Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"Is this also 'classic' from a Roman perspective?"

"I think so. This giant magic array that uses the land to cast spells can be compared to the arrays around Constantinople - the number of arrays here is just smaller. From a macro perspective, the scale is similar. Being able to use such a large array to achieve specific goals is indeed a powerful ancient magic."

"So what do you think about how this power works?"

Phaethon thought about it.

"Victoria, what do you think? You are the most useful person with the highest confidentiality level here - Shangluo has the same confidentiality level as you, but he knows nothing."

"So I'm useless, right? Forget it. Victoria, have you thought about it?"

"Ah? No, I'm socially phobic."

"Don't you like meetings very much?"

"That's different. I like meetings, that is, I like occasions where I am the main person. There are strangers here, I am not used to it, I have social anxiety, so I, forget it, I will come out. You open your pockets a little."

Although there were people all around her, the socially anxious Victoria still walked out of her familiar, spiritual environment.

The aftershocks had not yet subsided, and Victoria almost lost her balance. Shangluo quickly supported her from behind, while Phaethon directly held her arm.

"What's happened? Why are you so weak?" Phaethon asked in surprise.

"The leylines here are quite messy. My heart is beating wildly." She turned around and went back inside. No one around even noticed her. "I understand now. It's very clear now. There's no need to stay outside."

"So, what's the situation now?" Shangluo asked Victoria for her opinion. Her opinion was very valuable for reference, because in today's world where alchemy has declined, alchemy, which is "not far from the ancient times", is closer to the realm of alchemy.

"Xu Fu's arrangement here is very simple - he activated the earth veins by angering and imprisoning the earth gods here, and then channeled the overflowing earth vein power into his own factory."

"Is there such a way to fight? How can the virtual earth veins become real objects?"

"I think Xu Fu used some kind of material as a medium. In Rome, this choice is usually magical metals like gold, or directly using magical wine to drive it. Generally speaking, these substances can capture spiritual energy like sails and make it work. And here, did you notice that Xu Fu used a medium similar to the Dragon Palace? He even knew the Dragon Palace's tactics very well."

"You mean, mirage?"

"Or you could call it a demonic energy, depending on how you look at it. Making invisible things take shape seems to be the power of a demon. To be able to move a city, it must be a powerful demon."

"Yeah," Shangluo nodded. "Anyway, this is something that happened in the Dragon Palace. I guess this monster is probably related to the Dragon Palace. We don't need to worry about how the power is transformed over there. All we need to do here is cut off the pipeline."

The earthquake gradually subsided, like the surging sound of an engine just activated. This was the "retaliatory" expansion of the cut-off ley lines after they resumed normal operation.

"It's over. Another unexpected earthquake." The earthquake waves also spread far away. Lu Huaiyang complained in the communication channel, "Now it's even harder to tell when the next earthquake will hit Shangluo. In this case, will the man named Taira Masakado come out? The ground veins have indeed been repaired. However, the energy supply does not seem to be interrupted. So, why is this?"

He looked ahead - after the earthquake, there was still no movement in the shrine.

"It seems that Xu Fu has more than one layer of defense."

"But how do we do this?" Lu Huaiyang asked in surprise, "Do you know magic?"

"Don't worry, Captain Lu, I know what's going on here. I don't know any magic, but I do know one thing. There's no end to fighting those old guys. This is the truth I learned in Rome. Because those old guys, whose minds are full of magic, have traps one after another. Only by making them bleed can we solve the problem."

"Huh? What do you mean? You mean, we have to find someone to possess Taira Masakado before it comes out?"

"Of course we can, but we can use modern technology to skip the step of finding someone - at times like this, we can use convenient tools."

[Do you want to activate the lighthouse? I can help you call it. ]

"Not yet. Don't you just need something to rely on? Simple."

He searched in the package and found something that was everywhere - an automatic machine.

This is a two-legged automaton. Although it is exquisitely made, Shangluo has seen many of them now, but many of them have also been dismantled.

This is a blank, unactivated automaton, perfect as a puppet to house the "God of the Earth" of this place.

[Oh~~ You are quite smart. Summon the local earth god like this, and confine him inside, and then you can talk to him directly. But, how do you plan to do it specifically? ]

"It doesn't have to be that troublesome." Shang Luo drew his sword and cut off the automaton's head with one stroke. "If it was Taira Masakado, with the level of this vengeful spirit, he should know what to do."

Sure enough. Not far away, a human head flew over. This was the only body of Taira no Masakado buried here. Legend has it that he was beheaded in the west, but the resentment that surged into the sky caused his head to fly all the way to the east and fell here. The head flew around, this was Taira no Masakado's characteristic.

Chapter 1209 Beheading

After a brief conversation, the conversation ended.

He refuses.

