Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"So, let's be frank. What do you want?"

"I want to fulfill my promise." Xu Fu said, "I got what you wanted."

Bending down, he took the silver box from Jade Rabbit's hand and said, "What's in here is the elixir of life you want. This is the immortality you want."

"." Shangluo looked up at the sky, which was full of stars. "It is said that the First Emperor used gold and silver to inlay the starry sky and used mercury to pave the rivers in his underground palace. This is the immortality that the First Emperor wanted."

"Here, you can have whatever you want and stay as long as you want. The years in heaven are like the rivers on earth, frozen in place. All the joys of heaven and earth can be enjoyed here endlessly. Shangluo, what else do you want? You can become the god of this world. As long as you take this elixir, everything here will be yours. Or as you said, you can play creative mode here!"

"So, can I leave?"

"Of course, you can leave at any time, even now. But I can't find any reason for you not to take the elixir - shouldn't this be the supreme bliss? All wishes in the world can be fulfilled here. Isn't this Penglai fairyland happier than Kunlun?"

"Sorry, I refuse."

"Why? Why do you refuse to become a god?"

"Need I say this? I can become a god myself if I want to. Why do I need you to seal me?! I can do whatever I want outside. I can realize all my wishes outside. I don't need you to help me realize them. Uncle, times have changed! Your system is indeed very tempting to mortals, and the creative mode is indeed fun. But I can play the creative mode in the official server. Why should I play your private server?"

"Good, good." Xu Fu applauded, "You really leave me speechless."

"So can I go now, uncle?" Shangluo took the silver box handed to him by Yutu.

"Why, you want to take it away?"

"You said it, it was promised to me, and you said I could take it with me whenever I wanted. So I can take it away to study it, right? Although I don't want to eat it, there are still people who want to eat it."

"Do you think so?" Xu Fu stretched out his hand and opened a door from the void. "Please come in, Lord Shang Tian. This time, I lost and you passed."

"you sure?"

"I'm sure. Take your pill and leave my wonderland."

"So, where is this place?" When I walked out of the door, there was no sunshine and earth outside, but rows and rows of various doors.

"Hey! Xu Fu, how do I get to the back?" He turned around suddenly, but Xu Fu behind him had already closed the door:

"I don't have time to deal with you. You guys are the most annoying group I've ever led. How come that guy who split into three is even more annoying than you? What's wrong with the young people nowadays? Why don't they want the great blessing? Shangluo, there is always a door that belongs to you, open it yourself!"

"you."

"Also, don't open other people's doors casually! That's someone else's territory. Especially, don't open the door to the [Eternal Life Palace]. Don't blame me for not reminding you. Go back to where you came from."

"So which one is the Hall of Eternal Life?"

Chapter 1227 Underwater Palace

"Even though he said that, which one is 'my door'?!"

Countless doors, from ancient times to the present, were neatly arranged in front of him. When he looked back, the white palace door had disappeared without a trace, overlapping with the countless doors of various shapes and sizes.

"He has quite a few users here!" Shangluo looked around - he couldn't even count how many doors there were.

[So, which one is yours? He lets you find it yourself, but doesn't let you open other people's doors? What does that mean? Is your door the most conspicuous among so many doors?]

"Is it that conspicuous? Never mind, let's open one and try."

[Do you open the blind box? ? ? ]

"He didn't tell me which one was mine, so don't blame me if he opened someone else's."

[You actually want to see what's inside the door, right?]

"Well, anyway, let's open one and see. I won't open it randomly, I'll open the most reliable one." He looked around.

There is a door with two red columns supporting a horizontal beam, and the column heads are dyed black. According to the Song Dynasty system, this is the Wutou door used by officials above the sixth rank in their homes.

“This should be mine, right?”

[Are you an official of the sixth rank or above? Does this door look like yours? ]

"I think I am - mainly because this door seems to have some meaning, as if there is some secret inside. Anyway, I won't act anymore, I just want to see it. It was Xu Fu who made the mistake first, he didn't point the way clearly, so it's reasonable for me to go to the wrong door, right?"

He really wanted to see what was inside these doors. After all, Xu Fu had been urging him to eat one pill just now. Although after Shang Luo refused, Xu Fu did not continue to persuade him, but just angrily stuffed the pill into his mouth and asked him to leave. But Shang Luo really wanted to see what he would become after eating it.

The most perfect person does not have dreams, his dreams are about traveling to the immortal world. The real person does not sleep, sleep is just floating clouds and smoke.

Although he didn't want to eat it, he had to admit that this thing was really tempting to outsiders - after all, it was indeed a real elixir of immortality. This medicine could really allow people to escape from the mortal body and travel proudly into the void.

And behind this door is the real area belonging to the Penglai fairyland.

Shangluo pushed open the Wutou door from the Song Dynasty and walked in.

The evening light shone obliquely into the courtyard and onto the corridor. A moon rabbit in red clothes was walking lightly in the corridor. The sound of wind chimes and the evening breeze drifted to my ears, and the sound of drums and harps came from not far away.

