But just as he rounded the corner, he collided head-on with a squad of Qin soldiers holding long halberds. The glare from their armor under the corridor lanterns was dizzying.
The leading captain, his expression cold and stern, immediately seized Xu Fu’s wrist with an iron-like grip that left him immobile. “By His Majesty’s decree, you are summoned to an audience at once.”
Xu Fu’s heart sank, but he forced calmness as he struggled. “I… I still have elixirs to refine. Could you allow me…”
Before he could finish, the captain gestured for the soldiers to advance. Icy ropes instantly bound his arms, and his baggage slipped from his hand, scattering dried rations and broken silver across the ground.
“His Majesty is in a rage. It would be best if you did not delay, sir,” the captain’s voice was devoid of warmth as he escorted Xu Fu toward the Xuan Shi Hall.
Xu Fu’s legs grew weak as he saw the hall drawing nearer.
He had ultimately failed to escape. This deception born of the pursuit of immortality was finally going to face its reckoning before Ying Zheng.
The Qin soldiers escorted Xu Fu across the white jade steps outside the palace. The midday sun was scorching and harsh, heating the blue bricks underfoot and making the characters on the sky screen even more distinct.
Xu Fu hung his head, cold sweat trickling from his temples down his cheeks. After just a few steps forward, he saw the crowd gathered in the open space ahead part to form a pathway.
Ying Zheng’s Imperial Carriage stood in the center, a corner of its black curtain lifted by the wind. At that moment, the imperial physician Xia Wuqie was taking his pulse.
Xu Fu’s steps halted abruptly, his knees trembling uncontrollably. If not for the soldiers holding him up by his arms, he would have collapsed to his knees on the spot.
“Your Majesty, Xu Fu has been brought forward,” the captain reported in a deep voice, pushing Xu Fu ahead. The ministers and commoners who had been watching the sky screen, fearful of being implicated, stepped back several paces, leaving Xu Fu isolated in the center.
He stole a glance inside the carriage curtain, his heart tightening violently, and quickly lowered his head again, his voice trembling noticeably. “This… this guilty subject Xu Fu pays respects to Your Majesty…”
The carriage curtain was drawn aside by a eunuch, and Ying Zheng stepped down from the Imperial Carriage. His black dragon robe shimmered with subtle patterns in the sunlight.
He walked step by step to stand before Xu Fu, looking down at him with a gaze like frozen steel. “Xu Fu, where is the immortality elixir you promised?”
The words sent a chill through Xu Fu’s entire body. He opened his mouth, but no words of defense emerged.
The sky screen had already exposed all his lies. Any excuse he offered now would only make his deception more obvious.
Xu Fu’s lips quivered, his back drenched in cold sweat that clung uncomfortably to his skin. He dared not look up into Ying Zheng’s eyes, instead fixing his gaze desperately on the patterns of the blue bricks beneath his feet. His mind was in chaos; all the pre-prepared excuses about being obstructed on immortal islands and delays due to storms were stuck in his throat, not a single word able to come out.
The sky screen still hung overhead, its narration clearly reaching everyone’s ears:
[Xu Fu’s voyage in search of immortality was a fraud from the start. He was utterly incapable of finding the elixir of immortality, relying only on delays and lies to deceive Shi Huang…]
These words were like a knife, completely shattering Xu Fu’s last shred of hope.
Ying Zheng’s fingers slowly clenched into a fist, his knuckles turning white from the force. His voice carried a bone-chilling coldness: “You took thousands of young boys and girls, squandered endless provisions on your voyage, and upon your return, said nothing of the elixir…”
“Now that the sky screen has exposed the elixirs as poison and the quest for immortality as false, what do you have to say for yourself?”
As soon as these words fell, Xu Fu thudded to his knees, his kneecaps striking the blue bricks with a dull sound. He kowtowed repeatedly until blood seeped from his forehead: “Your Majesty, spare my life!”
“This subject was momentarily confused, deceived by illusions at sea, and mistakenly reported news of immortal islands!”
“I beg Your Majesty to grant me a chance to redeem myself!”
Ying Zheng looked at his pitiful pleas for mercy, showing not a trace of compassion in his eyes—only the fury and disappointment of being deceived.
“Take him to the dungeon! Investigate all accounts from his maritime expeditions thoroughly. Anyone found colluding and sharing spoils with him shall be severely punished without exception!”
Two Qin soldiers immediately stepped forward, dragging the limp Xu Fu toward the prison.
Struggling to look back, Xu Fu gazed at the emperor’s resolute figure, then at the sky screen still displaying scenes of the immortality scam, and finally understood.
His path to immortality, built upon lies, had ultimately crumbled completely under the sunlight and the sky screen’s revelation.
Meanwhile, Ying Qingyue quickly received news that Xu Fu and other alchemists had been imprisoned, their fates likely grim. Her suspicions eased slightly.
“Princess, the sky screen appeared so timely! We didn’t even need to lift a finger!” Qinghe exclaimed with visible excitement nearby.
Ying Qingyue had no objection to this.
Timely? Perhaps.
But could the world truly have such perfectly coincidental and timely occurrences?
Moreover, according to the sky screen: the sudden appearance of alchemists exposing Xu Fu was most likely her own doing, preventing his maritime expedition.
As for why Ying Qingyue didn’t intervene in the First Emperor’s elixir consumption? Naturally, even with the longest reach, she couldn’t extend it before her imperial father.
Thus, the helpless Ying Qingyue resolved:
After her father passes, she would thoroughly rectify this realm.
She would surely make her departed father immensely proud, allowing him to rest in peace.
Yes, exactly.
Right, just so.
This is precisely how things are!
Ying Qingyue lifted her gaze again toward the distant sky screen. Though it had now switched to new footage, her thoughts remained fixed on Xu Fu’s capture.
She knew that after this incident, her father would inevitably reorganize the court.
What she could do was quietly protect those truly serving Great Qin amid these changes, while solidifying her own foundation.
After all, the stability of this empire was her ultimate life’s goal.
【In 215 BCE, after enduring great hardships at sea, Lu Sheng still found no trace of the immortality elixir. He knew well that reporting truthfully would incur the First Emperor’s severe punishment.】
【To save himself, he fabricated a lie about encountering an immortal and receiving a celestial text, which boldly stated: “The one who will destroy Qin is Hu.”】
Hearing this, Ying Qingyue fell silent.
This casually invented prophecy by Lu Sheng had, in the established historical records of her previous life, truly become a self-fulfilling prediction.
Except that the “Hu” which ended Great Qin’s foundation was never the fierce northern Xiongnu, but her eighteenth brother Huhai, manipulated by Zhao Gao deep within the palace.
For a moment, she was utterly speechless…
【Lu Sheng cleverly used this prophecy to successfully shift the First Emperor’s attention from the failed elixir quest to defending against the northern Hu people, thereby temporarily preserving his own life.】
【After hearing this, the First Emperor deeply believed Lu Sheng’s prophecy, mistakenly assuming the “Hu” referred to the northern Xiongnu. This intensified his concerns about the northern border’s security.】
Ying Zheng stared at the characters on the sky screen, his brow furrowed deeply.
The Xiongnu from the north had long been harassing the border regions, and now with the prophecy of “Hu destroying Qin,” this threat at the frontier must be eliminated at all costs!
Yet it never crossed his mind that this “Hu” could refer to the “Hu” in his eighteenth son Huhai’s name.