"Hey, let me ask you~" Shangluo tilted his head, "Anything else you want to send?"
"Anything else? You want some too? We have to find a place to park anyway, so it's no problem to park here. But most of them have already been sealed in the Atlantis Fortress. You can come and get them yourself after it's declassified. It's not that I don't want to tell you, but I don't know where the Atlantis Fortress is either. We have to wait until it's declassified."
"Well, thank you very much."
"You're welcome. We're helping each other. I need more from you, oh by the way."
She suddenly remembered, "By the way, are your friends alright? They've come in too. Are they safe? This is a gift from a foreign land, after all. You experienced this ritual at Lake Nemi, right? Gifts from foreign lands are terrifying. Accepting them will drag you into their line of events."
"It's not a big deal." Shangluo waved his hand. "They're only here for a meal, which is much shorter than my previous stays. They'll be fine. I'll send them back as soon as possible after this. Besides, I won't let them eat food from a foreign country."
"This boiled egg really tastes extraordinary." Next to the deck, Zhu Xianxun held a small plate and ate half a boiled egg the size of a billiard ball in one bite.
"Ah! Brother, brother, brother! Give me some to eat too!"
"There's some on the table at the back, why are you eating mine?"
"They're almost done eating! Give me one! I didn't know you'd come in a few minutes later!"
"Go, go, take it and eat it. Don't bother me yet." After giving the plate to Zhu Ling, she went to Phaethon to watch the sheep being culled with a smile on her face, and ate half of it in one bite on the way.
Looking around, Zhu Xianxun squatted down and looked at the aquatic creatures rowing towards the boat. "Hey, fellow, did you grow these yourselves?"
The Shui people wearing conical hats smiled and nodded. "They are all cooked locally and offered to the gods who have come from foreign lands. The shaman said that the gods love to eat this."
The boxes of boiled eggs were still on the boat, having been brought in hot. A large box had been brought up, and everyone had eaten most of it.
"It's really delicious. I ate two in one go. Thanks."
"Oh, no, no. Then we will go and ask the gods to continue celebrating the festival."
"Hey, wait a minute." Zhu Xianxi waved his hand, signaling them to come closer. "Why are you in such a hurry to leave? You haven't got your money yet."
"Money? What is money? This is our gift to the gods of a foreign land. What is money?"
"Hey, we don't need you to give us food, we will buy it with money. Didn't Shangluo give us money before? This kid is making trouble. We just can't eat your food for free. Here, take it. Shangluo has eaten a lot of your boiled eggs, right? Take more." As he said that, he threw over a small bag of Yongle Tongbao coins, which contained more than two hundred copper coins.
"Ah! This is... This is metal! It's metal!" The leading Water Tribe member took off his bamboo hat. "It's shiny and hard! This is the metal mentioned in the 'Incomplete Scripture'!"
They immediately began to kowtow to Zhu Xianxi: "God! God! Thank you for your gift! Thank you!"
"Eh? I paid according to the price of eggs, is it necessary to be like this? No thanks, it's my duty. How can I eat eggs without paying? They are delicious this time. Remember to come back and buy them again. Bring a hundred more next time. I will pay for them."
Chapter 454 Divination
"Eat it? Everyone eats it?"
Zhu Xianxun was holding an egg in his hand. When he heard Shangluo say this, he shuddered: "Is there something wrong with boiling eggs?"
Shangluo leaned close to his ear and whispered to him for a while.
"Huh? All the people on that boat were blown up?" Zhu Xianxun looked at the boiled egg in his hand. He felt like he was eating a bomb.
"So I want to explode too?"
"Not really," Shangluo replied. "They stayed here too long, so they 'exploded.' It could also be that there was no buffering process when they left the chamber, just like a diver gets decompression sickness when they make an emergency ascent. But if everyone really ate it, I'm afraid we'll have to cancel this birthday party and send everyone back as soon as possible."
"Wait a minute." Zhu Xianxi thought for a moment. "If there's no major problem, I suggest we continue driving. Do you have any way to verify it?"
"You can try it."
The two men were talking on the rear deck of the submarine, a quiet and deserted place. After saying "you can try", Shangluo went to the front deck.
"Oh~~" Lu Liang, Gao Qingyu, and Zhu Ling all gathered around, staring at Phaethon's knife.
They watched as Phaethon slowly separated the sheep's liver from the fat and viscera.
"So, can you use the liver to divine fortune?" Lu Liang asked.
