Chapter 1 A Silent Tomb

A deathly silence reigned, broken only by the faint sound of water dripping onto the stone bricks from some unseen source.

The pitch-black tunnel radiated a dense, chilling aura, accumulated over two thousand years.

Even Wei Yuan felt a coldness clinging to him, let alone Dong Yuefeng, an ordinary and elderly man. He supported the pale-faced old professor, who was shaken by terror, channeling his internal energy into the old man's body to dispel the chilling sensation.

His other hand held Zhang Shaorong, who had fallen in the chaos, and set him down.

Just now, Wei Yuan had infused him with internal energy, confirming that he was indeed an ordinary person.

Zhang Shaorong's face was pale, but his breathing was steady. He took out his phone and turned on the flashlight. The cold light of modern technology illuminated the path ahead, revealing bronze-colored brick walls with an icy texture. But what they saw on the ground made Wei Yuan frown slightly.

Dong Yuefeng's body trembled uncontrollably.

They saw that the passage at the bottom of the mechanism was littered with corpses. They wore armor of different styles and clutched weapons in their hands. Some had red headscarves, while others wore armor with distinctly foreign styles.

"These are soldiers and grave robbers who once entered the imperial tomb."

Dong Yuefeng spoke, slowly regaining his composure. His knowledge of history came into play. The old man said, "These are the Chimei Army from the Xin Dynasty. This, this should be armor from the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Shi Hu of the Later Zhao Dynasty once excavated the First Emperor's tomb."

"This one should be Huang Chao's army from the Tang Dynasty."

*Wait till autumn, the ninth month, the eighth day,*

*When my flowers bloom, all other flowers I will slay.*

*My fragrance ascends to Chang'an and permeates the city,*

*The city is filled with soldiers donned in golden livery.*

Huang Chao.

Dong Yuefeng said in a low voice, "These armors alone are rare antiques, but why, after so long, are their bodies still intact instead of turning to bones... This is unscientific."

"Perhaps the formation within the mechanism has an effect."

Wei Yuan added, "It's unscientific, but very mystical."

Dong Yuefeng was speechless.

Wei Yuan, looking calm, cracked a joke, then exhaled and said:

"Staying here won't solve anything. I've already checked, and there's no way to go back through the mechanism. But the Mo family's mechanisms, even the Qin Mo, adhere to the principle of non-aggression to some extent. This shouldn't be a dead end. We should move forward; there should be an exit ahead."

Dong Yuefeng hesitated and asked, "Why isn't it a dead end?"

Zhang Shaorong replied, "To treat the dead as if they were alive, this place is modeled after Xianyang City. The roads in Xianyang City are interconnected, so it's impossible to create an absolute dead end here, as that would block the flow of qi, which is an absolute taboo in yin-yang theory."

He paused and said, "The imperial tomb was overseen by Chancellor Li Si."

"Regardless of his character, he was at least knowledgeable."

"And the Qin Mo Giant, wild and arrogant, revered his school more than anyone else."

Zhang Shaorong and Wei Yuan's explanations calmed Dong Yuefeng slightly, but he was also a little puzzled. These two young men, who didn't look very old, seemed to have a more certain understanding of the imperial tomb than he did.

Wei Yuan said, "Let's go, Professor Dong, watch your step."

In such a dangerous situation, Wei Yuan's voice was calmer and warmer than usual, perhaps a reflection of the surrounding illusion, which reassured Dong Yuefeng. They moved forward cautiously, avoiding many traps thanks to Wei Yuan's caution and Zhang Shaorong's knowledge.

Even if there were any, they were blocked by the sword in Wei Yuan's hand.

After all, this was just a mechanism beneath a burial tomb in the outer city.

Wei Yuan's skills were enough to withstand it.

If it were the mechanisms in front of the inner city's imperial tomb, even Wei Yuan couldn't guarantee anything.

But even so, he could still feel a tingling sensation in his sword-wielding hand, which showed that even after sleeping for more than two thousand two hundred years, the mechanisms made by the Qin Mo still possessed extremely terrifying penetrating power.

*The Hu barbarians dare not ride south to graze their horses.*

*The soldiers dare not bend their bows to complain.*

That was the age of gods...

Later, General Wang Li of the Wang family guarded the border.

Wang Li, of the Wang family, three generations of generals, were all famous generals of the Qin Dynasty.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Wei Yuan stopped slightly, and Zhang Shaorong blocked Dong Yuefeng's view. The old man followed them both, and only when he reached the halfway point did he lower his head to take a look. At that moment, even the experienced old professor felt a chill creeping up from his feet, and goosebumps rose all over his body.

Corpses, countless corpses!

They were all lying here, far more corpses than they had seen earlier.

Some had broken arms, some had broken legs, and some had even been crushed into a mass along with their armor.

The original cyan-colored brick walls were now black, the traces of blood that had congealed over the years.

