Chapter 61: Lu Liang

"That grape juice tasted alright, but wasn't that Roman a bit too overly enthusiastic?"

Shang Luo savored the lingering taste. It was indeed exceptionally authentic, as it tasted very similar to the one he had drunk with Phaethon earlier. Phaethon was an honest man.

[That's just how Romans are, completely missing a screw in their heads. They blurt out whatever is on their minds right away.]

"But he actually has slaves? And photography slaves? Beverage slaves? Is this scientific?"

[Those are actually prisoners of war. Romans only capture prisoners of war to be slaves and gladiators, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that if you knew about the 'even' more interesting things happening in the grand mansions of Rome, you might feel that gouging out your own eyes would be the better choice. Although the Romans act foolishly like this, on a macro level, it is necessary—I mean maintaining Rome as it is, including its wildly extravagant lifestyle and slavery. Because only in this way can Constantinople’s 'Holy Deception' be sustained. So this isn't science, this is magic.]

"Holy Deception? What is that?"

[Uhm... Sorry, this is the only thing I cannot talk about. It's not that I want to keep secrets from you, but because once I say it out loud, a mark will be left in the Akashic Records, and that mark will shatter Constantinople's Holy Deception. I must ensure that nothing related to the Holy Deception enters the public domain, and I have also sworn an oath to the River Styx. That simple-minded Roman couldn't possibly know these things, because the moment even one more person knows, the Holy Deception would detonate instantly inside the Hagia Sophia.]

"A kind of memetic weapon?"

[I cannot say more, not a single word. However, that is one of Rome's three occult centers—Constantinople of Thaumaturgy, Alexandria of Alchemy, and Delphi of Astrology. Along with three secondary centers: Syracuse of Physics, the city of Rome itself for Sociology, and the ideal city that aggregates all 'practices': New Antioch in the Americas.]

"So... the guy just now was one-sixth of Rome?"

[That's right. The Roman you met appeared on the side of 'Thaumaturgy', and they are also the actual rulers of Rome. However, they themselves don't realize that this has been deliberately shaped; they seem to quite enjoy this decadent frenzy. From another perspective, when you go to Alexandria, you might just get to see a fixation on alchemy. And in New Antioch, you would witness the relentless engineering fanatics. They have ruthlessly cleaved themselves into six branch empires of three major and three minor doctrines, simultaneously making breakthroughs toward the six ultimate domains of knowledge, preventing the destruction of the entire empire should any single path lead to a dead end.]

"Then... if I woke that guy up just now, what would happen?"

[You mean shattering the Holy Deception on the side of Thaumaturgy? Something terrifying would happen; the Hagia Sophia would probably blow up directly. And it's not that easy to shatter anyway—you'd have to experience an epiphany on your own, and I can't tell you. At least not for now; right now, you should prepare to have an audience with the Taoist Ancestor. If possible, I also have some things I'd like to ask the old man.]

...

Raven Lane is located in a relatively secluded area of the Confucius Temple. Turning into a capillary-like narrow alley, he found the entrance of 16-2 according to the street sign.

As a zhanghu of the authentic fifth rank, Lu Huaiyang's residence looked quite imposing, actually occupying two grid plots with a homestead of 160 square meters.

Considering the land prices here, the garrison allotting two grids to him was indeed already outrageous.

However, although there were two plots of land, the house only occupied one plot, while the other side was empty, enclosed by a wall to form a courtyard. The front door opened on the side with the courtyard.

Shang Luo stood at the doorway, first leaning his spear diagonally to one side before ringing the doorbell—holding a weapon while ringing the doorbell seemed somewhat impolite.

"Ding-dong." He pressed the doorbell, and someone in the courtyard immediately replied:

"Who is it?"

It was a girl's voice, sounding about the same age as him.

Shang Luo remembered this was Lu Huaiyang's daughter, named Lu Liang, the one who kicks three times in one second.

"Ah... Is Commander Lu at home? He asked me to come over this morning."

"Shang Luo, right? My dad said you were coming, wait a moment."

The main gate opened from the inside. Lu Liang appeared behind the door. She was wearing only a form-fitting athletic tank top, with a long-sleeved athletic jacket tied casually around her waist. The ponytail bound on her head was somewhat messy, and a thin layer of sweat seeped across her forehead and shoulders. Her exposed shoulders revealed streamlined lines—muscles. Muscles that did not look exaggerated, but rather full and well-proportioned. She was obviously just working out; the white towel hanging around her neck was slightly damp.

Her legs were wrapped in sweatpants, obscuring their contours. But just looking at her upper body was enough to reveal the muscle mass hidden beneath her clothes.

As expected of the prowess that kicks three times in one second...

Shang Luo knew why Wen Yuan was always afraid of her.

"My dad went out temporarily; he said the imperial prison is temporarily interrogating those Mayans. I won't entertain you, go inside the main hall and sit by yourself, pour yourself a cup of water."

"Yes..." Shang Luo instinctively obeyed her command. Because those muscles were too persuasive, leaving him no mental capacity to think about anything else.

"Can I bring my stuff in, though? It's a weapon."

"A weapon? No problem, bring it in. You'd better take it into the inner room, there's no place to put it outside."

With the owner's permission, Shang Luo shouldered his long spear and stepped through the door.

"Yo!" Lu Liang took a step back. "Big spear boy? Which garrison? This spear is actually a cut short, a bit interesting. Want to cross three moves?"

Only then did Shang Luo realize that this was not a courtyard at all, but rather a martial arts practice ground. A row of weapon racks was placed directly facing the gate, with all kinds of long weapons lined up like scalpels. In front of the weapon racks were three wooden dummy posts, divided into upper, middle, and lower sections. Every wooden dummy post had been beaten to a glossy patina, and was practically glowing.

"No, no, no! I don't know martial arts! I really don't!"

"Really don't?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," Shang Luo nodded hastily.

Lu Liang didn't believe him, stepping forward to pinch his shoulders. Next came his upper arms, forearms, chest, ribs, all the way down to his waist—she pinched every single spot.

"Tsk, not having true qi is one thing, but you really haven't trained at all." She looked extremely disappointed. "Then please go inside."

Shang Luo walked inside in a daze and sat down, his mind completely blank.

"Too terrifying... Too terrifying..." He felt that Phaethon wasn't this horrifying. Because Phaethon gave people a stable feeling, but this girl always felt like she was stepping forward on her toes while walking, and wiping her sweat with her arms raised felt like she was striking an offensive posture. In every sense, a sense of distance simply did not exist with her.

[This girl... is amazing. There is only low-concentration phlogiston inside her body, but her strength level is already eligible to be selected for the Roman Praetorian Guard.]

"Are the Brocade Guards all monsters... Then what level is Wen Yuan?"

[Wen Yuan's strength is more internalized, very agile, but lacking such formidable muscular power.]

While they were talking, muffled thuds of the wooden dummy rang out from outside. Resembling gunfire, the three muffled thuds of the wooden dummy merged almost continuously into one. Three strikes, followed immediately by another three.

"This is that..." He quietly tiptoed to the door of the inner room, looking out from the inside. Lu Liang's stance was very compact, but her kicks were extremely fast. The three kicks targeted the lower, middle, and upper sections respectively, causing all three segments of the wooden dummy to start spinning almost simultaneously.

[She kicked four times... not three. She landed a double kick to the upper section. I take back what I said; she's no longer at the level to be selected for the Roman Praetorian Guard. She can go straight to being a centurion.]