack of minerals in the plains. And then there's the matter of protecting against wind, floods, and droughts. It's quite a hassle. I hope they have more success. Even if they make different choices, they'll still be part of the empire."

"By the way, there seem to be a lot of alluvial fans here?"

Shangluo peered down into the ground—it was all mountainous, and indeed, there were numerous alluvial fans. But each fan was separated by considerable distances, often blocked by intersecting mountain ranges. He could vaguely see a village on the other side, less than 20 kilometers away as the crow flies. But with the towering mountain range in between, it would likely take several days to circumvent it. Even if the two villages were so close, communication would likely be difficult.

"Then the only one who can communicate with them is probably the one upstream. What's that person's name?"

"Carnici," Apollonia replied. "My memory is quite good."

"Yes, Carnegie City. Although it seems quite far away and can't be seen from here, it can be reached by following the water system. It's actually much more convenient than going to the next village. I don't know what it's like over there, but it's probably similar, probably a larger village. Let's drop down a little first, directly to the tree."

After pressing the "cloud head", several people landed in front of the big tree in the center of the village.

"God! Please accept our highest respect!"

The voice came directly from the tree, dispelling Shangluo's doubts. He had previously suspected that the unwell-looking Wuma was deceiving him, or that his communication with his father was just abstract communication. He had never expected it to be so direct, that they could actually speak directly.

Phaethon shook his head. "The boundary between yin and yang here is even more indifferent than I thought. This man, who should have been dead, is actually talking in the middle of the village as if nothing happened."

"Gods, thank you for coming," the tree continued. "As mentioned before, we wish to enshrine the three of you as our patron saints to resist the annexation of the city of Kaniki. Their city has no dragon-worshipping shamans, no sages to guide them, only evil gods who invade in the name of the true gods. They have ignored the teachings of the Fragmentary Scripture and have no intention of living in this world with us. They have captured the men and women of the village and forced them to help them cultivate more fields so that they can capture more people."

Shu's speech was obviously much more fluent than Wuma's before. He could talk directly to Shangluo and others without the need for an interpreter.

"That's a good idea." Phaethon nodded. "Because livestock don't actually exist in this world, the only way to farm is by human labor. But I'm curious how the Vermillion Fruit is actually grown. Hey, what are they called?"

"No, no, no, my name is worthless. Dear God, I am now just a tree of life. Just call me tree. Just call me tree. I have sinned so much that I should be no different from grass and trees in the eyes of the gods."

"That's a good one." Shangluo nodded. "Um, how are the red fruits grown? I wanted to ask that, too, because they taste pretty good."

"Vermilion fruit? Ah, is that what the gods call it? It's not a plant, it's spores produced by mushroom beasts. When transplanted into water, it will grow into this."

"Ah, it's eggs. I was wondering why they tasted like meat." Shangluo finally understood. "It seems to taste pretty good. Where's the mushroom beast?"

"In the mountains over there. We will distinguish which spores can grow into fungi and which cannot. According to the agreement with the fungi, we will eat the spores that cannot grow and return the ones that can grow to the mountains."

"Not bad. This way you'll have something to eat, and the mushroom beasts in the mountains will gradually increase in number, which is a good thing."

"But, venerable God! The evil gods of Carnegie don't think so. They go to the mountains to capture more mushroom beasts and force them to produce spores. But they don't plant the spores in paddy fields. Instead, ah! It's horrible! They stack the spores! Plant them on shelves where the sun can't see! They don't discriminate what they eat, just eat whatever grows up. And the scariest thing is! Did you know! They actually have a measuring device to measure the size of the spores. Any that are too big or too small will be thrown away! They just throw them away! It's horrible! It's truly horrible! I've never seen such a terrifying evil god in all my life!"

Chapter 432 Gods

"So, Lord God, are you willing to become our guardian angel?"

"No," Shangluo replied, "but I can help you deal with the Outer Gods, bring both sides to the same level, and then you can solve the problem yourselves."

"Ah! That's fine! That's fine! It couldn't be better."

"Don't celebrate just yet. I told you I'll only manage Outer Gods. I see you're quite knowledgeable, so you should know what an Outer God is."

