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Chapter 333: Da Qin Emperor's National Seal

Luoyang ignored the playful interaction between the living person and the ghostly creature, diligently striking her sword countless times. When the Tai'a sword tilted and hovered in a strange posture, the light in the cave suddenly dimmed. Only then did Xu Fengnian realize that the "starlight" filling the chamber was created by a single ray, repeatedly refracted by glass mirrors, making the cave as bright as day. Luoyang's meticulous approach, with an insight on a grand scale and a technique clearly at the pinnacle of the Zhixuan realm, caused a shadow to fall over Xu Fengnian's heart. The ghostly creature also ceased its movements. Luoyang waved her sleeve, and besides the Tai'a sword, she returned a flying sword to Xu Fengnian. She approached a bronze door engraved with countless ancient Qin-style small seal characters, with two distinct seals, one yin and one yang, each occupying half. Xu Fengnian walked to the door, touched it, and muttered to himself, "These are two books by the Left Minister of the Great Qin Empire: one 'Book of Kingship' and one 'Book of Hegemony.' They each expound on the Way of Kingship and the Way of Hegemony. However, only fragmented passages survive in later generations. The Tide-Listening Tower only has a little over three hundred characters, but every character is a pearl of wisdom."

Luoyang asked, "Do you recognize the content of these two books?"

Xu Fengnian did not directly answer the demoness. Instead, he was lost in thought, grinning as he said, "Li Yishan forced me to learn the Great Qin small seal script. After I return to Northern Liang, if Master knows I've memorized the complete 'Books of Kingship and Hegemony,' he'll be overjoyed. I guarantee he'll demand another half-jin of Green Ant Wine from me."

Luoyang did not bicker with Xu Fengnian and remained silent. The four-armed ghostly creature, freed from the thunder pool's restraint, swayed as it leisurely wandered outside the door. Although Xu Fengnian possessed an almost photographic memory, he read and recited both books to deepen his recollection. Afterward, he closed his eyes and silently recited them once more, committing them to memory. After completing all this, he looked back at the white-clad demoness. Seeing that she remained motionless, he bared his teeth and asked, "Aren't you going to make your move? Didn't you say you needed to 'borrow a life' to open the door? Remember to return it to me."

Luoyang calmly replied, "I only know that the blood of a royal descendant or orphan is needed as a key. How exactly to open the bronze door, I am not clear."

Xu Fengnian asked, "You knew nothing, yet you dared to trespass into the Qin Imperial Mausoleum?"

Luoyang stated matter-of-factly, "It is a gift bestowed by Heaven's will; not taking it would be a sin."

Xu Fengnian knew he couldn't rely on her and began to explore the secret of the bronze door on his own. After a while, Luoyang nonchalantly dropped a statement: "Your flying sword can only hold out for another stick of incense's time. The starry sky on the cave ceiling has completely reversed, and the mechanism has been triggered. At that time, I will kill you and splatter your blood on the bronze door."

Xu Fengnian replied with a chilling smile, "I must have accumulated eight lifetimes of bad luck to run into you."

To his surprise, Luoyang nodded and smiled, "The feeling is mutual."

Xu Fengnian's expression instantly brightened. "Heh, I tend to speak without thinking. You, on the other hand, shouldn't take it to heart."

Luoyang exposed his pretense with a mocking tone, saying, "Even facing death, you refuse to speak a few words of truth. Your life has been truly miserable. Do all the princely heirs of your Liyang Dynasty live such wretched lives?"

Xu Fengnian no longer paid attention to Luoyang, his expression grim as he looked at the bronze door. Thanks to Li Yishan's strict scholarly training back then, Xu Fengnian was not unfamiliar with this ancient Qin small seal script. Furthermore, during his last trip to Jiangnan Dao, he had heard a discussion on kingship and hegemony during a winding stream party. It could be said that most of the debates among later generations originated from these two books, and they could be mutually corroborated whether one followed the prevailing thought or challenged it. While Xu Fengnian was frantic, he also heard Luoyang making sarcastic remarks, reminding him he only had half a stick of incense's time left to live. Xu Fengnian recalled the method used by "White Fox Face" to open the bottom floor of the Tide-Listening Tower. Gritting his teeth, he decided to stake everything. He leaped up, sliced his palm with his finger, and blood streamed out. He then pressed and traced a total of nine characters onto the two bronze doors – five yang characters and four yin characters. He waited quietly for a moment, but the bronze door remained unmoving. Without needing to turn, Xu Fengnian knew the Tai'a sword was trembling in the air. These nine characters were miswritten characters he had deduced, which did not align with the original meaning of the text. If even one character was wrong, he would lose his life here.

