Qin Zhiyan’s eyebrow, hidden in the darkness, raised slightly. The hand gripping Qingxia’s applied gentle pressure. Although Qingxia couldn’t see, she could still imagine him shaking his head with indifference: “I didn’t.”
“Then why did you suddenly stop?” Under the darkness’s embrace, Qingxia’s temperament became more lively. She widened her eyes, thinking darkly that if not for the fact he had just protected her, she would beat him up severely just like she did to Chu Li.
“Watch your step—there are stairs.”
“Ah?” Qingxia paused, suddenly feeling Qin Zhiyan pull her hand with slight force as he led her forward.
All around was complete silence, with only the footsteps of two people slowly treading through this Great Qin Imperial Tomb that hadn’t been walked upon for who knows how many years. The slope descended, and Qingxia followed step by step behind Qin Zhiyan. She didn’t know how long they walked—always downward, always downward—feeling as if they were walking to the underworld itself. Suddenly, a smooth sensation transmitted up from beneath her feet.
It was flat, smooth, even somewhat warm—no accumulated snow, no cold.
“Wait for me.” Qin Zhiyan suddenly released Qingxia’s hand and walked forward alone. Immense darkness instantly enveloped Qingxia’s nerves. Cold wind blew slowly from some unknown direction, carrying dust thick with historical atmosphere that gathered at Qingxia’s feet. A trace of coldness slowly rose from her fingertips. Qingxia’s fingers curved slightly, tentatively reaching around to explore, but finally withdrew and gripped tightly together.
“Qin Zhiyan…”
Qingxia called out softly in exploration. Around her were great masses of ink-like darkness. She slowly reached for the sword sheath at her waist, her brow slightly furrowed as she cautiously shifted her steps and slowly drew her sharp dagger. A trace of worry and fear rose from her heart. “Qin Zhiyan, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” A clear voice suddenly rang out ahead, and a gentle flame instantly ignited, like a small firefly illuminating a round circle of light.
Qin Zhiyan stood beside a candlestick in his blue long robe, his back straight. His pale complexion flickered with gentle luster in the lamplight. With wide sleeves and ink-black hair, his calm eyes looked toward Qingxia as he smiled faintly: “Don’t worry, nothing’s wrong.”
Qin Zhiyan walked to another candlestick and lit the candle. As flame after flame was lit, the entire corridor became bright.
Qingxia stood in place, feeling the gloomy wind in the corridor blowing gently. For a moment, she felt her spine grow cold. The black corridor’s length was unknown. The floor, walls, and ceiling were all made of pitch-black giant stones laid in complete pieces, carved with complex patterns and various totems that Qingxia couldn’t understand. A heavy, almost suffocating fragrance drifted quietly through the air. Candlesticks carved from black giant stones were placed on both sides of the corridor, with white candles casting dim light, filling every corner of the corridor with a solemn atmosphere.
Qin Zhiyan’s thin figure ahead seemed very unreal, as if it were about to disappear into the darkness. He walked slowly through the corridor as leisurely as strolling in a garden, appearing quite familiar without the slightest unfamiliarity.
“Miss Tang,” Qin Zhiyan suddenly stopped and turned around, slightly raising his eyebrows. “Why aren’t you walking?”
“Ah? Oh!” Qingxia snapped back to attention and hurried to catch up, walking beside Qin Zhiyan shoulder to shoulder. “Qin Zhiyan, have you been here before? You seem so familiar with this place.”
Qin Zhiyan’s steps paused slightly, then he said indifferently: “Yes, I have.”
“Oh.” What kind of person was Qingxia? Reading people’s expressions and understanding their thoughts had always been required coursework for military intelligence agents. Seeing Qin Zhiyan’s manner, she knew there must be some inconvenient palace secrets. She quickly followed honestly beside Qin Zhiyan, watching as he walked while lighting the candles on both sides of the corridor one by one.
“When the late emperor was buried, I came here once.”
Unexpectedly, Qin Zhiyan suddenly began to speak. His voice was very mellow with a trace of hoarseness, like gentle sea water—very pleasant to hear.
In such a gloomy environment, having someone willing to talk with her was naturally good. Qingxia responded: “Oh, so you came to pay respects.”
“Miss Tang isn’t from our Qin state, are you?” Qin Zhiyan suddenly turned around and asked with a smile.
“Ah? Oh, no, I’m not from Qin state.”
“The Longji Mountain imperial tombs of all dynasties have been forbidden grounds of Qin state, heavily guarded by troops. Even the emperor cannot come here. He can only pay respects at the ancestral temple halfway up the mountain. Even when the late emperor was buried, I couldn’t enter.”
“Hm? But didn’t you say you’d been inside before?”
“Yes,” Qin Zhiyan nodded and said indifferently, “I was still small then, only five years old. I snuck in with my eldest and second imperial brothers.”
“I wouldn’t have guessed!”
“Wouldn’t have guessed what?” Qin Zhiyan furrowed his brow in confusion and asked gravely.
Qingxia smiled and said: “I wouldn’t have guessed you were so mischievous as a child, actually daring to secretly enter the imperial forbidden grounds.”