"You mean, outsiders?"

"Yes." Shang Luo nodded. "I will only manage gods from outside. If they are gods born from your world, that is your own business, and I will not interfere. Whether you submit or rebel, it is all part of your own world order."

"They must be the Outer Gods! I assure you. Because the priests' spells have no effect on them."

"You mean, yours?"

"No, I'm only a shaman of the Water Snake, not a priest. Because we don't know when the Water Dragon will return, we can't become priests who directly serve the Dragon God. We can only seek his whereabouts during our soul journey—this is a shaman. But unlike us Insura, Carnegie City is the city of the Terren Kingdom on the Water Continent. In the city there is an altar and priests to Behemoth, the Earth Dragon God. But after the arrival of those foreign gods, the Dragon God's priests were expelled, and they enslaved everyone in the city."

"Wait, isn't this the Water Continent? Why is there a Tyranid city here?" Shangluo noticed a possible violation of the agreement: even if the twin snakes were crowned as dragons, the contract they had signed with Shangluo would still not be invalidated. They had no right to leave their own continent.

"This is indeed the Water Continent. However, when the three of us founded the Dragon Cult, we signed the Ilan Agreement: the sky is the kingdom of Leviathan, the Dragon God of the Sky; the earth is the kingdom of Behemoth, the Dragon God of the Earth. The Water Dragon, who has yet to descend, rules over the seven seas. While this makes sense doctrinal-wise, God, we Water Tribes cannot truly live in the sea; we can only breathe air. Perhaps when the Water Dragon descends, our kingdom will arrive with it. But right now, we, the Atayal Water Tribe, have no crowned dragons, no kingdom of our own. Everything on earth falls within the domain of the Terran Kingdom, just as the sky is the domain of the Atmospheric Nomads."

"It sounds like you've suffered a great loss?"

"We don't have our own dragons to speak for us, so we can only accept the Ilan Agreement. However, we also have citizens with full rights in the Terren Nation, so this isn't a big problem. However, matters outside of our tribe, as well as conflicts between tribes, must be adjudicated by the Terren fortress cities scattered across the land. Carnegie is one of the fortress cities on the Water Continent."

Phaethon tilted his head. "Seems quite reasonable. I didn't expect their way of governing themselves to be so good, so well-organized. They've surprisingly developed a global governance system so quickly—they have a unified religion: the Cult of the Dragon. But within it, there are three factions, each recognizing the other as legitimate and all acknowledging the same "Ilan Accords" as the principles for world governance. Among them, the Terran nation, which governs the earth, has developed a system that relies on military hegemony to adjudicate and resolve conflicts. It's simple and clear, swift and direct, very Roman. And that city of Carnigi seems as reliable as a nail."

Shangluo nodded slightly and asked the tree in front of him: "How powerful are those Earth Dragon priests stationed in the fortress city you mentioned?"

"Oh, God, unlike us snake shamans who can only influence the spirit world, the priests of the Earth Dragon can demonstrate the authority of the dragon. He only needs to strike his staff on the altar, and everyone will be terrified by the dragon's might and unable to move. Just this display of authority is enough to make everyone obey their judgment."

"They seem to have grown stronger." Apollonia thought for a moment, "I remember that back then, they didn't show any authority."

"Then where did they get this 'authority' from?" Shangluo asked, "I remember I didn't grant it to them."

"You certainly didn't grant them the power to control the world—but these people's forms were given by the Terrifying Earth. Now that he has become the Earth Dragon, his priests can certainly share this power. It's too easy to make them freeze their bodies. This is also impossible to resist, because they are just myconids. Their current forms are entirely given by the dragon, so of course they must completely obey the dragon's control. But now..."

She looked at the large tree before her. "This tree shape actually returns to the original form of the mushroom people. That immortal body, indestructible and indestructible, can't be killed even by a punch. Appearing like this, the Dragon Priests may be helpless against them. This is probably one of their bargaining cards. The Water Tribe will not let them manipulate them. After all, their souls were given by the Water Serpent. Even without relying on a physical body, their souls can continue to exist in the form of the 'Tree of Life'. Interesting. It seems that the Water Serpent did leave them a way to 'hide' from this system. It's a precious gift, giving them room to maneuver no matter what. Ball Number Two, you are actually quite clever."

