SFS Chapter 3: Great, another 3 days of survival
Chapter 3: Great, another 3 days of survival
After those anxious figures disappeared at the end of the passageway.
The attendant who had been silently standing beside Ying Zheng like a shadow then quietly approached the throne, bowed slightly, and spoke:
"Your Majesty, I immediately order men to keep a close watch on this person around the clock, and not let any unusual movement slip by!"
Ying Zheng sat upright, his gaze still fixed on the palace gate. He neither agreed nor disagreed with Zhao Gao's suggestion, his face showing no sign of joy or anger.
Zhao Gao's eyes flickered, and he cautiously probed:
"Your Majesty...do you truly believe in this so-called art of self-dissolution?"
"What does it matter if you believe or not?"
Ying Zheng's voice was flat and emotionless. He slowly withdrew his gaze, picked up a scroll of bamboo slips from the table, and spoke calmly:
"Since the goal has already been achieved, these sorcerers can be killed or spared. What harm is there in sparing their lives?"
His calm words revealed a confidence that he was in control of everything.
"Besides, it'll only be three days at most, that's a short time... I can afford to wait..."
"Cough...cough.......cough"
Before the words had even finished, a heart-wrenching cough suddenly rang out.
Ying Zheng suddenly arched his back, a strong feeling of suffocation gripping his throat, and his face instantly flushed with a sickly red.
At this moment, all his imperial aura vanished without a trace. In the face of illness, he was just an ordinary person!
"His Majesty?!"
Zhao Gao's expression changed drastically. He rushed forward in a panic and carefully helped the swaying Ying Zheng to his feet.
"Take the pill quickly!!"
With practiced ease, he pulled out an exquisite lacquer box from his robes, took out a jet-black pill, and hurriedly fed it into Ying Zheng's mouth.
Then he picked up the wine cup on the imperial table and helped Ying Zheng swallow the pill with difficulty.
After a long while, the heart-stopping cough gradually subsided.
Zhao Gao finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Ying Zheng, although his face was pale, had calmed down.
Ying Zheng leaned on Zhao Gao's arm, panting, his gaze passing over the palace in front of him and landing on the magnificent mountains and rivers that were faintly visible in the distance.
This emperor, who was held hostage in an enemy country in his early years, ascended the throne as a young man, quelled rebellions in his youth, swept across the land in his middle age, and established an unprecedented great achievement, is a figure of unparalleled power.
Feeling his body decaying day by day, even he couldn't help but feel saddened and overwhelmed by an indescribable sense of desolation.
He pushed away Zhao Gao's support with some difficulty, slowly stood up, straightened his back again, and stood alone.
His profound gaze seemed to penetrate Xianyang City, seeing all living beings in the world, and the vast empire he had created with his own hands.
He stood there for a long time before finally letting out a soft sigh.
"Such a beautiful land...how could one not be reluctant to leave!"
After speaking, he slowly turned around, no longer interested in handling state affairs, and walked towards the inner palace under Zhao Gao's worried gaze.
Outside the window, the bleak autumn wind blew down withered leaves and fluttered his wide robes, adding to the desolate feeling of a hero in his twilight years.
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Meanwhile, on the other side, everyone was escorted back to the courtyard originally designated for the sorcerers—the Immortal Temple!
After confirming that the soldiers had locked the courtyard gate and that the footsteps had gradually faded away.
The emotions that everyone had been suppressing for so long finally erupted.
Like a flock of startled sparrows, they all swarmed around Zou Yun, chattering amongst themselves.
Someone asked how they planned to deceive Qin Shi Huang next.
They asked when they planned to escape, whether they had found a way out, and whether they could take their own belongings with them.
I would also like to ask, what is the art of disintegration, and how is it learned?
Of course, after this person asked the question, everyone looked at him with "concern" as if he were an idiot. Zou Yun didn't even bother to lift his eyelids and completely ignored the guy.
The scene gradually descended into chaos.
"Alright, quiet!"
Finally, Shi Gong couldn't help but speak, his aged voice interrupting the noise before him.
When the alchemists saw that the speaker was the highly respected Master Shi, they stopped talking and fell silent.
Finally, only heavy breathing could be heard in the courtyard.
"Kid, what tricks are you playing?"
Shi Gong frowned deeply, his deeply lined face filled with scrutiny and incomprehension, his gaze fixed on the young man before him.
At the critical moment of life and death, he pulled such a trick. Shi Gong racked his brains but still couldn't guess what he was trying to do, let alone understand the young man's true intentions.
As for the so-called art of self-disintegration, he is the leader of a notorious fraud group—the alchemists! A seeker of the elixir of immortality!!
Shi Gong didn't believe Zou Yun's flowery rhetoric at all.
That kind of thing is fine for fooling others, but to use it to fool yourself?!
Hey, you're asking if ghosts and spirits exist in this world? He really can't say.
Whether or not there's a secret to immortality, he can confidently assert with his decades of experience in swindling that the entire group of alchemists definitely can't do it—they simply don't have that ability, you know?!
Of course, when he first started out, Shi Gong actually believed in these supernatural and strange things. He even abandoned his wife and children and wasted half his life in order to find the footprints of immortals.
After spending more time in the industry and seeing many charlatans and even a charlatan like himself rise to the position of Grand Master, he began to have doubts.
Until he met those damned guys, he completely gave up and only wanted to pursue a life of wealth and glory.
But to my surprise, those two damned guys, after tricking me, just ran away like that!
Not only did they run away, but they didn't even say goodbye. I really had bad luck with people!
Whenever he thought of this incident, Master Shi gritted his teeth in hatred!
So, at this critical moment of life and death, he didn't bother with any pretense and asked the question directly.
Zou Yun met Shi Gong's scrutiny with unusual calmness, even a hint of matter-of-fact:
"What other tricks could we possibly have? Of course, we'd just have to... dismember him to show him what we're capable of."
He shook his head slightly, as if saying something self-evident.
"but..."
Zou Yun then changed the subject and began listing a series of items: "I need some planks, a saw, nails, cinnabar, sulfur, charcoal, saltpeter..."
Shi Gong gave Zou Yun a deep look, his experienced eyes revealing no trace of guilt in him.
Although I have absolutely no idea what this kid is up to.
However, we're all in the same boat right now. If there's no explanation in three days, we'll all have to fall back into the trap of the sorcerer's pleasure.
So Master Shi stopped asking questions and instead gave instructions in a deep voice to the sorcerer beside him:
"Go and fetch everything he wants."
Fortunately, alchemists have no shortage of these strange and unusual things when they are making elixirs.
Soon, the materials Zou Yun mentioned were gathered, and the group moved the pile of materials to his room.
Zou Yun didn't stand on ceremony and, seeing that nothing was missing, went to his room.
Before closing the door, he turned back and gave a message to the curious crowd outside.
"Remember, no one is allowed to peek, otherwise... it won't work!"
His tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable warning.
With a "bang," the door was slammed shut.
Then everyone heard crackling sounds coming from the room, along with the sound of sawing wood, which made them really want to try it.
Because of that warning, and because it concerned their own lives, no one approached to spy on them.
Shi Gong looked solemnly at the door, instructed everyone to place the food box filled with food at the door every day, and then turned and left.
In the next three days, he will compile a new set of methods based on Zou Yun's method of dissolving weapons, just in case.