Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"Ah? Princess Xiaoyi, what did you say?"

"I said."

Before Shangluo could say anything, the shadow grabbed his shoulder without saying a word and pulled him into the curtain after the rain and disappeared.

Chapter 1098 Crab General

"Wow, they are really authentic phlogiston submarines. There are so many of them. There are more than 400 of them just randomly called. It's amazing, don't you think Shangluo?" Phaethon looked to the side:

"Eh? Where are the people from Shangluo?"

[Did you just realize that he has been abducted for 3 minutes?]

"Hijack? He has turned into a dragon now. He could smash the gate of Constantinople with a thunder ball dunk. Who could hijack him?"

[Of course. He intends to investigate the enemy situation. Don't you think so, Shangluo?]

"Don't talk to me for now, these Ninja Turtles are giving me a headache."

"So where are you? Have Apollonia send me the coordinates. I have to go pick you up."

"Okay, I sent it to you." After briefly syncing the message, Shangluo turned his attention back to the thing in front of him.

"Hey ha! Drive faster! Drive faster! That old dragon is catching up!"

"Go left ahead!"

"Boss, you can't go right here. Go right, right!"

"It's clearly to the left on the map!"

"Look ahead! It's going to crash! It's going to crash! Go right! Right!"

The whole car is a mess - because it's an invisible car.

Like these four invisible turtles, their cars are also invisible.

The whole car was lying on the ground like a turtle, and the five of them were sitting in the turtle shell. The four legs were not wheels, but four wide suspended sleds. The whole car was suspended 5 centimeters above the ground, moving silently on the light rainy street.

Purely black objects reflect almost no light. To be invisible, in addition to "not reflecting light", it must also "not absorb light" to allow light to pass through unimpeded. This car has done it. It really absorbs almost no light. Every ray of light that hits its case passes through unimpeded - the cost is that the driver can't see anything, because all the light passes through, and the eye is an organ that at least needs to receive light to see things.

But it's not completely invisible. The driver and co-driver seats of this car have two small observation holes - this also makes the car look like there are two small black holes from the front, floating in the middle of the eyes or nostrils, which is one of the few flaws of the whole car.

Shangluo was sitting in the back seat. He saw that the two turtles in the front and rear seats had almost put their entire flat faces against the observation hole, but the field of vision still seemed incredibly narrow. Neither of them could recognize the road conditions clearly, and both of them could only see the road conditions on their own half, so a third person was needed to sit in the back and look at the map.

There is a fourth turtle watching from behind. Probably at the buttocks of the turtle car, a turtle is lying on the ground and looking back to confirm whether there are any pursuers behind.

It was hard for Shangluo to imagine that under such poor observation conditions, this headless car could still run wildly on the streets of Naha at a high speed as if flying close to the ground.

This hoverboard wasn't stable at all, and it had to sway several times before it could right itself after each turn. Shangluo had gotten off the "sandbag" early, or he would have vomited it out long ago.

"I'm sorry! Princess Xiaoyi! This happened suddenly. We were only here for reconnaissance. We didn't expect you to be here. I didn't even see you. It was the third brother who was looking out in front who saw you."

"Aha! Princess Xiaoyi, you have to let Princess Gui give me some credit!" The second co-pilot turned around and shouted.

[Interesting, the clan system seems to be still in place in the Dragon Palace. Is the Turtle Clan managed by Turtle Princess? What does the Turtle Prime Minister do? I remember there is also Mirage Princess. Is it possible that the Mirage Clan is also managed by Mirage Princess? After all this time, it seems that it is not just these few people who are rebelling against the Dragon King, but the Turtle Clan, the Mirage Clan, and maybe even his own Dragon Clan who are rebelling against the Dragon King. What on earth did he do?]

"Then this is different from the previous ones. Has Rome ever encountered such a thing? I mean the clan system."

[In theory, the Senate was prepared for the clan system, and the names of Phaethon and Victoria were also in the order of birth name, clan name, and genealogical name. However, the Roman clan system has collapsed in modern times, mainly because the size of the Romans has expanded to a point that the clan system cannot accommodate - because the clan leader simply cannot recognize so many people. ]

"Then we can recognize them all here in Dragon Palace?"

[Maybe there aren't many people in the Dragon Palace that need to be recognized. But I thought these Otohime, Kamehime, and Mizuhime just meant princesses. It seems that they are not only princesses, but also clan leaders? So it seems that "Mong-hime" is more appropriate than calling them "princesses." ]

"What does the Dragon King do?"