Ball No. 2 didn't say anything and remained silent inside the ball.

"But then again, being able to break free from the dragon's authority does make one an Outer God." Shang Luo nodded. "It seems the Spear of the Sun God's instructions were indeed spot on. He found what I was looking for right away. Very impressive."

"Excuse me for interrupting you," the Life Tree suddenly said. "Although I feel deeply troubled to interrupt the conversation of the gods, I do not know your identities, my Lords. May I have the honor of knowing your position in the pantheon so that our descendants can recite your names?"

"Okay." Shangluo nodded. "I am. Let me think. Oh, right."

He looked at the tree. "I am the God of Thunder."

"Thor? Aren't you the god who judged all the snakes back then?"

"No, that's my... um... my brother Sun Xingzhe, and I'm his younger brother, Zhe Xingsun. Oh no... I'm talking nonsense. Anyway, just forget the names, it's not important. Just remember our relationship: I'm his younger brother. I'm not him, but I'm similar to him."

"I see. You are his younger brother. So, Lord Thunder God, who are the people next to you?"

"They are all gods from the Thunder Department. The Thunder Department's mission is to eliminate the foreign gods that come to cause chaos in this world and to uphold the natural order of this world. In the future, if there are any similar foreign god invasions, the gods or angels of the Thunder God family will handle them."

Chapter 433 Split

"So, that's it. I am the God of Thunder, the younger brother of the god who judges heaven and earth that you saw." Shangluo summarized his identity.

"Shangluo," Apollonia reminded him, "You've just made an important decision. We should have mentioned before that 'using secular ethics to measure the genealogy of the gods is meaningless.' This is because the husband and wife, brothers, and parents and children in mythology are merely metaphors of relative positions, not true ethical relationships. The metaphor of husband and wife is a pair of gods, the metaphor of parents and children is the overflow of divinity, the metaphor of intercourse is the fusion and reorganization of divinity, the metaphor of the girl is the purity and indivisibility of divinity. And the metaphor of brothers is..."

"The Divine Split?"

Apollonia nodded. "Just like Zeus's three brothers. They ruled the sky, the sea, and the underworld respectively. In reality, they were all divisions of the dominant 'main god,' only ruling different spheres. Your words just now left a similar effect in their mythology. You said you were 'his' younger brother, that he determined the order of the world, and that you now maintain it. Your divinities coincidentally overlap here. Your division has probably already begun."

"From my perspective, this is a good sign. However, I'm curious: can this system be maintained indefinitely? It seems stable, and everyone has their place. Order has been established, and as long as they can maintain it, I think things are going well here. By then, we shouldn't need to intervene too much."

"That's right. Because I also foresee that you, the grandson of the god Xingzhe, will probably become three brothers - the past, the present, and the future. In the past, you ruled this world at creation. Now, you are protecting this world from the invasion of foreign gods. But in the future, when the Fire Serpent returns, I'm afraid you will descend again. This time you will say that you help the order of this world resist the foreign gods. But the Fire Serpent is not an foreign god, it is the cycle of karma of this world itself, so you will have to find another vest when the time comes."

"Okay, okay, I will be the one to do the final trial and the first trial, right? There is no problem. It's a vest anyway. But this vest is not very clean now, let's talk about it later - but will they cause any trouble themselves? ? I think they seem to be doing pretty well now?"

"So far, it's quite good. Judging from the course of human history, they're currently in a state of 'primitive abundance.' Natural resources are abundant relative to the population, so there's no need to 'grab' them. In the early days of human history, humans lived a nomadic, nomadic existence, finding food wherever they went and never starving. So, you can see that while the Air and Earth tribes have the upper hand, they haven't mistreat the Water Tribe. But as the population grows, this state of abundance will slowly disappear. And they're already on that path, having already begun the Agricultural Revolution."