"Hmm? What did he refuse?"

【He refused any form of cooperation.】

"Have you given him enough reason? I remember from history that he was a very active thinker."

[Yes, his mind is really active, and he thought for a long time - I accelerated it. In the short time just now, he actually gave him 2 hours to think. But in the end, he refused.]

"Why? I am confused." Shangluo asked, "If you convey my proposal, it should be a very favorable condition."

After discussing with Zhu Xianxi, Shangluo thought that since the current system can operate normally, it should not be tampered with. Japan is now in a state of isolation, which keeps it stable and does not cause trouble to others, so it should continue to maintain this state in the future.

Specifically, Shangluo's condition is no condition. He will confer Taira no Masakado as the King of Japan, and like Japan in the past, it only needs to fulfill symbolic feudal obligations and does not need to make substantial contributions to the entire empire. Similarly, they will not reap substantial benefits from the development of the empire.

As long as Taira no longer causes trouble for the empire, he can do as he pleases on his own land - this condition is equivalent to giving him a country for free, directly fulfilling Taira no Masakado's own long-cherished wish.

But he refused.

"So you told him about Xu Fu?"

[He refused because I made it clear - he refused for two reasons. First, it was unrighteous to abandon his fellow countrymen and make peace with the Tang alone. Second, it was disloyal to cooperate with the Tang to murder his creator Xu Fu. He could not do such a disloyal and unrighteous thing. He would rather die.]

"Very good, very energetic." Shangluo stood up from his chair. Phaethon beside him folded up his chair and stood beside him, holding it.

Taira Masakado was still sitting on another chair, with a thread connected to his body. This thread was his only channel to what happened in this world a thousand years ago.

As long as this thread is broken, no one will be able to understand what he says.

Shangluo stepped forward and pulled out the wire. After being injected with phlogiston, Taira no Masakado showed calmness. He calmly accepted everything now, but he was not surprised by the desolation of Edo. After all, Edo in history was originally such a wasteland.

As for the Tang people in front of him, he could also accept them smoothly. After all, when he was born, the Tang Dynasty had already declined, but he could only get delayed information while he was overseas. In his impression, the Tang Dynasty was still in its heyday, just as invincible as the powerful warrior standing in front of him now.

However, despite this, he, who had already died, had a different view on death - death did not seem to be a threat to him. After all, he was a vengeful spirit, and this condition was not something a vengeful spirit could accept.

"Since you think this is better, then I respect your choice. I have always been very open-minded." Shangluo reached into the magical pocket and took out a magical Tang sword after 3 seconds.

He threw the Tang sword onto Taira Masakado's knees - and the unwound constructed body actually started moving.

He regained his body. Taira Masakado's first step was shaky, but he stood up straight with the second step.

Shangluo also drew out the Emperor's Sword. There was no need for them to talk to each other, the mere fact of drawing out the sword was enough to make their meaning clear to each other.

However, to Taira no Masakado's surprise, after Shangluo drew the sword, he did not keep it himself, but gave it to Phaethon.

"Let me come?"

"His level is not worthy of my taking action. You come." Shangluo turned around and asked the imperial censors who had been watching from behind whether the Emperor's Sword could be allowed to be held by someone else.

The leading censor gave him a thumbs-up. Rather than Shangluo taking up arms and challenging the generals in a duel, sending his own generals was the correct choice. This was also why the emperor could trust Shangluo to represent his authority, because Shangluo was always more reliable than it appeared.

"Let me do it. Okay. But where did you get that knife just now? I don't remember you having any extra Tang swords."

"Guess?"

"." Phaethon was stunned for a moment, "Ah! It can't be that! Did you cast it on the spot?"

"You'll know after you try it."

"My goodness, how can you be both old and new? You know the rules of the emperor very well, and you can use the Roman technology that was just transmitted to you with ease. You really don't waste the things given to you."

"Of course. You'll definitely use it for me."

"But is the transmission bandwidth that high now? Can such a large sword be made so quickly?"

[Yes. I provided a little help. I accelerated the flow a little.]

"Okay." Phaethon tried the Emperor's Sword - it was an ordinary, ritual sword, but it was enough to deal with the automaton in front of him.

And if, as Shangluo said, the sword was made using "that" technology, then it must be very heavy, because its raw material is gold.

"It turned out to be the 'Sword of Principle' that was transformed from gold. If we didn't have a lot of gold reserves, I really wouldn't be willing to fight this thing."

Such a large volume means that Shangluo should have used about 5 kilograms of gold just now.

"Even if Victoria gave you a lot of gold, you can't just burn it like this."

"I'm just looking for the best solution. And it's quite convenient to solve the problem with money - and since he is so energetic, let's give him a grand funeral."

"Okay." Phaethon raised the Emperor's Sword and faced Taira no Masakado who was holding a knife.

