"The seeds have been deployed, and there should be no problem," said the person in the coffin, retracting their gaze from a thousand miles away.
Professor Li and the others looked bewildered, completely oblivious to what "seeds" referred to.
"You're their leader, aren't you?" the person in the coffin suddenly looked at Professor Li.
Professor Li was startled, thinking he was about to be held accountable.
Just as he was about to explain, he heard the person in the coffin say, "Don't worry, you're not the first to try and excavate my tomb, nor will you be the last. Killing too many has become tiresome."
This statement made Professor Li's heart, which had barely settled for a second, begin to pound wildly again.
"Do one thing for me, and consider it your atonement," the person in the coffin waved their hand.
Professor Li felt as if he had been granted a pardon and quickly asked, "May I ask what it is?"
The person in the coffin didn't answer. Instead, their figure flickered, crossing hundreds of meters in an instant to appear beside Professor Li.
Professor Li then saw clearly that this person appeared to be young, only about twenty years old.
Their attire was simple and elegant, yet carried an indescribable aura of nobility and mystery.
Professor Li immediately recognized it as the standard style of the Qin and Han dynasties.
Could this person be from the Qin and Han era?
Impossible! How could anyone survive for two thousand years!
Professor Li immediately dismissed this notion.
"Drive, head east. When you reach your destination, your life will be spared," the person in the coffin glanced at an SUV parked in the distance and said.
Professor Li's heart skipped a beat: this person recognized the vehicle!
This meant that this person was definitely not a resurrected ancient corpse as imagined!
More like a modern cultivator who had sealed themselves here!
With this thought, Professor Li's uneasy heart finally settled.
"Alright!" Professor Li readily agreed.
After giving a few instructions to his students, he opened the car door and, with the person from the coffin inside, sped eastward.
In the car, Professor Li, clearly having guessed the person's purpose, subconsciously asked, "Didn't you say the seeds have been deployed and there are no problems? Why do you still need to go in person?"
The person in the coffin sat in the back seat, eyes slightly closed, and replied, "There is basically no one in this world who can awaken me. Unless they possess my life token or have a blood connection to me. My life token was long ago destroyed, leaving only one possibility..."
"But I have not left this tomb for too long, too long. It is unreasonable to have left any bloodline in this world. So how did they awaken me?"
"Therefore, I must clarify this matter."
Hearing this, for some unknown reason, Professor Li's heart suddenly conjured three words: "unexpected father."
However, he dared not say them.
He could only change the subject and tentatively ask, "Since we have met, may I know your honorable name?"
The person in the coffin suddenly opened their eyes and looked at Professor Li with a playful expression, asking, "Are you sure you want to know my name?"
"Or do you want to become one of my seeds?"
Professor Li felt an inexplicable panic and almost drove the car into a sand pit. It took him a while to regain his composure and say, "I just asked for a name, it's not that serious, is it! Besides, I don't even know what these 'seeds' are!"
"Heh heh," the person in the coffin chuckled. "Didn't I tell you? I've killed too many people over the years, and it's become tiresome. As for those who were fortunate enough to survive, they naturally became seeds I casually sowed."
"I give them the nourishment they need to grow, and they must repay me with fruit when the time comes."
"Over two thousand years have passed, and I've forgotten how many seeds I've sown. Throughout the dynasties, year after year, countless numbers. Whenever a seed is chosen, I extract their memories to understand the changes in this world."
"Otherwise, do you think I would know that this thing you're driving is called a 'car', and not an 'iron horse' or an 'oil-eating beast'?"
Professor Li's newly formed worldview crumbled.
The previous moment he had confidently inferred this person was a modern cultivator, and the next moment he was shattered by the implications of their words.
"Two thousand years? Did you really come from the Qin and Han dynasties? May I ask your surname?"
In his haste, Professor Li forgot that once he knew this person's name, he would become their seed.
The person in the coffin did not evade and replied leisurely, "My surname is Ying."
"Ying? That's an ancient surname originating from the Western Zhou Dynasty! The Ying clan is divided into fourteen lineages, and among the most famous is the lineage of the First Emperor. Remarkable, you share a surname with Zu Long!" Professor Li exclaimed involuntarily.
"Can it be otherwise?" A half-smile played on the person's lips. "The name Ying Chen was bestowed upon me by His Majesty Zu Long himself!"
"What?" Professor Li was shocked and slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a dead stop in the Gobi Desert.
"You... you... did you really come from two thousand years ago?"
"You... you... were you actually from the Qin Dynasty?"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Even Egyptian mummies, at best, preserve their bodies from decay for a thousand years, let alone keeping a living person alive for millennia!"
"Mummies? Voodoo sorcery, beneath contempt," Ying Chen sneered, appearing utterly dismissive.
It seemed he had seen mummies and knew how they were made.
"No..." Professor Li mused, still shaking his head. "As far as I know, although Zu Long did bestow names, they were usually upon members of the imperial family, such as Fusu and Huhai. Outsiders rarely received such honor."
"Heh heh," Ying Chen couldn't help but scoff.
"So, in your eyes, a person who entered the palace at the age of six to study medicine;
became the First Imperial Physician at twelve;
accompanied the army on an expedition at sixteen, saving Zu Long from peril;
helped Zu Long secure the final battle and unify the empire at eighteen;
became a Fangshi after entering the profound arts at twenty, extending Zu Long's life for three years, and formulating the plan to find the elixir of immortality—does not deserve a mere bestowed name!"
Boom!
Professor Li felt as if struck by lightning, frozen in place.
If what Ying Chen said was true, then he was indeed worthy of Zu Long bestowing a name!
"But..." Professor Li immediately thought of another question. "With such immense merits, why were you suppressed in a coffin for a thousand years? Those talismans on the coffin do not look like they were protecting you."
Ying Chen's eyes flashed with ferocity upon hearing this, and then he spoke with a tone of three parts mockery and seven parts hatred, "That's because... I found a good master!"
"A master who, for promotion and advancement, did not hesitate to sacrifice his own disciple!"