Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"I think you may have some misunderstandings about the life form of werewolves - we are not creatures born in the mortal world, and cannot be classified according to the canine family or the like. Although we can indeed communicate with animals, I am afraid that animals do not have the wisdom to communicate with us intellectually."

"What about those dogs you see over there?"

Shangluo pointed to the Dane who was already dressed.

Schneider hadn't noticed that place until Shangluo pointed in that direction. He then looked over there and met King Kong's eyes.

"Oh my goodness, Gaia!" Schneider was shocked. "What kind of supernatural creature is this! It can actually elevate ordinary dogs to this level! So the fairy scent I smelled just now is here!"

"Huh?" Shangluo asked, "So it was them you smelled just now?"

Shangluo pointed to Xiong Yeshan again: "What about eliminating them?"

"Then there's nothing left. I can't smell anything. I can't detect any goblins. Except for them."

"They are not fairies, they are spirit beasts."

"." Schneider was stunned for a moment, "Is there any difference between these two?"

“We call them spirit beasts.”

"I understand that this is a human creation."

"Are they considered enemies here?"

"From the perspective of the Ruhl clan, humans are also legitimate creatures born of nature, so human creations are also part of nature and should be tolerated by Gaia. Let alone these spirit beasts, even if there are chimneys in the factories spewing black smoke and emitting toxic gases, we do not regard them as foreign objects that need to be expelled. Only the elves, even if they use harmless vines to decorate themselves, are still just foreign enemies who want to invade the mortal world."

Shangluo discovered it—it had been discovered before, but now it is more certain:

These werewolves do practice a kind of "naturalism", but they have their own ideas about what is natural. As long as it is made by humans, even if it is a poisonous chemical gas, he doesn't care.

"Well, if that is your request, I will cooperate with those 'spiritual beasts' in the battle."

The werewolf walked into the crowd without any disguise. Lu Huaiyang was a little surprised at first, but after receiving the message from Shangluo, he let the werewolf go.

The aura from the "similar species" made the Dan Dogs' group a little restless. But after the leader, King Kong, came forward, he and Schneider looked at each other for a while, and then both nodded to each other, just as a greeting.

"Shangluo, this is the one you brought back last time"

"Yeah, the werewolf. Any questions?"

"If you let Governor Li know, he might think there's something wrong. These werewolves are not easy to deal with. They can't be communicated with or reasoned with - but the one you called seems to be particularly easy to talk to?"

"Maybe." Shang Luo nodded. "Werewolves also have their own tribes. The ones that Governor Li encountered in the north might be particularly difficult to talk to?"

"Anyway, as long as you think it's okay," Lu Huaiyang replied, "You are the Great Demon-Subduing Marshal. Even if we subdue wild monsters from other places, it's up to you to decide whether to use them or not. What does he think of our arrangement?"

"He said he didn't see anything. He just felt that the area ahead had the potential to become a spiritual world, but there was no real danger."

"Perhaps what Xu Fu said is indeed correct? As long as we check in one by one along the route he gave, we can avoid disaster and reach the place he designated?"

"Who cares?" Shang Luo shook his head. "It's good if he can find it. If not, we all know what to do. But this guy also swore an oath to Dehe himself - as an old Qin man, he should take the oath very seriously."

As they were talking, Schneider, who was at the front, had already walked up the hiking trail with his pack of Dane dogs.

"Let's get ready." Shang Luo glanced at the time. "We'll set off in a quarter of an hour. I'll guard Xu Fu. If there's any movement, I'll let him taste the power of a hunting knife and let him taste the great gift of being skinned and stuffed with straw by the Ming Dynasty."

Chapter 1191 Kumano Mountain Road

Shangluo walked onto the mountain trail of Kumano. It is indeed a good place for sightseeing, and the good thing is that there is no one here.

The path up the mountain was lined with gravel steps, all covered with moss.

[This seems to be a typical pilgrimage site. There are infrastructures, but they are rarely used. The surrounding environment is indeed very suitable for sightseeing. If no one comes here, it means that the shogunate had strict control over the personal freedom of the people. Hey, why is there a street light in front? ]

Shangluo also saw it - or rather, it is easy to find once you enter the mountains. The infrastructure here is somewhat inexplicable. There are many street lamps in the wild mountains, but at least 10 or even 8 out of 7 are broken. There is no moss growing on the street lamps, but they are entangled by vines.

