Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"You wish." Shangluo shook his head. "I don't want the victory you gave me."

"Hey, hey, hey, you can't say that. We're not taking the Imperial College entrance exam, nor do we have any agreement with the powerful. It's useless for us to win. Don't be so vindictive, isn't winning good enough?"

"Wait." Shangluo replied, "Let's go to the free fighting area up ahead to decide the winner."

Chapter 518 Tai Chi Push Hands

The free fighting area was just ahead. The unobserved section of the track beside Xuanwu Lake was where the winner would be decided.

The Taishang Juechen hadn't tried to overtake since the beginning. This made Shangluo feel that this was indeed like practicing Tai Chi, like performing Tai Chi Push Hands.

Although it did not surpass it, the Tai Shang Jue Chen had been "stuck" next to it motionlessly.

"By the way, why do you and I have the same speed?"

"Because your car's overall performance is actually the best."

"Oh~~Is that so?"

"Yes," Zhang Baoling replied. "It's no exaggeration to say that we've collected data on both teams and seen all the cars. But after the competition began, we chose to pre-design the main body of the car to resemble the [Heavenly Dao Shadow Puppet]. This is because your overall performance is enhanced by a large number of unique subsystems with different functions, and they are tuned very smoothly. If others don't fight and don't use abilities that transcend the limits like Taiyi Jinhua, then the only one who can compete with you is Xuantan Tiger."

"Oh they're too heavy aren't they?"

"Yeah." Zhang Baoling nodded. "It's too heavy, really too heavy. That car is ridiculously heavy, and simulating their torch jet was incredibly difficult. I only collected enough data to implement it after the race started. But to be honest, your car drives much smoother. If there's a chance, could you let me take it for a test drive? It's as fun as driving a toy car as a kid. This is the real joy of driving."

On the screen, the boy with glasses made an OK sign. Judging from his expression, he was quite happy.

Zhang Baoling had a significant say in the investigation. This meant the Jiangning Longjiang team's previous work had been highly effective, and it was only due to force majeure that they were in such a predicament. Of course, Shangluo himself was the ultimate force majeure. As a celestial being, Shangluo was the greatest force majeure in this competition. However, the basic capabilities provided by this car saved Shangluo a lot of effort, allowing him to focus on the battle.

"Yes," Shangluo replied, "our Jiling also said yes."

"Then you'll win me happily." Zhang Baoling shook his head. "Just say the word and I'll brake right now and let you win."

"Tsk tsk tsk." Shang Luo shook his finger. "I know exactly what your old man means. But I don't think this matter will end so easily. If I ask you to give in, doesn't that mean I lose?"

"But you won the game."

"If I win the competition this way, I will lose my life. I am the Heavenly Sovereign appointed by Daozu. I know you have good intentions, but I absolutely cannot accept this kindness."

"Well, then, we'll just have to fight you to the end." Zhang Baoling looked ahead. "You still have [Heaven and Earth Harmony] to use, right?"

"No way? You can also transform this?"

"Of course. Otherwise, why is it called Taiyi Jinhua? If it can only transform into some minor skills, but not into true great power, then wouldn't this Taiyi Jinhua be in vain?"

What she said must be true. She seems to have already started preparing. Since she used it once before, she should be able to use it here as well.

"This is the fucking Great Shift of the Universe, right?"

"Great Shift of the Universe? Hmm, that's a good name." Zhang Baoling nodded. "I'll talk to my master later and change 'Great Shift of the Heavenly Demon' to 'Great Shift of the Universe'. Because 'Great Shift of the Heavenly Demon' sounds like a technique that only demonic sects can use. We are a reputable and upright sect."

"But the Great Shift of the Universe is clearly the magic of the Zhenzong sect. Forget it. Do you want to follow?" He looked at Zhang Baoling who was close at hand. The free fighting track was about to arrive.

"What else can I do? If you won't let me surrender, I have no choice but to follow you. If I don't follow you, won't I be a nobody on both sides?"

"Okay, let's get started!"

In a flash, Shangluo activated [Harmony of Heaven and Earth], and everything around him became as quiet as before.

"Wow, this feels like I'm almost reaching the Golden Core stage." As expected, Zhang Baoling wasn't frozen; her events were still ongoing. It looked like she had copied the Heaven and Earth Unity ability as well.

"So, Shangluo?" she asked tentatively, "If it's okay, I'll go now."

"Don't worry! There's still this!" Shangluo opened the hatch and took out the Mountain, River, State and State Map. He waved it on the spot, covering the two cars that were close at hand.