[Hmm? Why doesn’t this place look like the style of Kinai?]

"After all, this is still Japan, so I guess there are many clients of Xu Fu. But it seems that this place is not as plain as it looks."

Shangluo could see that the palace on the left was filled with colorful brocades. There were embroidered brocades, flower-studded brocades, and all kinds of colors. There were also porcelain vases—one person tall, weighed in the palm of your hand, with Ru kiln sky-blue and Jun kiln iridescent vases, all piled up there.

At the end of the corridor, where the sound of drums and music came from, there was a hall emitting faint light.

[Hey, Shangluo, look up at the sky. ]

"Hmm?" Shangluo raised his head. The sky was not the sky, but the sparkling sea. The sunlight swayed with the waves of the sea, and the sunlight under the water was even more colorful.

"Is this under the sea? But I seem to be able to breathe normally. There is such a palace under the sea?"

He was looking up when he heard hurried footsteps in front of him.

"Oh! Are you a guest from the Song Kingdom? Come in and have a seat! The Prime Minister is waiting for you! The Prime Minister has been waiting for you!"

"Prime Minister?" Shang Luo looked up at the bottom of the sea. "Ah! So this is his territory."

【Who? 】

"Taira no Kiyomori. This is his underwater imperial capital."

Monks in purple brocade robes sat in the hall, accompanied by the most regal officials, each draped in dazzling brocade and holding wine cups from famous Song Dynasty kilns.

Although he is a monk, he does everything.

Seeing Shangluo coming, the monk stood up. "A guest from Song! Come, come, please sit down."

He raised his cup and motioned Shangluo to sit next to him.

Shangluo walked in and sat down next to him.

[Taira no Kiyomori? Who is this? ]

"Around the 12th century, the leader of the Taira clan was a prime minister in Japan. He accumulated a huge amount of wealth through trade with the Song Dynasty and maintained good personal relationships with many officials along the coast of the Song Dynasty. The wealth gained through trade made the Taira clan extremely prosperous. However, after the death of Taira no Kiyomori, the Taira clan disappeared like dew - in the Genpei War, the Minamoto clan killed them all the way from Kamakura. The Minamoto clan had a man named Minamoto no Yoshitsune who made a name for himself in the war like a god of war."

[So they are all finished?]

"Well, in the final battle, the Heike took the King of Wa and the three sacred treasures and confronted Minamoto no Yoshitsune on the sea. Minamoto no Yoshitsune was a man of no moral integrity. He shot and killed the non-combatants, then jumped on the boats and overturned eight boats by himself. The Heike did not surrender in the end, but jumped into the sea with the three sacred treasures and the young King of Wa who was only 8 years old. Their last words were: Under the sea, there is also the imperial capital."

【Ah this.】

"Come, come, come!" Taira no Kiyomori raised his glass, "He is a guest from the Song Dynasty."

"Yeah." Shangluo also raised his glass, but didn't drink it.

"Song Dynasty, how are you these days? Actually, I've said long ago that one day I would build a big ship like the ones in Song Dynasty, bring my family property to Song Dynasty, buy land, and become a citizen of Song Dynasty."

“Actually, you can also live in the next life.”

"I don't talk about afterlife. I want to be a Song Dynasty man in this life. You know, I built an artificial island in deep water so that the Song Dynasty's giant ships can dock directly at the port. The sea god didn't want me to do that, so he used the waves to destroy it. I sank 200 ships in one breath as a foundation, and sacrificed 49 virgins to the Dragon Palace, and only then did the waves calm down. I have correspondence with the brother of your Song Dynasty emperor, and he is really a good man! He gave me many calligraphy and paintings."

"Ah yes."

[That's true. I looked through the history books and found that he and the governor of Mingzhou were pen pals. This guy is an avid Song fan.]

"I say, Prime Minister Ping," Shangluo asked, "Do you know how to get out?"

"Are you leaving now?"

"I want to go back to my country. Coming here was an accident. How can I go back?"

"Easy! This is easy. I built a big merchant ship, carrying gold and silver and is about to cross the East China Sea. The big ship is..." He looked around and looked up:

"Eh? Why is my big ship in the sky? Could it be that I am at the bottom of the sea?"

Suddenly, something seemed to break, and the sky suddenly darkened. A drop of water fell down.

"Oh, sorry!! Sorry!" Shangluo stood up quickly, "Excuse me! I'll talk to you next time!"

——He slammed the door shut, blocking the seawater rushing in. Shangluo breathed a sigh of relief.

[That’s why I told you not to go in there! He was dreaming peacefully in there, but you made him think about when he could leave.]

"It shouldn't be a problem." He turned around and opened the door a crack again. When he opened it the second time, everything inside was the same as before, as if what happened just now had never happened.

"It's okay. It's okay." He closed the door with confidence, "I'll open something else."