[It's hard to say. But we can infer that the organizational structure of the Dragon Palace should be not far from ancient times. The Dragon Palace can't actually manage too many things of the various clans. Then the question comes back to the Dragon King: where did the 80,000 naval forces come from? This looks like a standing army, using cutting-edge technology, which has nothing to do with the tradition of the clan system. ]

Apollonia read about this in Roman history.

As we all know, the Roman Legion is very famous. Rome in its golden age relied on its legions to conquer the world, and at that time the clan system had already disintegrated.

After the dissolution of the Curia clan assembly founded by the first Roman king Romulus, the clan system in Rome existed in name only. When the sixth Roman king, and the last "good king" Tullius, was in office, a real citizen assembly was convened, marking the true transformation of Rome into a monarchy. The purpose of King Tullius convening the citizen assembly was to allocate conscription obligations. Because if the clan system continued to be implemented, it would be impossible for the king to separate soldiers from the clan to form a separate national army.

This was a drastic change, which directly led to Tullius being overthrown by the last Roman king, Tarquinius, and directly led to the collapse of the Roman monarchy, which brought the Senate to the fore. The overthrown Tarquin Superbus was exiled to the wilderness, but he continued to call himself the King of Rome, brewing the "Tarquin conspiracy", ready to take back his throne at any time. According to legend, his shadow still lingers in the sacred forest of Lake Nemi, waiting for the day when the monarchy will return.

The Dragon Palace now seems to be facing a turbulent change. These shrimp soldiers and crab generals are obviously not something that the Turtle Clan or the Mirage Clan can form, and even the Dragon Clan can't put them together. The only one who can do this is King Ao Zang and his "invisible big hand".

"It seems that our King Ao Zang is really not simple. He seems to have hatched a new court inside the Dragon Palace, one that does not rely on the clan system, but purely on the power of the people. No wonder so many people are against him. This old dragon is quite interesting. Although this old dragon is a bit stingy, he seems to be able to get things done. I like it."

Chapter 1099: The Clan of Dragon Palace

[This Ao Zang is in great danger now. Even when we were here, he was attacked by his own men one after another.]

"So he needs a victory to consolidate his court. And he is the one who needs to increase the population of the Dragon Palace the most. If the number of people under the Dragon Palace increases by 80 million at once, the clan system will certainly collapse. From this perspective, those who oppose the military action against Japan may not be completely kind-hearted - of course, it is also possible to be very kind. I think Otohime is really kind-hearted."

[Now I know why Ao Zang locked her up before taking action. So that's how it is. According to this calculation, Otohime is the leader of the dragon clan of the Ryugu, right? ]

"It's very likely. And this may not be the business of the Dragon Palace, but the family affairs of the Dragon Clan. Somehow, this reminds me of Lord Wende of the Ryukyu Kingdom."

[Ah! Are you saying that Otohime's role is the same as Ryukyu's Mondeok-sama?]

"At least that's what it looks like. I just don't know who is learning from whom. Most likely Ryukyu is learning from Ryugu. However, this does bridge the gap between Ryukyu's Ontake beliefs and Ryugu beliefs. It turns out that the top-level structures of Ryugu and Ryukyu are the same. I saw these Mr. Kame next to them. They ignored everything else and came to rescue their 'little Princess Oto' as soon as possible. It seems to them that Princess Oto is more important than the Dragon King."

"Princess Xiaoyi? I think there's something wrong with your eyes?" The masked turtle next to her suddenly asked.

"it's okay no problem"

"Princess! Why has your voice changed? Why has it become like a man's?"

"Ah this."

"Ah! That old dragon must have made you suffer and given you a mute potion! It's indeed what that ruthless old dragon would do. You are his only daughter! For the sake of power, he could actually kill his own daughter again. Woo woo—" The turtle sobbed, "Princess Xiaoyi, don't worry. Even if you can't speak, we will definitely listen to you. Only you can lead us to overthrow that damn old dragon! At that time, Sister Xiaoyi will be the eldest princess, Sister Gui will be the second princess, and Sister Shen will be the third princess."

[Wow, are they blind? You and Otohime have completely different hair colors, and your demeanor is completely different.]

"Ah, yeah, yeah." Shangluo didn't know what to say, so he could only nod.

