Xu Fu’s premonition was correct.
He was indeed about to face imminent disaster.
[To declare to the world that imperial power was divinely bestowed, showcase his supreme achievements, intimidate separatist forces across the land, and seek the immortality elixir, Qin Shi Huang embarked on his multiple eastern inspection tours.]
[Many significant historical events gradually unfolded during these journeys.]
[When The First Emperor reached Mount Tai during his eastern tour, he conducted a grand and solemn Feng and Shan ceremonies, demonstrating that the Mandate of Heaven belonged to him and proclaiming to the world that his rule had received cosmic approval.]
[Arriving at Langya Commandery during his eastern tour, the alchemist Xu Fu submitted a memorial, vividly describing how the elusive immortality elixir was hidden within the mystical islands like Penglai in the eastern seas.]
[Qin Shi Huang developed deep interest in this and subsequently dispatched Xu Fu to lead thousands of young boys and girls on their first maritime expedition in large ships to search for the legendary immortality elixir.]
[Not long after, Qin Shi Huang embarked on another eastern tour. While passing through Wave-Filtering Sand, danger suddenly emerged. Zhang Liang, a former noble of the fallen Han state harboring national and personal hatred toward the emperor, orchestrated a thrilling assassination attempt.]
[The strongman he hired attacked the emperor’s carriage with a giant iron hammer, but mistakenly struck a decoy carriage instead, allowing Shi Huang to escape unharmed.]
[Zhang Liang took advantage of the chaotic situation to successfully escape and disappear into the common populace.]
At this point, a flicker of excitement passed through Shi Jin’s eyes, [Everyone remember this Zhang Liang – he’ll be important later.]
[Not only did he attempt to assassinate Qin Shi Huang, but he later also tried to assassinate the Zhaosheng Emperor. Among history’s most famous assassination attempts, Zhang Liang accounts for two. Let’s just say – respect to the man!]
Ying Zheng: “?”
Fusu: “?”
Ying Qingyue: “?”
Zhang Liang hiding in an unknown corner: Hah, how does one manage to assassinate this Zhaosheng Emperor?
[As time passed without receiving news of Xu Fu returning with the immortality elixir, Qin Shi Huang subsequently dispatched multiple other alchemists including Lu Sheng and Hou Sheng, along with young boys and girls, to seek immortality and search for the longevity elixir.]
[This series of actions undoubtedly revealed Ying Zheng’s exceptionally strong obsession with achieving immortality.]
Ying Qingyue stood quietly in the side palace courtyard, the breeze stirring her moon-white skirt. Her originally serene expression suddenly tightened, her brows slightly furrowed as a barely concealed displeasure flashed through her eyes.
Her thoughts drifted back many years—
When Xu Fu first set sail, she was still a young princess with underdeveloped influence.
Barely maintaining her position through winning people’s favor, she had just begun accumulating power and developing her influence, let alone being able to stop that nation-draining quest for immortality.
This sense of powerlessness, revived by the sky screen after so many years, still weighed heavily on Ying Qingyue’s heart.
But now was different.
She was reluctant to alter established history too much, but she would never again allow a scoundrel like Xu Fu, who could potentially threaten China, to escape unscathed.
Meanwhile, Ying Zheng on the steps remained silent. The words “desire for immortality” from the sky screen wrapped around his heart like vines, tightening their grip.
Gazing toward the distant palace walls, his Adam’s apple unconsciously moved.
There was still so much he hadn’t accomplished.
The Xiongnu in the northern frontier still harassed the borders. Although Meng Tian’s Qin army had driven them out of the Hetao region, they hadn’t completely eliminated the threat.
The rammed earth of the Great Wall still stretched onward, with countless laborers continuing to build walls and guard frontiers in the bitter cold lands.
The lands of the Baiyue in Lingnan had just been pacified, yet the implementation of Qin laws and standardized measurements faced repeated resistance. The lingering separatist ambitions of the former nobles from the six states needed to be crushed one by one.
He longed to witness with his own eyes the courier roads of Great Qin connecting all directions, to see the unification of writing scripts and axle widths take root in every inch of the empire, and to ensure the foundation of Great Qin would truly endure for millennia.
But lately, his joints would inexplicably stiffen upon waking at dawn. After less than half a shichen reviewing memorials, darkness would cloud his vision—his vitality had clearly waned.
It was at this precise moment that the hour for Ying Zheng’s daily medicine arrived.
“Your Majesty, the newly refined pills from the alchemists are ready,” a eunuch whispered as he approached, presenting a gold-painted lacquer box containing two vermilion pellets.
Ying Zheng reached out to take them. The pills felt slightly heavy in his hand, emitting a pungent medicinal odor, yet they remained his sole reliance in battling aging.
Just as he prepared to consume them, the sky screen’s solemn voice resonated:
【As everyone knows, the alchemist pills consumed by Qin Shi Huang in his later years were no immortality elixirs. Their core components concealed lethal poisons.】
“Boom—”
As the words echoed, lines of stark text materialized across the sky screen, slicing through the pills’ deception like a sharp blade:
【The pills primarily contained cinnabar (mercury sulfide), sulfur, and saltpeter. Mercury is a highly toxic heavy metal—prolonged ingestion damages the liver, kidneys, and central nervous system, leading to limb tremors and mental confusion.】
【Sulfur and saltpeter, when metabolized in the body, can also cause gastrointestinal ulcers and organ failure.】
The moment the voice faded, the assembled officials dropped to their knees in terror.
Ying Zheng’s fingers clenched abruptly around the pills, crushing the vermilion pellets into powder that trickled through his fingers onto the bluestone floor.
He stood rigidly beside his carriage, pupils dilated in shock, his throat emitting ragged gasps.
The life-prolonging pills he consumed daily… were actually death warrants?
The hopes he placed in resisting aging… were all heart-rending poisons?!
“I… I have been deceived to such an extent by these sorcerers!” Ying Zheng roared, hurling the gold-painted medicine box to the ground. The bronze container shattered against the stone, sending debris flying as pill powder mingled with dust.
His chest heaved violently. The headaches that had briefly eased from the pills returned with vengeance, and visions of nights spent palpitating and sleepless after taking the medicine flooded his mind.
The discomforts he had once attributed to medicinal effects now revealed themselves as signs of severe poisoning.
“By my decree!” Ying Zheng’s voice thundered with suppressed fury, shaking dust from the hall beams,
“Arrest all alchemists in the palace! Investigate thoroughly every site involved in pill refinement! All implicated, regardless of rank, shall be imprisoned for trial!”
The eunuch scrambled to obey, and soon the sound of armored guards rushing echoed beyond the hall.
Li Si and Feng Quji kowtowed with heightened urgency. They understood this was not merely the Emperor venting rage—it was a decisive strike to sever the toxic source harming him.
Yet the truth unveiled by the sky screen had also shattered Ying Zheng’s final illusions of immortality.
In the days to come, this emperor would likely press forward with greater urgency toward his unfinished ambitions, burdened by anxiety over his mortality.
Meanwhile, beneath the corridors of Xianyang Palace’s side hall, Xu Fu clutched a bundle hastily retrieved from the alchemists’ quarters, scrambling in panic toward the palace gates.
When the sky screen had just exposed the toxicity of the elixir, he knew his “quest for immortality” deception could no longer be concealed. Once Shi Huang directed his wrath at him, death would be inevitable.
His only chance of survival was to seize this moment of chaos and flee the palace!