Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"Her super-fast recovery just now, and the fact that she doesn't need oxygen in water, are all manifestations of taking the Creation Pill. It's called being invulnerable to water and fire. The Creation Pill imitates the body of a Golden Core, allowing low-level Qigong practitioners to have the indestructible body of a Golden Core. It usually takes three to five minutes - but she took a Creation Pill and she's still indestructible. I say, Miss Phaethon, have you practiced some kind of refrigerator technique? My Creation Pill doesn't stay this fresh even in the refrigerator."

"Then how did you keep it fresh before?"

"That bottle of mine is a treasure bottle," Zhu Xianxun replied. "It's a bottle refined from the furnace of heaven and earth. This Miss Phaethon in front of us, she ate one pill and it works till now. What's the point of cultivating immortality then? I gave her all kinds of elixirs, and one pill would instantly turn her into a flying immortal on land, a Daluo Jinxian. Ahhhh! What the hell am I cultivating?"

"Your Majesty, it seems that feeling has disappeared."

"Disappeared? That's great. No, it's terrible."

Shangluo looked at him and said, "I say, do you want to disappear or not?"

"Personally, I hope everyone will practice alchemy diligently like me, but I disagree. Every miracle has its own reason, and every miracle is a breakthrough that can only be encountered once in a while. If she could gain the power of the Golden Core Stage by taking a Creation Pill, then as long as we can thoroughly study it, all of us can ascend to the Immortal Realm instantly. Hmm, it seems it's not that simple. Has she shown this before?"

Shangluo thought for a moment and said, "You know what, it really did happen. When it suddenly popped up, she just felt dizzy for a moment, just like me."

"That's right. You have a celestial body, and the force that caused you to vomit would have been fatal to a mortal. She only vomited a little like you, which means the drug was already active."

He looked at Phaethon and asked, "Did you notice anything yourself? Tell me how you felt? How did that feeling disappear?"

"It just... disappeared. The warmth disappeared in an instant."

"That's the drug wearing off. It doesn't seem to be amplifying or lasting. It's metaphysical, no problem. So the possible reason is that you have a special constitution that allows you to take short-acting drugs with ease. Those drugs only work when you need them. Just now, holding your breath was a very extreme situation, so the drug's effects were quickly depleted. Eh? Ah, this... Eh? Eh? Eh?"

"What did you think of?" Shangluo asked.

"I'm wondering if Phaethon could be invulnerable if he were given more Xiao Huan Dan (small regeneration pills). The Xiao Huan Dan's power comes and goes quickly, and it's used to heal wounds. But if Phaethon could store that healing power, it would be like having an extra health bar out of thin air—that's what the game says, right? This ability to control the flow of health might be a new direction for alchemy practitioners."

"For example, inner elixir?" Shangluo asked.

"Yes, the inner elixir. Miss Phaethon, are you interested in becoming my apprentice? I can teach you how to refine the elixir. Also, if you can control the medicinal power freely, I'll give you a bottle of spiritual liquid. The Qi Sea is used to store spiritual liquid, and so is the medicine bottle. There's no reason why the Qi Sea can be used but the bottled Qi Sea can't. If it can be used, I'll also prepare the Feixin card for you. Hey, I feel like the Danding Sect has found a treasure, a real treasure."

Chapter 456 Sheep Fat

The barbecue grill is set up.

"So the barbecue here is different." Phaethon was watching from the side. She and Shangluo were also watching from the side. The person who started grilling the meat was Zhu Ling.

"What do you think it is?"

"I thought you were going to stick a fork in it."

"That's called burning," Shangluo replied. "Roasting meat is when it comes in direct contact with fire, while grilling meat is when it doesn't."

The barbecue grill Shangluo had borrowed was a vertical rack with a large iron plate lined with grooves. Zhu Ling was leaning on the meat, while Wen Yuan stood behind the chopping block and continued Phaethon's work.

He couldn't tell the difference between "how many pieces of tenderloin can be divided" and "where the tenderloin is in the leg of lamb," but he knew how to slice it. After Phaethon had completed all the professional cutting work, he only had to cut the lamb into slices of appropriate thickness, a job that machines could do.

This type of roasted lamb can also be called roasted lamb. Unlike the almost transparent slices of hot pot lamb, roasted lamb is cut into either "thin thick slices" or "thick thin slices." Too thin is not a good idea, as the grilling creates a layer on the iron plate that locks in moisture. Depending on the roasting time, the lamb can be cooked to four levels of doneness: well-cooked, tender, burnt, and burnt. Some people prefer to enjoy the juicy texture of the meat, while others prefer the burnt layer that triggers the Maillard reaction.