So how did they make their place look like the post-apocalypse?

Post-apocalyptic, the world after the cataclysm that destroyed the world. In such a world, human civilization collapsed not long ago, but the traces left by human civilization have not completely faded. The green grass covering the stone steps and the vines wrapped around the street lights always feel like all the living people on this island were killed by a nuclear bomb half an hour ago.

"After all, the Edo Shogunate was originally a closed-door government. Their closed-door policy not only blocked domestic communication, but also blocked cross-regional movement within the country."

[How did they complete industrialization under such circumstances? ]

"It's better to say that it's not impossible to carry out industrialization if everyone is confined to their own land. Because as long as the materials can flow, it doesn't matter whether people move or not. Using administrative means to force everyone to stay in place can solve the local employment problem - so they only carry out industrialization, not urbanization."

[Can serfdom be industrialized?! My brain is going to burn out.]

"Me too!" Victoria was also surprised. "If they could have built a slave factory, Rome's productivity would definitely not be what it is now."

"You probably don't know this." Shangluo explained as he climbed the stairs, "The Japanese have been a herbivorous people since ancient times. They just eat grass and don't have any other needs."

"No!" Victoria said in annoyance, "So Rome's failure was due to the wrong breed of slaves?"

[It's so sad! Why didn't Rome have a herbivorous people! ]

"Well, don't take it too seriously. You have to know that their industrialization has its limits. The shogunate can only guarantee the exchange of materials, but cannot control the industrial chains of each feudal state. Even the feudal lords have no way to control it, because they usually don't return to their own territories, but mostly stay in Edo Castle. This leads to the economy of each feudal state being relatively independent, and the level of development is also uneven. Compared with industrialization, this is more like a group of 'industrial tenants'."

You mean they are the opposite of agricultural workers—industrial tenant farmers?

"I think that's true. They probably just viewed factories as another form of industry, alongside agriculture. The industrial products they produced were more like cash crops. They had neither the ability nor the motivation to fully industrialize their country. You can see that before Xu Fu took over, their level of development was quite backward, on average an order of magnitude lower than North Korea."

"Yes." Victoria felt relieved. "Your North Korea is the one that has truly industrialized, right?"

"As far as I know, North Korea has now become the 'Korean Industrial State', existing as a model tributary state to provide goods to Kinai. There are all kinds of goods, from Goryeo paper to tractors, from iron ore to non-ferrous metals. North Korea has been deeply embedded in Kinai's production system. The shogunate is only patching up the surface, and it is still a long way from truly enriching the country and strengthening the military - first of all, they have to unify."

But obviously, there is no such opportunity now. Neither Shangluo nor Ao Zang of the Dragon Palace in the East China Sea intends to let the shogunate continue to exist in its current state. Zhu Xianxun also mentioned before that he only cares about whether the "national system" can continue to exist and whether there are people who continue to worship the ancestral temples of the tributary states recognized by the empire. Apart from this, he does not care.

Under the rule of the shogunate, Japan has become a living puppet under the manipulation of Xu Fu. And it must be said that this puppet is quite unique. In many places, there are strange "post-apocalyptic" landscapes. If this place is studied as a landscape, it should have a +3 promoting effect on sociology - of course, this is a complete disaster for those who are in it.

For the butcher, butchering an ox is of course an elegant art full of life philosophy, referring to the "flow state" of research, with challenging tasks, clear goals, and timely feedback. His superb skills also match the task of "performing". But for the cow, it is dead, and its death must be recorded and exhibited without blind spots, and passed down for thousands of years. This is really a great tragedy.

Regarding the current situation in Japan, Shangluo can only "act according to the law". He plans to see what the Dragon King wants first, and then talk to him about how to use this place. If the Dragon King is more efficient in operating this place than the imperial court, he would not mind giving Japan as a "interest" to the Dragon Palace as a fiefdom under legal circumstances.

After all, after the war, it was his mission as the Heavenly Lord to give fiefs to the princes who participated in the war. As for how much to give at that time, he still had to talk to the Dragon Palace - anyway, the Dragon Palace would fulfill its feudal obligations while receiving the land, just like before.

As a vassal, Longgong responded to the king's call for loyalty surprisingly quickly. With such loyalty, Shangluo did not mind rewarding them for their loyalty so that they would be more active in fulfilling their duty to serve the king next time.