"Wow~~ Otohime-sama, you've lost your voice. If Kame-sama-sama knew, she would be so sad. You have to preside over her marriage with that ape."

"Boss, please stop talking." The turtle who was observing from behind turned around and muttered, "Princess Otohime has just escaped from the cage. She needs to rest."

"Wow!" The turtle who was called the boss wiped his tears, "Look back for yourself! Princess Otohime's hair is all white. How much suffering she has endured! Her eyes are not as innocent as before. They are just like that ape! How much sin did she suffer to become like this!"

Shangluo's fists hardened and his joints cracked, but he held back his anger.

"Don't worry about your hand, Otohime-sama. Kamehime-sama is right in front of us. We'll be able to see her soon! She's been waiting for you!"

[Hold on. Hold on. The target is right in front of you. If you explode now, then why did you put up with them all this time? ]

"I know they just seem to have a problem with Urashima Taro. That's all. It's none of my business. I'll understand when I meet Kamehime later."

It was a pleasant surprise that Lady Turtle was here as well. From the previous description, it seemed that Lady Turtle was the instigator of everything.

Shangluo didn't care what happened between her and Urashima Taro. What Shangluo cared about was whether she knew Xu Fu. If possible, Shangluo planned to take her away and let them all reunite in the imperial prison.

[The Imperial Prison is almost full of half the Dragon Palace's inmates.]

"I don't agree with Ao Zang's strategy. Those are completely the internal affairs of the Dragon Palace, and I don't want to get involved. But they caused me trouble when they were fighting Xu Fu, so no matter what, I want them to go to the side and rest neatly and not cause me any trouble. I will treat them better. As long as they behave well, I can let bygones be bygones and let the Dragon Palace handle its own internal affairs. But if they are stubborn, then I will have no choice but to clean up the house for the Dragon Palace."

"We're here! Princess Otohime, are you okay? We're just ahead." The "boss" who was looking at the map shouted ahead, "Stop at the beach just ahead! Right there! While the rain from that old dragon hasn't stopped yet, let's retreat quickly under the cover of the rain!"

[Shangluo, they may have some ships waiting in front to meet you. I don't recommend you to go aboard with them. If they have any technical exchanges with Atlantis in Atlantis, or the West Sea, it may be difficult to escape if they take you away.]

"I know that conquering Xu Fu is more important than the Dragon Palace. So I will act according to circumstances. But there is a problem." Shang Luo thought for a while, "If I abandon the body of a dragon and show my true form, they will not be able to resist the thunderbolt once it is unleashed. These guys haven't done anything wrong. If I kill someone by accident, it will be inconvenient to negotiate with them later - after all, they are also people of the Dragon Palace. They are not against the court now. Don't I need to clean up the mess for the Dragon King?"

[These turtles are quite considerate. It would be a pity if they were really killed by the thunder.]

"The key is that they can turn invisible! No wonder I didn't notice they were following me before. Their method of turning invisible is quite interesting. We have to find them out first."

[So that's what you think. I thought you were just being kind.]

"If you want me to be kind, these turtles should at least tell me two more crosstalks."

Suddenly, Shangluo realized that the height of the turtle car had dropped a little, and he landed on the beach on a sled.

With a few crackling sounds, the mechanism was unlocked, and the turtle shell flipped open from both sides, allowing humid water vapor from the outside to rush in.

The girl carrying a tortoise shell suddenly appeared in front of him.

“Xiao Yi!” She came up and hugged Shang Luo, “Finally I see you again! I thought you were captured and I would never see you again!”

[Another blind man. No, it seems that it is not the blind man's problem. Is it because they don't have noses? They only look the same, but their auras are completely different.]

"Be careful! She's fake! She's not Princess Yiji!" Before Shangluo could react, illusory bubbles gushed over along with the water vapor. The girl in front of him carrying a tortoise shell was wrapped by a large clam shell and retreated to the back.

"Oh my, you found me. Don't blame me for showing my true colors." He pointed at the clam shell and said, "If you know what's best for you, leave the turtle behind and let me report back."

[No way, are you going to start a killing spree? You can’t stop the thunder tribulation now! ]

"Don't worry, I have another way." Shangluo pulled out a huge sword from his bag.

A gust of wind blew away, black mist rose, and the green leaves of the laurel tree fluttered in the moonlight.

The black fog dissipated, and a creepy black shadow holding a huge sword appeared under the bright moon. The power of sword magic filled the moonlight and laurel -

"Seventy-two transformations, right? I'll transform into a forest king for fun! All you turtles and clams, come on!"