Wen Yuan, standing by, held the knife in his hand as he cut the meat with an ordinary knife. He sliced the meat according to the parts Phaethon had previously cut, and then placed them back in their original positions. He didn't dare move at all; if he did, he wouldn't know which piece was which; they all looked the same to him.

"Speaking of which." Wen Yuan looked up at Zhu Ling, "Your Highness, is there really any difference between these?"

"Of course I do. Can't you tell the difference between a tenderloin and a tenderloin? They're completely different."

"Okay. Then I won't move."

As a normal person with a relatively normal diet, even if he was a Jinyiwei, he still couldn't quite understand the habits of the "carnivorous" Zhu family. They had no other hobbies but to eat meat, and they were indeed very proficient in eating meat.

"But if you look closely, they do seem different. I wonder if they taste different."

He was hungry. But when they were shearing the sheep outside, everyone was helping, so the three of them ran to the "haunted house" for an adventure.

"Hey, let me tell you." He glanced at Gao Shiyu next to him, "Little blind man, you're obviously slacking off too, why aren't you helping?"

"Are you confident in a blind man like me cutting the meat? Aren't you afraid of eating too much?"

"Stop talking nonsense, can't you see it from here?"

"Ah, I'm dizzy, my eyes are blurry, I want to drink apple juice"

"Then go get it! Go get some juice from the refrigerator, okay? Xiao Han, such a skinny guy, is already moving charcoal, so he won't die from moving some juice, right?"

"Okay, okay, I'll go."

"Heh" Wen Yuan shook his head and continued cutting the meat.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small figure standing next to him, looking at his knife.

"Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Although it's not the first time we've met, it is the first time I've seen you in person."

"Mutton fat, I want mutton fat." Apollonia pointed at the white block of mutton fat over there, "Help me cut it."

"Oh, okay." He nodded. "Do you want me to string them together for you?"

"Well, you are very considerate. I will ask Shangluo to give you an extra chicken drumstick."

"I'm not his subordinate!"

"Almost, almost. Chop the mutton fat into smaller pieces. Yes, this fineness should be fine. I want it to be sizzling. Do you understand? I want it to be sizzling."

"Yes, yes, my lord, I'll cut it into dice for you. It will be sizzling when grilled."

"Speaking of which." Shangluo looked at Apollonia from a distance, "Your little aunt seems quite friendly. I thought she was socially anxious?"

"She's definitely socially anxious, right? But this isn't her first time meeting these people, so she's unilaterally familiar with them. Well, she doesn't seem to notice any difference. But your friends are all good people, so they immediately warmed up to her."

"How on earth did she survive until now?"

Phaethon looked at him. "Apollonia, before she met you, she had basically never lived. She only existed in the memories of a few people, and everyone she met was pre-arranged."

"Including Victoria?"

"Yeah." Phaethon nodded. "Actually, she and Victoria aren't very familiar with each other. So, Victoria probably just sent the cake, perhaps because of you. But Victoria trusts you very much. For such an important matter, she actually skipped all the formalities and came directly to you for consultation. Perhaps, she and Apollonia are similar."

"What do you mean? Doesn't she have hands and feet?"

"But all the people Victoria has met were arranged in advance, and she can obviously sense it. You are the only one who has suddenly burst into her life. Moreover, you do have the ability to lend her a helping hand—she is the Roman Emperor, the Prince of the Moon, and the master of half the world. The people in this world who have the ability to help her can be counted on one hand."

"Well, after all, I am also the commander of the Heavenly Court. We are on the same level."

"Hey~~" Phaethon smiled, "With just a few of you, you have the nerve to say you're on the same level as the Roman Empire?"

"Then the administrative level is the same."

"That's right." She leaned against the submarine's railing, quietly gazing at the lake. The aroma of barbecue still drifted over.

"Let me share some information with you." Shangluo leaned forward, holding onto the railing with one hand. "Just now, I had a conversation with my senior brother. He said that the Great Western Railway project from Yujing Central Station to Constantinople Terminal has been canceled. The original budget has been transferred to the higher-standard Liangjing High-Speed Railway project."

"Ah, that makes sense now. If I repair it now, it will be a ghost sitting on it. Thank you for informing me. I know my country is doomed."

"You're welcome."