"Well, when the Romans cut open a sheep, they had to do this kind of divination. It's probably similar to your practice of burning tortoise shells; it's considered an ancient ritual."
"Then can you help me with divination?"
"Marriage?"
"No, it's fortune-telling for military luck."
"As for Wu Yun, personal divination isn't easy." Phaethon shook his head. "It's exactly like burning tortoise shells. It's not about divining your personal problems, but about asking the gods for their will. Whoever is the chief sacrificer and who paid for the sheep, the gods will answer their wishes. For example, the raised part of the liver, the 'liver head', represents the will of the god of thunder. Thor, where is the liver head now? Why isn't it there?"
"What does it mean that there is no liver head?"
"Exactly. Thunder God isn't home? I don't know. It's usually a bad sign, but sometimes it also means Thunder God won't answer. Let's look at something else. The left side of Cupid's liver is plump and bright, which means Cupid is in high spirits. Well, next time your family eats a whole lamb, call me and I'll grab one for you."
"Eh?" Gao Qingyu suddenly asked, "Who was fortune-telling about this liver? Who sacrificed this sheep? Or, in whose name was it purchased?"
"Shangluo entrusted me to do the purchasing, huh?" Suddenly, someone patted her shoulder from behind.
"Come back for a moment, I need you for something."
Pull Phaethon over.
She wiped her hands and followed Shangluo.
"What happened?" The divination result just now made her a little concerned. Putting aside other things, she was still thinking about what the Thunder God's lack of answer meant. But she had a guess, that is, the Thunder God of this world was Shangluo himself, and of course he would not answer his own question. But in the results of the internal organs divination, other parts also gave clear answers.
Shangluo repeated what he had just said.
"Ah, that's really possible." Phaethon nodded. "Many rituals begin with Vermilion Fruit. Eating food from foreign lands allows you to enter their storyline. There's a legend, I don't know if you've heard of it, about a vampire in Europe. This vampire feeds on human blood, but it can't enter another person's home without an invitation. Bao Kuo, many demons are the same. They can only enter the human world after being actively invited, and their range of activities is limited to the inviter's territory. Inviting us to eat Vermilion Fruit is undoubtedly one of these behaviors. It's a ritualized invitation, and eating it means acceptance."
"So, is there any way to verify it?"
"Yes. Can I borrow the Spear of the Sun God?"
Phaethon took the spear of Apollo and held the front end of the spear.
"Um, I have a question." She looked at Zhu Xianxun. "Normally, it's used on Shangluo. The Spear of the Sun God can also be used on others for sympathetic detection, but it requires blood. If His Majesty the Sun Emperor is willing to test it, please hold the tip of the spear."
"That's not going to work." Zhu Xianxi hesitated for a moment, then said, "My body can't be damaged, and I can't bleed. That's the rule."
"Why don't you try mine?" Shangluo asked.
Phaethon shook his head. "You are their creator. In Hindu terms, you are like Brahma. Although karma still exists, and Brahma also has karma, this kind of cause and effect of taking a foundation-building pill will not have any visible karma for you. What will affect you is the great cause and effect, the great karma. So, let me do it. I'll go eat one first. We ate it last time, and it wasn't a big deal. This time, let's take a closer look at the principle."
Leaving the Spear of the Sun God where it was, she ate a boiled egg and returned.
"This tastes really good. It would be a shame if I couldn't eat it in the future."
She calmly grasped the tip of the Spear of the Sun God with her left hand, then yanked it with her right hand—blood flowed from the palm of her hand, the amount of bleeding was huge.
"Does it take so much blood?" There was so much blood that Shangluo felt a little guilty, and Zhu Xianxin next to him was also stunned.
"It's okay, I'm used to it. Actually, I wasn't the master of the Spear of the Sun God before, so I had to come every time I used it. But I got used to it over time. My previous demigod body could heal quickly. Now that I'm a mortal again, it shouldn't be that easy, huh?"
"what happened?"
"Why isn't the bleeding anymore?" She let go of the Spear of the Sun God and spread her hands to look at it. "It's healed? Why? How come it's healing faster than before?"
"Then you..."
"Malacca! This isn't enough!" She closed her eyes, steeled herself, and made another cut. "If I had known it would heal so quickly, I should have been more ruthless. Now I'm suffering twice."
"Is that enough? If you want another blow, why don't I just eat a few more boiled eggs and see if that helps?"
"That's enough." She slowly released her hand, took a look, and saw that it had healed again.
"Something's not right. Anyway, let's try it first." She gripped the spear again and closed her eyes. Shangluo could see sympathetic lines connecting with her body -
"What's the situation?" Shangluo asked after a while.