“I was still small then, just a child—what did I understand?” Qin Zhiyan’s voice was clear and light, like a March lake with willows budding on the shore and the lake surface calm without waves, yet containing subtle coldness. He reached out to light the last candle flame when suddenly a pitch-black gate appeared at the end of the corridor. A trace of bitter smile slowly surfaced on his face as he looked at that gate with lowered eyes, saying: “This corridor had exactly 2,677 steps and 400 candlesticks at that time. I didn’t expect that revisiting this old place now, it would take less than 1,000 steps to complete.”
Qingxia was shocked upon hearing this and quickly turned around. Qin Zhiyan paid no attention to Qingxia’s expression, only seeming immersed in bygone years as he said in a low voice: “Unfortunately, I had no flint with me then. In an entire month, I never lit these candles even once.”
“You stayed here for a month?”
“Yes,” Qin Zhiyan played with the flint in his hand, slowly saying: “From then on, wherever I go, I carry this thing with me.”
“Why?” Qingxia considered carefully. Though she knew the answer would definitely be something he wouldn’t want to discuss, she still couldn’t help asking softly: “Why did you have to stay inside here for over a month?”
“We got lost in the imperial tomb. I was young, so Second Imperial Brother carried me. Later I fell asleep, and when I woke up, they were gone.” Qin Zhiyan’s expression suddenly flashed with bitter smile, his voice also carrying slight mockery. “They said we got separated.”
Qingxia’s heart suddenly seemed to become somewhat painful. She couldn’t imagine what it would feel like for a five-year-old child to be trapped alone in the pitch-black imperial tomb for a month. In such a grand, deathly silent imperial tomb filled everywhere with cold, hard stones—what would he eat, what would he drink, and how would he survive?
Unable to restrain herself, she reached out and gently grasped Qin Zhiyan’s sleeve, smiling faintly at this life-saving benefactor she had only met twice: “It’s alright. I’m holding your sleeve—we definitely won’t get separated.”
The woman’s eyes were crystal bright, like the most precious pearls from the deep sea. Qin Zhiyan lowered his head with a shallow smile and nodded: “I will definitely take you out of here.”
The heavy stone door was slowly pushed open, and a heat wave from some unknown source rushed toward them.
“Qin Zhiyan, when you were small, did you ever reach this place?” Qingxia stared dumbfounded at the incredible, magnificent hall before her, feeling hot blood suddenly rush to her head.
What met her eyes was a vast plaza, its ground entirely paved with black giant stones. Throughout the plaza, enormous bronze tripods were placed every ten zhang apart, arranged in five rows of five each. Green smoke curled up from the tripods with a clear fragrance that didn’t disperse. In the center of the plaza stood an enormous circular sacrificial platform with a suspended base, supported by twenty-eight giant white jade pillars three zhang high arranged in rows. Each pillar required five or six people to embrace it fully.
Above the sacrificial platform towered a grand and magnificent hall in pagoda form with five levels, each level about half the size of the one below, reaching over ten zhang high—extremely spectacular. Most miraculous of all, the entire hall was constructed from some kind of red stone material, with tremendous heat radiating in all directions, making this stone hall like a gigantic furnace.
From afar, the entire sacrificial platform looked exactly like an enormous burning crimson flame piercing straight up into space. Qingxia and Qin Zhiyan stood beneath the sacrificial platform like two ants—tiny and insignificant.
Qingxia took a deep breath. This architecture before her was magnificent in scale—describing it as supernatural craftsmanship wouldn’t be excessive at all.
Qin Zhiyan frowned lightly, also seemingly in surprise. After a long while, he sighed deeply and said: “When I was small, I passed through eighteen circular chambers from the outer ear chamber, and after entering the outer four circles, there was that corridor we just walked through. I couldn’t push open the stone door, so this is also my first time entering this stone hall. I never imagined there would be such miraculous architecture in the imperial tomb—it’s simply unimaginable.”
“Emperor Qin Shi Huang truly was a genius!” Qingxia praised sincerely: “Later generations all say the Qin tomb’s terracotta warriors and the Great Wall are rare miracles in the world, but who would have thought that beneath Longji Mountain was hidden such an underground palace.”
“If I’m not mistaken, this should be the Flame Hall among the Four Tribute Halls, located in the southwest corner. We just need to walk northeast to reach the main hall, then find the ear chamber through the northeast corner’s Ice Hall, and locate the exit through the main entrance passage.” Qin Zhiyan said gravely.
Qingxia paused, asking in surprise: “What? This still isn’t the main hall?”
“Of course not,” Qin Zhiyan smiled faintly. “The imperial tomb is divided into thirty-six ear chambers, eighteen circular chambers, outer four circles, seventy-two interconnected passages, guarded on the outside by inner four circles connecting the Four Tribute Halls, and finally the main hall located at the center. The Four Tribute Halls are divided into Northern Ice, Southern Fire, Western Earth, and Eastern Wood, forming the four energies of white, red, yellow, and green, protecting the main hall’s Northern Sea Black Serpent, Southern Sky Vermillion Bird, Western Marsh Mirage Monster, and Eastern Sky Dragon—four divine beasts together safeguarding the main hall’s imperial universe and protecting the emperor’s essence and soul. How could this be the imperial tomb’s main hall?”