Dong Yuefeng could almost imagine that these soldiers and generals had passed through the previous mechanisms and, after relaxing their minds, had been killed by even more ruthless mechanisms. Their armor was twisted, and some of their bodies had been squeezed into a ball.

Wei Yuan looked solemn. He drew the sword from its sheath, held it in his right hand, and raised his left hand to stop the two behind him, slowly moving forward. "Be careful!"

"Shaorong, you guard the rear."

"Professor Dong, you stay between us."

"Okay..."

Dong Yuefeng took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

All he could do now was to avoid being a burden.

They moved forward quietly, and just as they were about to exit this mechanism passage, a crisp cracking sound suddenly rang out. At this moment, the sound carried a stiff tension that made their hearts clench. Wei Yuan's expression changed.

The surrounding walls suddenly shifted. Accompanied by a low rumble, the cold-toned bricks seemed to come alive, pushing towards the center to crush them into a mass.

This was a mechanism from the age of gods, and even in its simplicity, its power was terrifying.

The rolling stones above their heads also began to descend.

Wei Yuan's expression changed. He grabbed Dong Yuefeng's arm and lunged forward, while the corpses that had just fallen to the ground, driven by some unknown force, actually stood up on their own, wielding their weapons and charging at Wei Yuan with silent roars.

Wei Yuan slashed horizontally with his sword.

He didn't use sword qi or any other such technique, just pure strength, breaking the weapons with his horizontal slash, cutting into the armor, and then directly using his shoulder to knock away the surrounding corpses. Wei Yuan quickly understood the reason. This was the tomb of an emperor, inevitably connected to the earth's veins. In a sense, this place was almost a pure breeding ground for zombies.

Truly worthy of a tomb from the age of gods.

A whole group of millennium-old veteran zombies.

Their hides were so tough that Wei Yuan's sword could feel a noticeable dullness, unable to cut them in two with a single strike.

The mechanism was activated because these corpses had touched something. These tomb raiders who had died in the mechanisms, driven by resentment, wanted those who entered to die in the same way, just as water ghosts would drag people into the water. This was pure hatred and resentment, utterly unadulterated.

Wei Yuan rushed to the wall in front.

He frantically recalled the knowledge of mechanisms that Zhang Han had once told him.

Dong Yuefeng only felt his heart pounding wildly.

Today's experience was more stimulating than the past few decades combined.

At this moment, Dong Yuefeng saw a man in heavy armor slowly rising from among the living corpses that had been left behind. He was more than seven feet tall, and the armor was extremely thick, covering his entire body. He was a heavily armored cavalryman who had briefly appeared during the Wei and Jin Dynasties.

For some unknown reason, this cavalryman had entered here wearing armor.

He had the fur of some strange beast hanging from his waist as decoration, and even after thousands of years, it still had a noble feel. Dong Yuefeng's mind went blank, and his knowledge immediately identified the other party's identity—

A general under Shi Le, a member of the royal family of the Later Zhao Dynasty.

Was he a member of the Later Zhao royal family who had participated in Shi Hu's excavation of the imperial tomb and died here?!

But there were still more than two hundred steps to go, so there should be enough time.

Just as Dong Yuefeng was thinking this, the cavalry general roared and suddenly raised his hand, grabbing a weapon from the side. It was a long spear that was black overall, but the blade was snow-white, obviously a famous weapon from a bygone era. He took a step forward, raised his arm with a roar, and suddenly threw the black spear with all his might.

The spear pierced through the air, emitting a terrifying whistle that made people's hearts sink, heading straight for Wei Yuan's heart.

Wei Yuan was disassembling the mechanism on the stone wall.

As if he hadn't heard the whistle, he didn't even turn his head. His sword was stuck in the side, and he was quickly disassembling the mechanism with both hands. Everyone, everyone has the instinct to defend against danger, and they will grab the nearest thing that can be used as a weapon when attacked, but his hands didn't even have the instinct to reach for the sword.

Another figure turned around without hesitation, back to Wei Yuan, and snatched a sword from the corpse soldier next to him, chopping it down heavily. The spear shadow was struck, and the direction was twisted. The spear blade and most of the spear shaft directly pierced into the wall, showing its fierce power.

The corpse of the Later Zhao general roared, picked up a heavy battle blade, and suddenly leaped up to kill. Zhang Shaorong's hand was numb, unable to fight back, and Wei Yuan had already pulled out his long sword. He didn't turn around, because turning around would waste too much time. There was no angry shout, no verbal exchange.

It was just in that trance that he seemed to see the fluttering war flag of the Great Qin.

He held the long sword upside down and stabbed it out without hesitation, almost brushing Zhang Shaorong's waist.

The attacking enemy was stabbed.

Zhang Shaorong exhaled and recovered his strength, using all his strength to sweep the weapon in his hand horizontally, tearing through the cold light. The corpse general couldn't avoid it, so he had to leap up to avoid this heavy and domineering horizontal slash that was full of flaws.