Luoyang was clearly in a bad mood, yet she didn't forget to ridicule the Northern Liang heir. "Tsk tsk," she tutted, "try spilling a few more pounds of blood, don't be stingy."

Without a word, Xu Fengnian sliced open his other palm. Just as he was about to let the blood flow into the grooves, the two bronze doors creaked, slowly revealing a strange phenomenon before their astonished eyes.

The bronze door on the left, bearing the yang-character seal of the Book of Kingship, glowed red like the rising sun. The bronze door on the right, bearing the yin inscription of the Book of Hegemony, turned dark blue like a starless, moonless night sky. The six thousand characters from both books began to shift and rearrange, flowing like water. The two bronze doors, each three people tall, eventually transformed and shrank into two human-height objects. Even with Luoyang's temperament and vast experience, she wore an expression of intrigued surprise, which clearly showed how bizarre and rare the objects before them were.

One was a vibrant red dragon armor.The other, a dark blue python robe.

Red leaves fall as the fire dragon sheds its scales; green pines wither as the strange python bares its fangs.

Xu Fengnian subconsciously murmured, "Left dragon, right serpent—they've been in opposition for a full eight hundred years."

Luoyang narrowed her eyes. "The red armor is mine. Considering your efforts, even if not a direct contribution, the blue armor is yours."

Xu Fengnian didn't stand on ceremony, happily saying, "No problem. I'll give this to Xu Xiao later. This general's armor will be incredibly imposing."

Luoyang acquired the fire dragon armor for no apparent reason, but instead of taking it or wearing it herself, she had the ghostly creature wear it. The creature, nicknamed "Little Infant," seemed to be wary of the capabilities of the "Princess Tomb's Grand Intention." Without needing a command, just a chilling glance from Luoyang was enough for it to voluntarily put on the strange armor. It was said to be put on, but in truth, as soon as one of the creature's arms touched the dragon armor, the red armor responded like a sentient being, flowing over its body like water, then seeming to solidify like ice, encasing it. However, the dragon armor emitted an extreme yang aura, naturally clashing with the yin creature. Flames swirled, burning fiercely, causing even the pain-impervious creature to emit a series of shrill screeches as its four arms desperately tried to tear off the red armor. Luoyang watched coldly, but Xu Fengnian, fearing the creature would destroy itself along with the valuable dragon armor, cautiously reached out a hand. Perhaps because the dragon armor itself had received the benefit of his blood, the yang fire suddenly extinguished, and it became as docile as a young woman seeing her own man. Only then did the ghostly creature quiet down. Xu Fengnian tentatively withdrew his finger, and the flames immediately flared up intensely, like a furnace. Only when Xu Fengnian placed his hand back on the fire armor did the furnace stop. After repeating this verification several times, Xu Fengnian confirmed that the fire armor truly obeyed him. After a moment of hesitation, he decided not to let the creature be burned alive inside the armor. He first peeled off the red armor for it. Only then did Xu Fengnian put on the dark blue python robe. The armor looked heavy, but once worn, it felt as light as a feather, chillingly refreshing, and soothing to the mind and body. Closing his eyes, he could clearly feel a mysterious qi circulating within him. He had only ever heard of "blood drops for kinship verification," but never "blood drops for armor recognition."

Luoyang reached out and touched the fire dragon armor. When she put it on, the flames burned even more intensely than when the creature wore it. The flames, like red dragons, stretched over a zhang long, swirling and dancing, sending heat waves in all directions. Xu Fengnian felt a pang of pain just by watching. However, Luoyang's expression remained calm, and Xu Fengnian couldn't help but admire the demoness's profound internal power.

After the bronze doors disappeared, their view naturally widened.

A path appeared before them.

Terra cotta figures lined the path, their weapons poised.

At a glance, the path seemed endless.