"Alas," she sighed, "where should I go from now on? My country is about to sink into the water, but I don't think I will die so soon."

"How about staying with us for a while? We don't need a pair of chopsticks anyway."

"Can I really become your senior brother's disciple?"

Zhu Xianxun was called over by Shangluo, holding a plate with barbecue on the left and cake on the right. The cake was dipped in cumin and the barbecue was dipped in cream. He seemed quite happy eating.

"Oh my. You actually agreed to this? I thought you wouldn't agree."

"He has nowhere else to go," Shangluo replied, "so she wants to stay with us for a while."

Zhu Xianxun placed the plate on the railing and thought to himself:

"When I say you want me to be my disciple, I don't mean just to be my apprentice. Are you interested in applying to be my graduate student?"

Chapter 457 The Emperor’s Disciple

"Huh?" Shangluo was stunned for a moment, "Brother, you still have a teaching position?"

"In theory, all recent Jinshi graduates are 'disciples of the emperor.' However, I have a true disciple at the Imperial College. I don't just give a public lecture at the Biyong once a year. I have an applied chemistry laboratory there, and I go there every ten days or half a month. If you really want to live in our house permanently, you can."

He looked at Phaethon and said, "Take the entrance exam to the Imperial College, and then apply for my graduate program. This is the proper study of officialdom and economics. Graduating from the Imperial College is equivalent to being a Juren (a successful candidate in a provincial examination), and you'll be respected wherever you go."

"I understand!" Phaethon nodded. "I will definitely go!"

"And you, Shangluo." Zhu Xianxun looked over and said, "I suggest you apply to the Imperial College as well."

"Huh? Why?"

"Why? You have to come to the Imperial College so that I can see you. And as a cultivator, shouldn't you learn more about alchemy? I'm helping you save time by using your study time to teach you alchemy. Daozu entrusted me with the task of cultivating your alchemy skills, but I'm really busy, and so are you. So you're taking my class so that we don't take up each other's time. But... there's a problem standing in your way."

Zhu Xianxi shook his head. "You won't be able to get in. The Imperial College is very difficult to get into. Now that I've seen the results of other teams, I'm afraid it would be a stretch for you to get first place in the car race."

"Ah, then. If you don't pass the exam, you can't blame me, right?"

"If you don't pass the entrance exam, I'll force you in. The Imperial College never fills its quota, because the entrance exam is ridiculously high. Besides not charging tuition and giving students stipends, the job prospects aren't anywhere near as good as at, say, Nanjing University. Probably because students are too busy with internships to publish papers. It's simply not worth it, so they never fill their quota every year. So, I'm basically recruiting for the school."

"Then how do I get in?"

"The Imperial College offers several admission methods: Excellent, Tribute, Inheritance, Li, En, and Supplementary. Supplementary has nothing to do with you; it's for students from tributary states, and they're considered hostages. Excellent students are admitted through hard work. Every year, out of the planned enrollment of one thousand students in the capital, fewer than one hundred are admitted through the exam. It's simply the most elegant form of performance art, so stubborn that even I admire them. The largest number of students are Tribute students, recommended by high schools from all over the country, and they're all excellent students. But they really don't want to face the enormous pressure of the imperial examinations, so locking in the Imperial College early is like escaping the sea of suffering. Your car race is like a Tribute student."

"Ah, it's a spot for our school?"

"No, they're the tribute students who weren't enrolled in the quota. Then there are the Yinsheng and Lisheng. As the name suggests, they're the children of high-ranking officials in the court and those who got in through 'interviews.' The latter cost a lot of money. Well, the Imperial College is only as good value as the money you spend to get in. The last one is the Enjian, which are the immigrants who chose to go to Southeast Asia to open up wasteland. They suffered a lot and ended up feeding mosquitoes on the desolate island of Java. The Imperial College admission quota is their compensation. Let me calculate how these are compensated."

Zhu Xianxun gestured: "Out of 10 points, top students need to get 9.5 points or above to be admitted."

"(Jinling Yayan)! Is it that difficult? Can't we choose another school?"

"That's why I say it's so stubborn. The cost-effectiveness is completely uneconomical. Why would you choose to take the exam here when you can take the exam elsewhere? So most people get in through the latter method. Gongsheng students don't take exams. They can get in if they get a score of 9.5 or above in a few mock exams in high school. It's much more relaxed. For Yinsheng students or ordinary students, you can get in with a score of 7 or 8. It varies from year to year."