The swords collided, and with just one move, Taira Masakado's head was cut off. The head flew up into the sky along with the blue will-o'-the-wisp, but the will-o'-the-wisp gradually died out, and the head turned into dust and dispersed in midair. The ownerless mechanical body fell straight down, and the sword was stuck in the ground.

"Tsk." Phaethon shook his head, put away the sword and handed it back to Shangluo.

"How does it feel?"

"The difference in power is too great. Although the resentment is heavy, it seems to be completely ineffective in front of the Emperor's Sword. So although his sword skills are good - you can see it in one round, but because of the difference in power, he still can't stop my casual sword. Here, I return the sword to you."

"Thank you, well done." Shangluo put away the Emperor's Sword and walked towards the Tang sword stuck on the ground.

"General Ping, how do you feel now?"

[He can no longer speak. You just used its story as the basis and gold as the material to transform this sword. Now, this sword is him, and he is this sword. The sword cannot speak.]

Chapter 1210 Seal

“The vengeful spirit should be sealed inside the knife.” Shangluo grasped the blade - it fits the knife very well.

[He doesn't want to be decent, so you help him be decent.]

"That's right." Shangluo nodded and said, "This is the most decent way. He doesn't want to be a decent king of Japan, so I will make a sword to be the king of Japan - the sword can't talk, which is great. If it can't talk, it won't make mistakes, and if it doesn't make mistakes, it won't cause trouble to the court. His death like this will be more than his achievements in his entire life~~"

After saying this, he temporarily put the knife in his waist and took out the imperial edict from the censor - because Shangluo said he wanted to confer the title of King of Japan, the censor had prepared all the documents.

"How to write this?"

"We have already filled it out before we came. Shangluo, you just need to fill in your name - hey, what was that name just now?"

"Taira Masakado."

"Why does it sound familiar? Are they from the same family as Hideyoshi and Heiwa?"

"The one with Taira Hideyoshi is a fake. This one is a real member of the Taira clan."

"I see. But I heard that Japanese names are distinguished by surnames. Let's not talk about their own rules. We believe that the Tokugawa family's surname is Minamoto, which is their clan. Their surname is Tokugawa. We also write "King of Japan Minamoto Ieyasu" on documents. So what do you mean by Taira Masakado? And Masakado sounds like a title."

"If that's the case, Taira Masakado should just be written as Taira Masakado. Although Masakado sounds like a title, it is indeed his name. Taira is the same surname as Minamoto."

"This Taira no Masakado is really sensible! He even got the format of his name right. It's really heartwarming. It's a pity that such a good name was given to such a stubborn person. However, I still like him. He has a strong character." The censor in charge of recording sighed, "This person has some loyalty and righteousness in his heart. He is actually a virtuous person."

"Indeed, there are some." Shangluo took the imperial edict and wrote on Phaethon's back, "If he wasn't so stubborn, maybe we could have more conversations later - but, after all, he is a 1000-year-old vengeful spirit, and the generation gap is too deep. This kind of person actually has an ancient style like the pre-Qin Dynasty."

As he spoke, he had already finished writing.

"Look, is this done?"

The leading censor took the imperial edict and looked at it - and looked at it again.

"Shangluo, the word '将' is not right, it should be '将'. You wrote '门' as '门'. Why do you write like a high school student? That's how kids write when they're lazy while taking notes."

"What a coincidence! This is a genuine high school student." Phaethon stood up and stretched his muscles.

"This handwriting is really..." Everyone looked at each other, "It's really fashionable, very stylish, and full of the spirit of young people."

"But you still have some basic calligraphy skills!" Someone suddenly emphasized, "Such a youthful font is written in a vigorous and powerful way. Shangluo, you have a lot of personality."

These people said overtly or covertly that his handwriting was like that of a spirited young man. Shangluo didn't know whether they were being sarcastic or trying to make up for him.

“So, there’s nothing wrong with writing it this way, right?”

"No problem, of course no problem. Whether the test paper is written correctly depends on the examiner. But whether the imperial edict is written correctly depends on you. Anyway, if it is written wrong, it is just a homophone - so, you just stamp it again and it will be completely effective. Yes, just change it like this. This is the process of the imperial edict."

"Does it not need to be sent to Fengtian Hall for discussion?"

"No. This is not an internal affair, so it has nothing to do with the six ministries. It is the business of the Nine Ministers, and the Nine Ministers do not hold meetings. They only listen to the emperor. If the emperor authorizes it, then it is done. Now, Taira no Masakado is the king of Japan, in the form of a sword."

Before he finished speaking, Shangluo's phone rang. It was a familiar number.

"Hey, Brother? Are you out of retreat?"

"Almost, there is still some time, I am taking a bath"

"Bath? What bath?"