——However, if the imperial court also suffered losses here, then that would be a different story.

"Huh?" Suddenly, Shangluo noticed a dark shadow jumping on the bushes above his head.

"Did you see anything?" Shangluo asked everyone in the communication channel.

"Nothing." King Kong at the front immediately reported, "We have already reached the first check-in point. Nothing unusual was found. The werewolf next to him - oh, it was a werewolf, he didn't see anything either."

Schneider's typing speed is slower than a dog, so he lets the dog deliver messages on his behalf.

"I didn't see anything here either." Lu Huaiyang, who was a little behind, also replied, "We didn't seem to see anything strange. Shangluo, can you describe it in detail? What did you see?"

Chapter 1192 Dog bites dog

"It looks like a bird, but also like a crow?"

"It's a Heavenly Dog." Xu Fu said in a deep voice.

"Tiangou?" Shangluo asked, "I seem to have heard of this thing. But why is it called 'Tiangou'?"

He had seen the image of Tengu in many literary works. Specifically, it was more like a masked monster with a red face and a long nose, and it didn't look like a "dog" at all.

"It was indeed a dog, but..."

Before he finished speaking, Shangluo heard a series of reports: "Dog! There's a dog!"

King Kong shouted in the channel: "So many Tengu!"

"You saw it too? What did it look like?" Shangluo asked.

"It's a black-winged birdman with a red face and a long nose - but it's a dog! I can see it! Under this layer of skin, there is a dog! When the werewolf saw the tengu, he went up without saying a word! They are fighting each other! They are dog-eat-dog. No, I am also a dog. Anyway, the Dane Dog Team has already gone up, see you later."

The signals ahead started to get confusing. The Tengu and Dangou seemed to be fighting each other. A familiar wolf howl was heard ahead. It was Schneider who had joined the battle. A civil war between the canines in the spirit world had begun ahead.

Here, Fu Yuanshan, who was following beside him, also stood up suddenly. He used his hearing to capture the subtle disturbance in the surrounding air - a white gust of wind gathered with his gaze and cut off a series of branches in unison. The black shadow that was peering in the air was dispersed far away, leaving only the black crow feathers falling from the sky.

The crow feather fluttered down and was carried to Shangluo by a breeze.

"Shangluo, look at what this is." Fu Yuanshan handed the feather to Shangluo.

"This feels so familiar?" Shangluo held the feather - a familiar feeling came with it. The breath was full of the smell of mossy soil, the smell of pine wood in the mountains, the miasma and dew in the early morning, and a hint of wildness.

All these smells pointed to a group that was just around Shangluo: werewolves.

"So, they are werewolves?" Shangluo asked Xu Fu beside him.

"I don't know what you mean by 'werewolf'. But these tengu are indeed the spirits of the jungle."

"How did they come here? You just said they were dogs at first? Why did they become bird-like?"

"Let me correct you." Xu Fu replied, "Originally it was not an ordinary dog, but the appearance of a heavenly dog ​​- the heavenly dog ​​in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. But why it became like this? This is related to local folklore. In short, they believe that the 'heavenly dog' is a natural disaster. Whether it is wind, rain, thunder and lightning, or 'mountain disasters' caused by natural disasters or getting lost, they can all be regarded as 'heavenly dogs'. But you also know that the heavenly dog ​​does not exist here, right?"

"That's true." Shangluo nodded. "Tengu is a great monster in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. It is impossible for it to appear in such a remote place. So what is the Tengu here..."

"They were once human beings. They were originally monks who lived in the mountains. Because they understood the way of nature, they fell into the wilderness and became 'Tengu' who brought disasters on behalf of the mountains. They were taken away by their own fear and became what they are now."

"Then why didn't you say it?"

"The Tengu don't actively do evil; they're simply a natural phenomenon, like the mist in the mountains. While I was refining elixirs in these mountains, I never had any conflict with them. But for some reason, they've chosen to confront the imperial court. If so, they're doomed. Please feel free to treat them as they please; they're just some mountain spirits, nothing serious."

"That being said, there are too many of them." Shangluo looked around, and it seemed that countless eyes were watching in the darkness. Although it was not difficult to kill them one by one, Shangluo did not expect the locals to show such malice.

"Have we offended these monsters in any way?" Shangluo looked at the map. "Logically, we should just follow the route."