In the dense mountain forest, two racing cars broke through the air three feet above the ground and stopped on the ground.

“???” Zhang Baoling looked at everything around him in shock.

"Ahhhh! What are you doing? Where is this place?!"

"Stop screaming." Shangluo reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her out of the car.

"Assaulting a contestant is against the law!"

"Who's going to hit you?"

"You brought me to this little dark room just to beat me! Where is this place?"

"Hey, stop talking so much and follow me." Pulling Zhang Baoling's arm, he connected with Apollonia and walked forward.

"What! What are you doing! Stop pulling me!"

"I'm thinking about your safety." Shang Luo looked back at her. "Don't stray too far from me. It's very dangerous here! Because the speed of time here is 365 times that of the outside world. This means that if you are lost here for 365 seconds, only one second will pass outside. If it takes a day to find you outside, you will have to stay here for a whole year before you can be rescued. Do you understand?"

"Hmm, hmm, hmm." Zhang Baoling nodded repeatedly, "I understand."

"Wait a moment, it will be safe soon."

He pulled Zhang Baoling to stand in the forest next to him. Soon, two white gloves fluttered down from the sky, and Apollonia stood on one of them.

"Yo~" Apollonia greeted her in mid-air.

"This is Envoy Huiming?"

"Oh~~~ You guys are very well-informed."

"So this is the Netherworld?"

"Right~~" Apollonia applauded her.

"Then why did you bring me here?"

"Since you said you could transform anything, I had to prepare some tricks that you couldn't transform. Is that okay?"

"Okay. So, what am I going to do?"

"Don't do anything. I brought you here just to prevent you from escaping. Just stay with Apollonia. Would you like some boiled eggs?"

"Foundation Pill???"

"What are you thinking about? Boiled eggs and other snacks. Just think of yourself as here for shopping. It'll only be a few hours. Apollonia, serve Miss Zhang a Coke."

There is one more update, please wait, around 1 o'clock

Chapter 519 Whale Song

"Slurp, slurp." Zhang Baoling was drinking Coke in mid-air.

"Would you like another boiled egg?" Apollonia asked when she saw there was none left on the plate.

"Then thank you for your help~"

"Wait a moment, the kitchen is delivering it."

While waiting for the eggs to boil, the two looked down - on the mountains below, Shangluo was just like the other man in white robe, singing loudly facing the mountains.

"By the way, what is he doing?"

"He's learning the whale song. Because everything he does up there you can learn, except for one thing you haven't learned."

Qiuqiu was tied to the side, also with a rope. Qiuqiu held one end and Apollonia held the other end, so that it would not fly away.

She actually never paid attention to what the ball was used for.

"Isn't this ball, this ball, the dragon of this world? Its shape is really unique."

"It'll be more normal when it grows up." She pulled the ball off and squeezed it. It felt just as Shangluo had said, very springy. It was like squeezing a balloon that wouldn't burst.

"what's it for?"

"It's too young and can only respond passively. When it was hanging outside just now, we thought it could help us block it. But it turned out to be too weak. Shangluo is much stronger than it, and it can't even share the attack. When it finishes learning, you'll see that this thing is actually quite useful."

"So, is it okay for us to stay here? There's still a game going on outside."

"It doesn't matter. He'll learn quickly. We spend a whole day here, and it's only four minutes outside—of course, the difference to the back is less than four minutes, so he probably only has half a day. What do you think?"

"I don't want to beat him at all. What good would it be to beat him? Now we're both on the hook. He won't let me surrender, and if I surrender I'll offend him. I'm going to give it my all, but I'm afraid I might win by accident. What do you think? Can I win?"

"You do have a chance of winning." Apollonia nodded, "So he should take it seriously too."

"Oh, I have a headache. This is not my strength. My strength is not even close to his. This is what my master asked me to bring. I am just a boy carrying a sword. It is this sword that flies out by itself to cut people. I really don't want to offend him."

"Don't worry, he's a narrow-minded person."

"what?"

"So he must stick to the facts and narrow the scope of his attack. This matter has nothing to do with you, so he won't retaliate against you."

"That's good, that's good. I was scared to death."

High in the sky, a strong wind, overlooking the earth. This was a situation she had never seen before, and it was specifically designed to counter her. To be able to find a solution in the middle of the game was simply unbelievable.

"By the way, you wanted to win at the beginning, right?"