But at this time, Wei Yuan suddenly turned around and chopped down heavily, spinning around.

The bright light torn out by the horizontal slash had not yet dissipated, but it was scattered by the heavy chop, and the previous flaws disappeared at this moment, no longer having a chance of survival, turning into a step-by-step killing move. Under the bewildered gaze of the living corpse transformed from the Wei and Jin general, the sword was chopping down on himself.

Dong Yuefeng didn't know what to say.

He could tell that this was not a set of swordsmanship.

But it seemed to be a set of swordsmanship. When one person chopped down, the other person would slash upwards from below. If one person attacked the left side, the other person would instinctively attack the right side. Their moves were extremely compatible, as if they had been tempered by countless life-and-death battles, and would almost instinctively make up for each other's flaws.

Like two fierce tigers, or rather, like wolves running on a vast plain.

They were the creatures most adept at cooperation, beasts gathered together.

In the end, two swords pierced through the general's thick armor, and then crisscrossed, almost completely shattering the resurrected general.

The corpse's movements froze, and it fell to the ground, face up.

In a silence, the mechanism was opened, and the three of Wei Yuan rushed into the mechanism door. Wei Yuan recovered and struck the mechanism heavily with his sword, breaking the mechanism and causing the gate to fall, making a roaring sound, and also blocking those 'resurrected' inhuman beings behind the gate.

Dong Yuefeng only felt his hands tremble slightly because of the previous experience. Zhang Shaorong lowered his eyes, with a self-deprecating bitter smile on the corner of his mouth, and Wei Yuan returned the sword in his hand to its sheath.

"A-Yuan."

Zhang Shaorong sighed and said, "Why didn't you defend?"

Wei Yuan replied, "With you here, if I still had to turn around to face the attack, wouldn't that be an insult to you?"

Zhang Shaorong said, "...When did you find out?"

Wei Yuan stared at Zhang Shaorong and said:

"Zhang Shaorong, Zhang Shaorong... You've made it so obvious, how could I not recognize you?"

??!

Dong Yuefeng murmured the name, and suddenly a piece of history came to his mind. Zhang Han, the last famous general of the Great Qin, courtesy name Shaorong. The scene in front of him made his heart tremble uncontrollably. Reason made him doubt and criticize, while emotions made him believe his instinctive judgment.

Zhang Shaorong, or rather Zhang Han, sighed softly, not knowing what to say.

Wei Yuan also didn't know how to face this friend who had once betrayed the Great Qin. After a moment of silence, he asked, "...What about His Majesty?"

Zhang Han replied, "...After this wisp of my remnant soul returned, I was unable to see His Majesty again."

"The death qi remains as before; His Majesty has fallen into a deep sleep."

They would not use death to describe the departure of a monarch.

At this moment, Wei Yuan keenly heard the sounds of fighting coming from the ground ahead. His eyes flashed sharply and he said:

"We'll talk about what happens next on the road. Let's go up."

"Alright!"

The three of them ran upwards. In order to prevent Dong Yuefeng from being harmed by the mechanisms here, Wei Yuan used the method of wind manipulation to carry the old man. On the way, Zhang Han looked at the familiar scenes around him and sighed in a complex manner:

"I told you, A-Yuan, I hoped to lead troops into battle and become an unparalleled famous general. None of the men of Great Qin didn't want to earn military merits on the battlefield..."

"But General Wang Jian and General Meng Tian both said that I wasn't the kind of person who could become a great general."

"I wasn't convinced. My ability to lead troops was no less than anyone else's."

He mocked himself:

"But later, I realized... I'm really not suitable to be a great general."

"A true famous general has to face not only the battlefield, but also the overall situation."

"Xiang Yu slaughtered my Great Qin's comrades. At that time, I really wanted to fight to the death in one breath, but what about the remaining old Qin people? What would happen to them? Would I take them to their deaths? After going through thousands of deaths to get here, no one wants to die. Or if we die in battle, would we let those who hate Great Qin to the bone, become the king of Great Qin..."

"It was just such hesitation that, by the time I came to my senses, I had already been swept forward by that era. From that day on, I knew that I was not Wu'an Jun, not Marquis Wucheng, not the kind of famous general who was qualified to change the situation of the world, but at best, just someone who could command troops."

"I can fight on the battlefield, but I can't control the situation, or even be myself."

A dazed look flashed in Zhang Han's eyes, and then he mocked himself: "This is just the self-talk of a loser like myself. I never thought of betraying Great Qin, but the times always sweep us up and down. That era... was truly cruel, always forcing everyone to the place they least wanted to face."

"But at least this time, I can advance and retreat with you."

He gently tapped his chest and whispered with a smile:

"How can we say we have no clothes?"

ps: Today's first update... four thousand four hundred words.