"So, they're currently in a state of detachment from the ancient past?" Shangluo shook his head. "That's truly naive! They're so naive that they even maintain friendly exchanges with the fungus beasts, and they're developing this 'egg' with restraint, rather than exhausting all resources. If the population grows and there are more mouths to feed, maintaining this respectability will probably be even more difficult. They're currently in their 'third generation of antiquity.' Interesting! I've always felt that if school had free research assignments during the holidays, I'd probably get full marks on this project."

"I think you could do that right now. Observing a nascent society is a valuable anthropological specimen. As the saying goes, history is a mirror that reveals the rise and fall of things. To conduct such research here, we'd have to go to the most remote primitive tribes in Africa or the Amazon. For example, the Pacific Islanders once had an interesting mechanism called the 'Kula Circle,' but they modernized so rapidly that we couldn't properly observe them before they entered the modern era. Observing them here might be quite interesting. We could even proactively research it, perhaps by providing Kula Circle raw materials or something."

"Cura ring? What is that?"

"It's a very interesting human social mechanism. You could even say that this is how the islanders of the Western Pacific maintain their society. I'm sure your university has research on it. Simply put, it's a decentralized tribute system. Tribute doesn't flow upward like an inverted tree, but in a circular pattern—everyone gives gifts downward in the direction of the monsoon and receives gifts in the other direction, forming a ring. The gifts circulating within this ring are called 'Kula,' hence the name "Kula Ring." This is a very interesting exploration of human social organization, because you can see that indigenous peoples in other parts of Southeast Asia engage in extremely bloody wars. Only in the Kula Ring, they replace war with competitions between Kula—they almost never fight at all."

"Ah, so if we can experiment here..."

"That's right. If we can experiment here, our sociological theory can make very positive progress. Especially for you, because the rituals and politics related to gifts are exactly what you have been using in the tribute system. . If I remember correctly, this research is mainly done by you. If you tell the emperor, he will know immediately. And we have a unique advantage here that the outside world can never imitate. "

"What is it?" Shangluo asked.

"It's all about speed! Just like Hainan and other tropical regions are perfect for hybrid rice cultivation, while other places take a year to bear fruit after sowing, Hainan can produce several generations in a single year. Here, we've sped things up 365 times! Just one day of waiting can yield a year's worth of results. A few dozen days of observation can yield decades of observational records. And there's no need for researchers to travel extensively; we can have our celestial soldiers collect data, and they can complete the entire survey from the comfort of their armchairs."

"Wait, wait," Shangluo raised his hand. "It's very valuable. This is probably unprecedented, providing an efficient and ideal testing ground for sociological research. But there's a problem. One of our research topics involves all living beings in this world. The ethical issues involved require special attention. Don't forget, the Fire Snake's 'doomsday cycle' is due to the accumulation of karma in this world, and it explodes as a result. If karma is imposed from the outside rather than generated naturally, it may affect the quality of the pill - you don't want equipment to explode from your body, what's the point? Sociological research is important, but alchemy is also important. I'll report it later - but passive research can start immediately, because it's just observation and recording. Where's the camera? Get it ready?"

A heavenly soldier lifted his invisibility, made an OK gesture diagonally above Shangluo's field of vision, and then continued to remain invisible.

"Okay, all units, please take note. We'll record this later. We're about to get started."

After finishing his preparations, he looked towards the Life Tree and said, "Then tell us the information about the city."

"Ah, all the gods, I have a small request."

"Well, you can say that." Shangluo nodded. "You may be the victim now, and I will help you. You can make any request that is not excessive."

"No, no, it's not for us. We just want to see your power as the god of thunder. Sorry! I'm really sorry, but I must ask. Because if you resist the false god entrenched in Kaniki City, you may Let us pay the price of destruction. So, I want to know who has stronger power, you or the false gods in the city."

"You want to see me show off my skills, right? Sure, that's a reasonable request. Let me figure out how to show you."

He inspected the equipment he had brought with him.

"Hmm? That's fine." He waved upwards. "Well, all units, turn off the cameras first."

He opened his backpack and pulled out the flying sword Lu Zu had given him. It was similar to the stick in the county magistrate's hand. Inside was a tube containing a small, stick-like flying sword. He remembered that he could summon a flying sword simply by throwing it.