Chapter 1100 Incarnation: Forest King

The forest king appeared in a pure black toga, not a gray-black one. His old face, which was originally painted with red oil paint, was now replaced by a golden mask. Under the toga was a golden plate armor, the same as the mask, and the hem of the toga hung behind him like a cloak.

This is not the image of the dying forest king that Shangluo saw, but the image of a Roman king in his prime. This is what Tarquin, the last Roman king, should have looked like.

The only thing that remained the same was the sword. The silver long sword remained the same as when Shangluo picked it up. Shangluo remembered that the sword had shown unreasonable toughness at that time. It looked like some kind of silver metal, and its color was closer to silver than steel, but it could compete with the divine chrome in hardness. Although Shangluo did not lose in the final duel, he did not win either.

The years that stagnated by Lake Nemi left no trace on this sword. Until now, it is still as glorious as in the myth, just right for prying open the clam shell in front of it.

Shangluo swung the sword half a circle, and pointed it at the clam shell. He had never mastered the sword so clearly before, and the sword seemed to be an extension of his right hand. Even those great elves with the sixth finger could only control the sword like this. This was as difficult to explain as "a bicycle will not fall down", the magic of the "sword".

Even though Shangluo had only briefly practiced sword fighting before and could only rely on instinct to defend, he could use the form of the forest king to show the power of sword magic. The turtles in front of him also trembled because of this.

——Although Shangluo turned into this physical attack form in order to avoid using thunder to send them all to the west, it was already scary.

"Who are you? Why did you transform yourself into Princess Otohime?"

"He must be the reinforcements that old loach invited! He was invited from the Heavenly Palace! He wants to wipe out all our East Sea aquatic creatures in one fell swoop!"

Four turtles stood between Shangluo and the clam shell. The rain was still falling, and the raindrops fell on the four turtles, flowing along the looming shells. They did not immediately become invisible, but wanted to solve the problem through conversation first.

Even so, they still stood shell to shell, huddled together to give themselves courage - but they did not retreat.

“Save me!” Gui Ji’s voice was muffled inside the clam shell. “Ah, left, ah, right, ah, front, ah, back! Save me!”

"Don't worry, Princess! Even if we have to break our tortoise shell, we will protect you and let you leave here!"

"Is this the extent of your awareness? You should say smash your head!"

"But Princess, our opponent is too strong. If we fight until our tortoise shells are broken, it seems that breaking our heads will be of no use."

"Ahem." Shangluo interrupted their conversation with a cough. "I have no intention of smashing your shells or skulls. I just want you."

"Ahhh! He wants me! I'm not even married yet!"

"You vicious killer, what do you want to do to our princess!"

[Ah Shangluo, did you see that person's face clearly? ]

"No, as soon as she showed up, she was protected by the clam shell. I didn't have time to see her. Does she look like her father?"

[Not really. I took a quick glance and although the eyebrows and eyes are somewhat similar, it is still pretty. Especially the eyes, which are big and pretty. But only her head and limbs are outside the tortoise shell. Are you interested? ]

"Are you fishing?"

I'm trying to find a rich husband.

"I'm not the type to fall in love with every girl I see. Besides, doesn't she already have a fiancé? Oh, I've got you wrong. What does her having a fiancé have to do with me? She's not even a human being!"

Shangluo turned his hand and stuck the sword into the ground: "Today, none of you can go back to the sea from here. Either she comes with me. Or all of you come with me."

"No! No!" Gui Ji's voice came from the clam shell, "I'm not married yet! I don't want to die!"

"I don't want you to die either." Shang Luo shook his head - this was the truth. If he used the thunderbolt, he could turn this place into a wasteland. But his original body couldn't control the thunderbolt, and if he used Yiji's form to release the thunderbolt, his strength might be exposed in advance. Switching to this physical attack form with a sword was already showing mercy.

However, Shangluo did not take it lightly. Compared with Yiji who was only wearing light clothes, the strong body and armor of the Forest King gave him a greater sense of security. The sword magic's almost instinctive fighting ability was also quite useful in this situation.

He looked at the clam shell and said, "So, Miss Guiji, I advise you to get out of the clam shell. Although it is not impossible to pry open the clam shell, there are already five turtles of yours here. If I am not mistaken, that one should be a member of the Mirage Clan, right? Is she sent by Mirage Princess to protect you?"