Luoyang went first, with Xu Fengnian and the ghostly creature following. It was only after counting over three hundred terra cotta warriors on either side of the path that they saw its end. Atop a flight of nine steps sat a dragon throne, on which rested a withered, pale skeleton.

Was this the only Great Qin Emperor in history who unified the realm?!

The steps numbered nine, and on each step stood a warrior leaning on a sword with both hands. The lower seven steps featured stone terra cotta figures, but the bronze armors on the left and right sides of the eighth step contained real human remains.

Xu Fengnian had no particular fondness for emperors, nor did he feel much awe, given that no fewer than six emperors, great and small, had directly or indirectly died by his father Xu Xiao's hand. However, facing this Great Qin Emperor, Xu Fengnian still felt an indescribable emotion. Nowadays, powerful ministers' authority is described as "below one person, above ten thousand." Yet, in the court of this pioneering emperor, judging from fragmented historical records, there was no such thing as a powerful minister. Even the Left Minister could only serve diligently and tremble under the emperor's gaze, still meeting the pathetic end of "when the cunning hare is killed, the hunting dog is cooked." In the Great Qin Empire, the Right Minister always led the military, and the Left Minister governed the state. The Right Minister died even earlier and more tragically than the one who wrote the Books of Kingship and Hegemony. Xu Fengnian sighed. For the Xu family to have endured until today, how light could the burden on Xu Xiao's shoulders be? Northern Liang has a million households, but how many now remember the kindness of this "Butcher"? In Zhang Julu's grand political strategy, Northern Liang's greatest function was merely to exhaust Northern Mang's national strength, nothing more. The Yan Chiji family, who fled into the capital, were clear proof. Yet, the unfortunate truth was that Northern Liang could not call Old Master Yan an ungrateful wretch, and who in the court or among the common people wouldn't praise this Northern Liang scholar, now a newly-minted imperial relative, for his statesmanship?

Xu Fengnian sighed repeatedly. Coming back to his senses, he saw Luoyang in her red armor stepping onto the platform, walking towards the dragon throne. With a flick of her sleeve, she sent the skull of the skeleton, which was very likely the Great Qin Emperor's, flying. The sight sent shivers down Xu Fengnian's spine. He thought, "Even if you are the greatest demoness in the world, you should at least show some reverence for the ancients. The one you just 'whipped the corpse' of was the Son of Heaven of Great Qin!" The white-clad woman, with her back to Xu Fengnian and the ghostly creature, had a grim look in her eyes as she stared at a National Suppressing Tally on the skeleton's knee. It was clear that even in death, the Great Qin Emperor wished to wield power over the world in the afterlife. Luoyang bent down, seized the tiger tally, and pulled out a pre-prepared strand of golden thread. She threaded it through a hole and hung it at her waist. As she performed this action, the two armored general skeletons on the eighth step stiffly drew their great swords and turned to kneel.

These mechanical puppets, designed eight hundred years ago, still functioned, much like the Thunder Pool of Heshan. The ingenuity of the Mohist School was truly uncanny.

Xu Fengnian looked at the palm-sized tiger tally hanging from Luoyang's waist, feeling a touch of envy.

Luoyang looked down from her elevated position, seeing through his thoughts, and sneered, "As long as it's touched by a bit of purple-gold qi, it can open the bronze door; that's not rare. But for this National Suppressing Tally, in eight hundred years, I am truly the only one who can touch it and not die. If you don't believe me, why don't you try?"

Xu Fengnian waved his hand, "No thanks."

Luoyang looked down at the National Suppressing Tally, still imbued with destiny, then glanced at the headless Great Qin Emperor. She burst into laughter, which sounded both joyful and sorrowful. In Xu Fengnian's eyes, it felt like a jealous woman reveling in a successful scheme after countless hardships. "Damn it," he thought, "you're not the Empress of Qin who wasn't allowed to be buried in the same tomb back then, so what are you so happy about?"

Luoyang picked up the skeleton, threw it down the steps, and it shattered into dust at Xu Fengnian's feet. She then sat on the dragon throne, took a deep breath, and her dual-colored eyes sparkled brilliantly. With one hand clutching the National Suppressing Tally, she slowly uttered two words: "The world, eight hundred years later."

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