"No. Absolutely not. Was it in vain, or was it not in vain?" As she spoke, she handed the Spear of the Apollo back.
"Nothing?"
"There's absolutely no sympathetic connection. Logically, this is foreign food, and eating it should create a connection. I was trying to see where the connection led and what effect it would have on us. There's absolutely nothing."
"Yeah," Shangluo wondered. "I remember this was the process we went through when we went to Lake Nemi before. We enjoyed the local mayor's feast, and then we joined the incident. And then there's the story about the Forest King, why aren't we there this time? Did something go wrong?"
"Wait a minute," Zhu Xianxun asked, "Let me confirm the process—will a sympathetic link be established after accepting the food offerings?"
"Yes, Your Majesty," Phaethon replied, "that is what happens when you feast on gifts from a foreign land."
"Then it's settled. I paid for it before. I paid for the eggs."
Chapter 455 Danding Gate
"There is actually such an option as paying!!!" Phaethon was shocked.
"You have to pay for your food, right? You Romans don't always pay for your food, do you?"
Phaethon slapped himself on the head and said, "Why didn't I think of this? It's such a simple thing. Why didn't I think of this?"
"Yes, how did you come up with that idea? Or are you used to eating for free?" Shangluo asked her.
"Not really, it's just...ah." She clapped her hands again. "Sometimes our behavior patterns are too dogmatic, we just repeat rituals based on past habits, and we forget the meaning of these actions themselves. Yeah, you have to pay for food, and sometimes equal exchange can solve many problems. This is a basic principle of alchemy, why didn't I think of it?"
"Ah, yes, you are indeed like that. Diana's stag also said before that it was because you always took the golden bough and ran away that she was irritated. Equal exchange, no one owes anyone anything, that's very important."
Equal exchange, neither party owes anything.
This word made Zhu Xianxin fall into deep thought. He seemed to understand something.
"Miss Phaethon, can you lend me your hand?" He took out a pair of medical gloves from somewhere and put them on himself.
"Which hand?"
"The injured one." He placed his thumb underneath and confirmed the wound beneath the bloodstain through his glove - to be precise, it was "the place where the Spear of Apollo had dragged and cut it," because there was neither a crack nor a scar there now, as if nothing had happened.
"Miss Phaethon."
"Yes, Your Majesty, what are your instructions?"
"Can I trouble you with something?" He looked at Phaethon.
"Yes, please give your orders." This sounded very serious, which made her a little nervous.
"Please try holding your breath in the water and see how long you can hold it."
"Huh?" Even Shangluo found this request a bit strange. "Why? Do you want me to help you?"
"Yes, both of you go down and hold your breath."
"10 minutes and 12 seconds, 10 minutes and 13 seconds."
"Huh!" Shangluo emerged from the water. "It's so uncomfortable. I can't hold it anymore."
"Is it the limit time?"
"No, but I've used up all my Qi. I might be able to hold it in a little longer, but I might have to use up the upper limit of my Qi Sea to maintain it. By the way, where's Phaethon? Has she not come up yet?"
"No. 10 minutes."
"I'll have to soak in the float bag for 10 minutes!"
As he spoke, a hand emerged from the water and gave a thumbs up.
"Can you still hold it? Are you okay? Are you sure you're okay?"
Phaethon waved his outstretched hand left and right.
12 minutes 21 seconds.
"Can you hold it in any longer? Are you really okay?"
14 minutes 00 seconds.
"Big sister, please put away your magical powers! I'm hungry! Can you please come up?!"
"Huha~" Phaethon's figure emerged from the splash. The two climbed up along the edge of the submarine, and a Tianyi nobleman stuck to their backs and activated the "drinking water" technique, sucking the water off their bodies into the lake.
"What do you think?" There was no need to ask about Shangluo's situation, Zhu Xianxun asked about her situation first.
"At first, I thought I wouldn't be able to hold my breath for more than a few minutes. But when I ran out of breath, I felt a warm current flowing endlessly in my dantian. Surprisingly, I felt a sense of comfort, like taking a bath in a hot spring, soaking me inside and out."
"Case closed. I know what happened."
"What's going on?" Shangluo was wiping his head with a towel as his hair was not yet dry.
"Do you still remember the Good Fortune Pill you ate? It was when we sent Special 95 into the Shanhe Sheji Tu, on the White Star."
"I remember it, it did feel good when I ate it, but it wore off in a few minutes. Wait, she won't..."
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