[Wait, Shangluo, could it be that you attracted these tengu because you followed the route? ]

"What do you mean?"

[I just checked the information - this kind of Tengu mainly exists in Shugendo, which is similar to a mountain path, where people traverse the landscape in the mountains to practice their own methods. And Tengu often appears on their path of practice to hinder their progress. Aren't you walking on this route now? ]

"Wait." Shangluo suddenly looked forward - because he heard a dog barking.

Dan Dog King Kong rolled and crawled back from the mountain road ahead, and even Schneider abandoned his dignity and rolled and crawled all the way back. Following behind them was the overwhelming black shadows. There were countless crow wings waving in the black shadows, more than locusts. The overwhelming Tengu rushed towards them, and even the places around them that had been dispersed earlier gathered black shadows again.

Two minutes later, they were back to where they were before going up the mountain.

King Kong sat there with his head down, blaming himself for retreating. Schneider looked even more lost, because running away in the middle of a fight was too embarrassing for him.

"Your Excellency the King of Rome, there are too many of them. They are everywhere!"

Schneider pointed awkwardly at the place they had just come from - and the overwhelming Tengu completely disappeared after they exited Kumano Mountain.

"So, the situation is very clear." Titus sent a message.

"Hmm?" Shangluo only then noticed that Titus did not come out with them. He was still in the mountains. "What's going on over there?"

"I walked ahead of the dogs, I hid myself, and I didn't find anything - it seems that this is the problem. This is a route that tests visitors. This area will conduct appropriate tests on all visitors. I did not participate in the ceremony, so the wilderness here did not test me. And everyone, it seems that since you are following the road, the 'test' will naturally come."

"You call this a test?" Shang Luo pointed to the place he had just left. "I feel like I'm going to go on a killing spree today. Are those overwhelming tengu that are as numerous as a plague of locusts suddenly refreshed?"

"Hmm," Titus thought for a moment, "I think this may have something to do with your strength. In fact, Lady Apollonia should also know that a Qigong practitioner like you, King of Rome, is as conspicuous as a light bulb in the spiritual world. This is still used to describe ordinary Qigong practitioners. When you reach the foundation-building stage, you are no longer a light bulb, but more like a flare. And there seem to be two more people among you."

[He means General Fu. Indeed, both of you are very conspicuous. In this case, it may be because your strength is too high that the wilderness here has given you a 'proper' test.]

"Ridiculous!" He took out the Dinghaishenzhen and smashed it to the ground. "Mountain gods and land gods, come out! You are so brave! Open your eyes and see who I really am! Is this a test for your grandfather?! If you don't come out, the big pit of New Antioch will be your fate! I'll count to three!"

Chapter 1193 Mountain God

Shangluo used the Dinghai Shenzhen to shake the earth - but he waited for a few seconds, and there was no warrior-looking mountain god to respond, nor was there a short old land man who came up while spinning in circles to listen to his orders.

[The local gods don't seem to follow the rules. What should I do? Drop a nuclear bomb?]

"." If they really wanted to drop a nuclear bomb, Shangluo would be a little hesitant - the things were still inside.

But the situation here is really weird. The mountain trail here seems to have an "adaptive" difficulty. Shangluo + Fu Yuanshan, two foundation-building stage players, plus a large number of Qi training stage players seem to have "adapted" to an extremely high-difficulty level. Just at the entrance, there are so many Tengu that can be the protagonist in a ghost story. I wonder what will appear if I walk inside.

"Wait a minute." He planned to seek the advice of a professional first.

Fu Yuanshan is right next to him.

"Mountain gods and land gods? Arrest spirits and dispatch generals? Your idea is correct." Fu Yuanshan agreed, "But logically speaking, it's not something you can just call out. You have to find the corresponding magic weapon--"

At this point, he was suddenly stunned: "Yes, you have the Dinghai Shenzhen. Dinghai Shenzhen was a magic weapon used by Dayu to control floods. No matter the mountain gods or land gods, they must obey the order and move away. You have a magic weapon in your hand to intimidate the mountain gods and land gods, why didn't the mountain gods and land gods here come out?"

"Are they tired of living?"

"Not necessarily. Wait, I'll come too. Although the methods are different, summoning spirits and sending generals is also the orthodox method of Taoism. Wait a minute, this requires talismans."