[Don't open it randomly! They are sleeping, don't disturb them! Open a more reliable one! ]

Chapter 1228 Taira no Kiyomori's Choice

【Aren’t you going back? 】

"No. Since it's confirmed that this can be driven, I'll go in and ask for directions."

Shangluo opened the door of Taira no Kiyomori again and walked back along the same path - it was still the same dusk, the same underwater "imperial capital". But this time there was no sound of drums and music, and the only person sitting in the hall was the old monk in purple robes: Taira no Kiyomori, known as Prime Minister Ping.

"Sir, you are back indeed."

Yangzhou gold, Jingzhou pearls, Wujun silk, Shujiang brocade, seven treasures and ten thousand treasures are all in the palace - Ping Qingsheng's palace is full of treasures bought from the Song Dynasty. Some of them were given by others, and he had a good personal relationship with Zhao Bogui, the governor of Mingzhou.

On the one hand, Taira no Kiyomori slaughtered his political enemies in the court and arbitrarily deposed and enthroned kings in the arrogant style of the Taira clan. On the other hand, he also carried out large-scale construction projects, building docks and buildings for the giant ships visiting from the Song Dynasty.

Taira no Kiyomori, who had lived a life of great glory during his lifetime, sat in the underwater imperial capital after his defeat.

"Excuse me for what happened just now." Shang Luo nodded slightly. Towards such a person who wanted to be king, no matter how violent the other party was in his own country, Shang Luo still tried his best to be polite.

He had treated the North Koreans in school the same way before. He was not unaware that North Korea maintained a high-pressure rule in the country, using flesh and blood to squeeze efficiency for the entire empire. It is human nature to pity other living things, but whether to help outsiders with actual actions is another matter.

[But you have never considered the barbarians as human beings, right?]

"I didn't think so. I just didn't think there was any need to save them. I was just respecting the fate they chose, just like Taira no Kiyomori chose the Song Dynasty."

Ping Qingsheng, whose dream was disturbed, had already woken up a little. He motioned Shangluo to sit closer:

"It's okay. It's better to be one-third drunk and seven-thirds sober. Sir, please sit down first."

A seat was reserved at the side, and Shangluo sat next to him as a guest.

There was a faint noise coming from afar - looking out from Taira no Kiyomori's seat, he could see a large army fighting on the water. The ships of both sides were pressing down on the sea, and dead bodies and swords were falling one after another. The sea water was being dyed red by blood from top to bottom.

"Sir, from the Song Dynasty, how did the Heike clan fall?"

"Because you didn't recharge enough money. As long as you recharge enough money and invite the heavenly soldiers, the situation here will naturally be resolved."

"I send more than a hundred ships of gold and silver to the Song Dynasty every year. Isn't that enough? Could it be that I still don't have any blessings?"

"Hmm," Shangluo looked around, "I think this is your blessing."

In this "Imperial Capital" under the water, Taira no Kiyomori could still enjoy the glory of his life. The battle of the destruction of the Taira clan that kept repeating above his head was just his entertainment. The "Sea of ​​Heaven" was usually a calm sea with large ships passing by like water birds.

"Want something to drink?"

A moon rabbit came up with a golden vase and a golden cup.

"Not yet. I just have a question to ask: I say, Prime Minister Ping of Japan, how did you get here?"

"It's the Moon Rabbit."

Even heroes who have spent their lives in battle must face their end, and Taira no Kiyomori's was particularly sudden. At the end of February 1182, he fell ill with a sudden high fever. During the five days he lay bedridden, he was plagued by hallucinations—the countless enemies he had slain, including those sunk to the bottom of the sea, appeared before his eyes.

Taira no Kiyomori's death was not a peaceful one. He struggled through his final moments, trembling and twitching from a high fever. It's said that the mountain spring water used to cool him down quickly heated to lukewarm water by his body heat. Furthermore, if water was poured directly over his head to cool him down, it would evaporate and emit black smoke that filled the room.

People said that he went to the scorching hell because he amassed wealth and was burned by the fierce fire of Avici.

"According to common sense, Your Excellency should have died in the process. This doesn't look like 'ascension' at all."

"I don't have such a memory. I remember it was the first year of Yanghe. Oh no, it was the end of February in the ninth year of Chunxi in the Song Dynasty. At that time, I burned down the Buddhist temple and was cursed by the monks. I was very depressed. In order to relax, I went hunting in the mountains. As a result, I suddenly encountered the Moon Rabbit. He praised my act of destroying Buddhism and also praised my respect for the Song Dynasty. He said that he should die on that day, but he was willing to give me a Penglai elixir."

"Then you ate it?" Shangluo asked.

"How could I possibly take medicine of unknown origin? It was only shortly after Moon Rabbit left that a Tengu came to snatch my medicine. Only then did I believe it 80%. I didn't want to hand over the medicine, so I took it on the spot - and when I opened my eyes again, I was here. I don't know what happened next."