The entire Qin Mausoleum was incredibly massive, and one could imagine how terrifying it was to have spent the strength of a nation to build it.
The underground space was gargantuan as if a huge space had been dug out of the mountains.
The Xianyang City that Ma Zhuisheng had seen was still standing there, looking just like Xianyang City when Great Qin had built it. There were also many city guards on the city walls.
The only difference between the underground world and the outside world was that there were 12 coiling dragon pillars around the mausoleum.
Each of the coiling dragon pillars was carved with a lifelike nine-clawed black dragon. The pillars were nearly 10 meters wide and 100 meters long, and it could be said that they were god-like craft.
Formation patterns were carved around the pillars, and it was obvious that they were not as simple as supporting pillars.
In Xianyang City…
All the officials were gathered inside the imperial palace. They were all dressed in Qin clothes and looked like normal humans. They had not turned weird as the people outside had imagined.
All the officials were whispering to each other, filling the entire hall with a hubbub of discussions.
At the head of the hall, a person was sitting on the dragon throne with his eyes closed as if he was waiting for something. This person looked very majestic and wore a black dragon robe. Even though he was sitting there quietly, he exuded a domineering aura.
“Reporting, Your Majesty! General Meng has come to report that the periphery of Mount Li has been surrounded. A large number of soldiers from this dynasty are rushing over, and among them, there are hundreds of thousands of Qi Practitioners, but their overall strength is weak. A man once tried to sneak into the mausoleum to check it out, but General Meng repelled him with a palm strike.”
After listening to the report from the soldier who had rushed into the imperial palace, the man at the head opened his eyes slightly. As the man opened his eyes, the noisy hall instantly fell into silence.
This man was naturally the Qin Mausoleum’s master, the one that had established the Qin dynasty, Emperor Shi, Ying Zheng…
“Why did Meng Tian only force the intruder back and not capture him?” Emperor Shi asked very casually.
“Your Majesty, General Meng said that the intruder was not weak, and he had the supreme treasure of the Confucian School on him. It would definitely be very difficult to capture him. If we were not careful, we might be exposed, so he only made a move to force him back,” the soldier replied with some fear.
After that, Emperor Shi stopped talking as if he was thinking about something.
After a moment of silence, the first man on the left among the officials stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, the Spiritual Qi has just recovered, and we have yet to recover our strength. Should we wait for a few days and carry out the important matters?”
That man was Great Qin’s Prime Minister, the head of the civil officials, Li Si.
Back then, these civil officials had all been informed of Emperor Shi’s plans, and they were willing to follow him in carrying out important matters.
As such, all of Great Qin’s most powerful forces were currently in Xianyang Palace.
Following Li Si’s words, many civil officials responded.
Even though many people did not say anything about Emperor Shi opening the seal of the Qin Mausoleum the moment the Spiritual Qi recovered, they still had a lot of opinions.
Great Qin had existed for more than 2,000 years, so it was naturally impossible for them to live until now, even though they looked no different from normal people.
However, there was a huge difference in nature. These people were all relying on the Yin Dragon Vein transformed from Great Qin’s Dragon Vein to survive.
At present, they were both half-human and half-ghost. After such a long time without any source of Spiritual Qi, these people were all very weak.
Otherwise, given Emperor Shi’s overbearing attitude, he would have led Great Qin’s cavalry and rushed out as soon as possible. He would not have been able to wait quietly like he was doing now and check the strength of his opponents.
Seeing that many of the officials were hesitating, Emperor Shi could not help but say angrily, “Haven’t we already predicted what we are going to face? During the Chaos Era, how could an empire that could rival Great Qin appear? Have you all lived for too long? Have you forgotten the glory of Great Qin?”
Too much time had passed. Even those who had been indulging in the glory of Great Qin all those years ago did not really believe in Great Qin’s strength now.
After all, although the outside world had been going through the Chaos Era, there had been too many variables. Many people wanted to wait until their strength had recovered to its peak before doing anything else.
“We dare not…”
Seeing Emperor Shi getting angry, everyone knelt down and begged for forgiveness.
Back then, Emperor Shi had been invincible in the world. Now, after so many years, no one knew Emperor Shi’s true realm. But, just thinking about it, one could tell that it was definitely not something they could resist.
“Hmph! Order Meng Tian to wake up the 300,000 elites of Great Qin. Tomorrow, they will leave the city and fight against the forces of the outside world. They will test the outside world first, and then We1‘ll make Our plans.”
Although Emperor Shi was proud, he was not stupid. They had been sealed for over 2,000 years and knew nothing about the situation in the outside world.
However, just from the news that Meng Tian had sent back, it could be deduced that the strength of the empire outside was definitely not weak.
After all, even when Great Qin was at its peak, it only had a few tens of thousands of Qi Practitioners under its command.
At present, there were hundreds of thousands of Qi Practitioners gathered on the outskirts of Mount Li. To be able to support such a large number of Qi Practitioners, the strength of that empire was definitely not weak.
Although the strength of those Qi Practitioners was generally weaker, that was also due to the influence of the Chaos Era. The Qin soldiers had been sealed for over 2,000 years, and their strength had also been greatly affected. Compared to them, it was hard to tell who was stronger.
Therefore, Emperor Shi planned to let Meng Tian test the waters with an army of 300,000 soldiers. If the enemy could not withstand a single blow, he would directly lead the army out.
If the enemy were really strong, he would endure for a while, recover his strength, and then carry out their funerals. It was not impossible.
Many people in the army were eager to give it a try. They had not fought in a big battle for more than 2,000 years, and their bones were all rusty. They were looking forward to a big battle that was dripping with sweat.
Among the group of generals, an 8-feet tall and imposing-looking fierce general stepped out and said, “Your Majesty, your subject requests to fight.”
“Eh? Wang Ben? Your cultivation base has already dropped to the Marrow Cleansing firmament. Why do you still want to fight? Hurry up and recover your strength,” Emperor Shi said helplessly.
Unlike ordinary cultivators, the Qin generals were body refiners, augmenting their fleshly bodies.
The body refiners’ cultivation system corresponded to the cultivators’ realms, and they were categorized as Aura Refinement, Tendon Replacement, Bone Tempering, Marrow Cleansing, Golden Body, Divine Power, Transcendence, and Myriad Forms.
Back at Great Qin’s peak, the weakest of the generals was also in the Golden Body firmament. The strongest few of them had even reached the Transcendence firmament.
However, after being sealed for 2,000 years, there were only two who could bring out their true strength.
One of them was Meng Tian, the person Emperor Shi had sent out. He was an early-firmament Golden Body practitioner, equivalent to an early-stage Soul Formation cultivator.
The other one was standing at the head of the generals, the War God of Great Qin, Wang Jian!