"No." Zhang Baoling shook his head. "I said it from the beginning. If you don't compete, no one in the world can compete with you. We came down the mountain to learn and to be sure of second place. Because our master said that our Heavenly Demon Transformation is to 'give others a taste of their own medicine,' but there's no need to treat your own people that way. To put it bluntly, it's about learning from others. If learning from others wins, it won't be good for us or anyone else. But we still have to fight for second place, because we need to make a name for ourselves so that we can recruit students."

"Enrollment?"

"Yes. Wudang is a place dedicated to training Qigong practitioners. Although Daozu doesn't want Qigong practitioners to gather together, Daoists are an exception. Daozu feels that leaving it to Wudang can put his mind at ease. You see, we don't fight for anything, we just focus on our own cultivation. But it's precisely because signing up for Wudang is useless, with no job, no future, and no guarantee of enlightenment, that so few people come to sign up. Master said that the more people sign up, the better."

"How many people does your master think is appropriate?"

"Three a year, maybe. Three is enough. If we have three a year, we can have a master to teach us the whole time. Lu Liang could have gone up the mountain before, but she didn't come after all the twists and turns."

"So not all of you want to win?"

"Right," Zhang Baoling nodded. "You know, Lan Fang didn't actually plan to win at first. They weren't even competing, they were just running tests. So, everyone in their team seemed so calm and quiet. They had no desire to win, because there was no need to win. But Shangluo blew up their dual experimental car, and they couldn't continue the test—that's when they petitioned the National Star to allow them to run. They hadn't actually planned to use car number two."

"Is Xuantan Tiger the only one who wants to compete with us?"

"Yes. That guy really wanted to beat you, and he was very confident. He just didn't expect you to be able to hold him back. He's a natural nemesis, there's nothing you can do about it. But then again, Shangluo's strength is far superior to everyone else's, so it doesn't matter whether he can be restrained or not. He's going to die anyway."

"So, it's up to you to impose sanctions?"

"Please, please. This really isn't a punishment, at least not from me." Zhang Baoling lowered his voice. "I really don't want to fight for this position. I've already said I'm Xiahou En, the sword-carrying Xiahou En. I'm responsible for carrying this sword. Tianmo Dahua is our master's magic weapon. He was sent by those old men to make things more difficult for Shangluo."

"So what exactly is your Heavenly Demon Transformation? Is it the light silver car shell?"

"No." Zhang Baoling shook his head. "I can't tell you. This is a sect secret. But he'll go to Wudang later, and he'll know then. Shangluo just said this can be called the Great Shift of the Universe. I think this is better than the Great Transformation of the Heavenly Demon."

"Hmm, is he going to learn Taoism too? He doesn't look like a good Taoist."

"It's already incredibly impressive that he has this world to himself." Zhang Baoling looked around. "Is this the Pure Land of the future?"

"The Pure Land is up there." Apollonia pointed overhead. "Right above your head, that's where the Pure Land is. This small world is underground. Shangluo obtains knowledge from here that he can't find anywhere else. For example... Oh, here I come."

Suddenly, a gust of wind exploded from below, and Shangluo soared up with the wind and jumped directly onto the clouds.

"Done? So quickly?"

"It's just a song. But it works. How long?" he asked Apollonia.

"1 minute and 10 seconds. The person behind us will soon reach the track beside Xuanwu Lake."

"Can you win? Let me confirm, you can win!" Zhang Baoling asked, "You must win! If you don't win, I won't be able to explain myself to anyone."

"You talk like I'm afraid of you." He handed over a pair of earplugs. "Wait, don't blame me for not warning you later. I'm going to make some big noise for you."

Chapter 520 Trumpet

Back to the competition venue, Shangluo landed on the ground, and the trembling Zhang Baoling followed her out.

"You, you, you. Now, start?" The earmuffs were already on her head, almost as big as her head. The appearance of the earmuffs made her a little scared. She was really scared.

"Well, let's start now."

"What did you say? I can't hear you."

"I said." He reached over and pulled off Zhang Baoling's earmuffs, "I said I'm going to cast a spell now, so put on your earmuffs."

"Hmmmm!" Zhang Baoling immediately squatted down with her head in her hands, shrinking into the car shell. Suddenly, she remembered something.

She glanced at Shangluo's car and muttered, "Taiyi Jinhua: Heavenly Demon Transformation." She had never chanted Taiyi Jinhua so forcefully before. The Taishang Juechen's hull began to deform, dissolving the "hatch" of Shangluo next door as well.

Reaching out and closing the hatch directly, Zhang Baoling huddled into the cockpit and continued to squat with his head in his hands.

"I don't know anything, I don't know anything, it's none of my business, it's none of my business." Although she said this, she had just seen it and she already knew what was going to happen.