He thought for a moment, "So the Imperial College is divided into four classrooms. The best students are in one classroom, and those who pass or score 9.5 or above go there. Those who score 7 or 8 are divided into different classrooms based on their origins: those who inherited their position have one classroom, those who paid to get in have another, and those who returned from Southeast Asia have another. The number of people in each of the four classrooms is about the same—in short, if you get first place, you'll go to the best students classroom. If you don't get first place, I'll find a way to get you into the hidden students classroom. There are quite a few children of the Imperial Guard there, and you'll be very familiar with them later."

"So, Senior Brother, do you teach in all four classrooms? Which classroom's students do you like the most?"

"I like them all. They bring me all kinds of gifts. Gongsheng brings me lychees from their hometown, Yinsheng brings me big watermelons from the Xiaoling Guard, Lisheng treats me to salt beans, and Ensheng treats me to bananas. It seems like some weird tradition, but besides the hundred or so who got in through sheer stubbornness, everyone else is pretty much the same. After all, no matter how you get in, you need to have a score of 7 or 8, but you probably had to force your way in. Your handwriting is as bad as a ghost's."

"Should I say sorry then?"

"No need," Zhu Xianxun sighed. "Actually, it's a waste of your talent to let you enter the Imperial College. In fact, if you make it to the finals of the car race, you can get a ticket to certain majors at Jinling University or Nanjing University. Getting first place only allows you to choose any major. I also checked your regular grades. What about you? Your grades are like a roller coaster? Sometimes 6 points, sometimes 9 points."

"If I know something, I get 9 points. If I don't know something, I get 6 points."

"That's right." Zhu Xianxi shook his head. This statement might sound like nonsense to others, but not to him. Shangluo had learned another set of techniques, which were generally similar but also had some differences.

"Anyway, I'm the emperor after all, so I can still force someone in. Besides the regular students who donate money, the other places are already full. I can arrange a separate exam for you later, that's not impossible. But it's not because you can't get a better one, it's because we both want to save each other's time, so you don't have to thank me."

"Is this a matter of, can you please make an exception?"

"Yes, that's right. As long as it doesn't infringe on the legal rights of others, we can make many compromises here. For example, I can squeeze you in, not just because you're easy to squeeze in, but because we can't fill the position at all, and bringing you in won't squeeze out anyone else's spot. Plus, you can go to a better place, so it's just a matter of adding and subtracting, not a big deal. But you still have to try your best."

Zhu Xianxun emphasized, "It would be best if you don't need to come to me. Try to get in with a perfect score of 10 in the car competition. The next best thing is to get between 7 and 8 points as a Yinsheng student. If that doesn't work, then I'll help you."

"Alright. I'll try harder." He pressed his forehead. "What kind of world is this? They're clearly trying to make things difficult for me, and yet I still have to rush up there."

Chapter 458 Prehistoric times

"Once you save time, you'll know if this is a hassle. And Miss Phaethon." Zhu Xianxin looked at her, "You can enroll directly."

"Huh? Really? I can enroll directly?"

"Because this is how the tributary states work, as long as they have a recommendation from the tributary state, we don't usually care who recommends them. In the end, no honors will be awarded anyway."

"No." Phaethon shook his head. "I want to get in."

"9.5 or 7.5?"

“I want to try both!”

"Okay." Zhu Xianxun thought for a moment. "It's not impossible. Occasionally, North Korean students take the general entrance exam directly, then enroll through the normal channels and graduate normally. If you want to do well in the exam, I won't stop you. Do your best."

Before he finished speaking, a small figure appeared beside him.

"Would you like to eat?" Apollonia brought over a plate covered with mutton fat and an empty skewer.

"Sizzling roasted lamb fat! So delicious!"

"Um, thank you~" Zhu Xianxun took one first, "Mm, it tastes good, the mutton fat is very flavorful. I'll go eat some more, you two should eat more too. You know, right? We can't stay overnight tonight. It won't be a problem if it takes one meal, but it's hard to say if it takes more. Let's finish it quickly."

After saying that, he walked in front of the crowd again and said, "Hey! Classmate, everyone, although the round trip is only a few minutes, it's not a good habit to stay out all night. So, everyone should go home and rest within the meal. Dinner tonight is a bonus for everyone. Eat well, drink well, go home and get enough sleep, because you have classes tomorrow."

"Ah! Brother, brother, brother!" Zhu Ling came running over with a cake in her hand. "There's still a lot of cake! What should we do?"