Chapter Nineteen: The Ancient Tomb of the First Emperor

Although everything else was a rare treasure, none could compare to the mysterious tortoise shell fragment before him. For Zhang Xiao, its significance was even greater. After carefully storing away the shell fragment, he gazed at Han Meng’s corpse. With a flick of his finger, a fireball shot forth, instantly reducing Han Meng’s body to black ashes. Zhang Xiao then transformed into a streak of rainbow light, flying towards another large formation. Standing outside the array, Zhang Xiao could easily observe everything within.

At this moment, Minel was trapped inside, dodging left and right. Her once pristine white dress was now filthy and disheveled, her golden hair tangled and unkempt, lacking the dazzling allure she had when Zhang Xiao first saw her.

“Master, do you intend to kill this woman as well?” Zi Yan, standing nearby, smiled as she watched Minel’s desperate struggle within the array. Zhang Xiao shook his head; among the three old monsters, Minel was the weakest in strength, but her cunning far surpassed Han Meng and Kalosius. Despite her current predicament, Zhang Xiao was convinced she still had some hidden card to play. Thus, he was in no hurry and turned to return to the Xuantian Cave Mansion with Zi Yan.

This journey to Japan had yielded considerable rewards, especially the great demon stone, which was perfect for refining medicinal pills. Zhang Xiao planned to use this time to concoct a batch of Demon Essence Pills, hoping to advance his cultivation to the Golden Core stage.

From the name alone, it was easy to guess the ingredients for the Demon Essence Pill were all related to demons. Actually, aside from the catalyst requiring the heart’s blood of a demon at the Golden Core stage, the other ingredients had no connection to demonkind. Though these materials were rare and exotic herbs, Zhang Xiao’s bone ring lacked nothing. Both Kalosius and Han Meng’s storage rings were filled with countless treasures, so Zhang Xiao had no need to search elsewhere.

In the pill refining chamber of the Xuantian Cave Mansion stood a massive cauldron, its intricate patterns layered like endless scales, and atop its lid coiled a carved Panlong dragon. This Nine-Grade Panlong Cauldron was a treasure even his master, the Ethereal Daoist, did not possess. Today, it would serve Zhang Xiao well. As a nine-grade cauldron, it could increase pill formation rates by at least thirty percent.

Zhang Xiao took out the Xuantian token and waved it at the cauldron. The dormant Panlong Cauldron shook, a surge of earth fire enveloping it from below. Zhang Xiao placed the demon stone and several rare herbs into the cauldron and left everything else to Zi Yan, having explained the key points for refining the pill. He then settled into meditation to cultivate.

Three months flew by. A month earlier, Zhang Xiao had successfully refined the Demon Essence Pills and, with their aid, advanced his cultivation to the middle stage of the Golden Core. There were seven pills in total; while not as miraculous as the Life Creation Pill, they were still rare and precious elixirs. Without the Panlong Cauldron’s help, Zhang Xiao would never have guaranteed success. For an ordinary person, one pill would suffice for a breakthrough, but Zhang Xiao’s meridians were vastly different from the norm, his spiritual energy capacity three times greater than his peers.

It took four pills, swallowed in one go, to push Zhang Xiao to the middle stage of the Golden Core, leaving him somewhat helpless. While his spiritual energy reserve was superior, every advantage comes with its own drawbacks; for Zhang Xiao, advancing his cultivation was three times more difficult than others. If the Golden Core stage was so arduous, reaching the Nascent Soul stage would surely be even more challenging.

Now that he had reached the middle stage of the Golden Core and the Xuantian token had cooled down, Zhang Xiao dared not delay further. He had only a year—now more than half had passed.

Who knew how many more tasks lay ahead? If time ran short, it would be disastrous. With this in mind, Zhang Xiao took a deep breath. “Begin the third task.” As he confirmed, a portal appeared before him.

Without hesitation, Zhang Xiao stepped through. The scene before his eyes changed rapidly. “Where is this!” He stood stunned, gazing at the extraordinary landscape: countless luminous pearls sparkled overhead like stars, but they were not stars—they were fist-sized night pearls. Towering walls rose all around, majestic as a royal palace.

Even more chilling, rows of terracotta warriors stood before the palace, patrolling and watching. Hidden afar, Zhang Xiao’s spiritual sense swept across them; their strength was only roughly that of the Foundation Establishment stage, but their numbers were so vast it made his scalp tingle.

“Ding! Founding Mission, Third Stage: Bring the Imperial Seal and the Emperor’s Cauldron to the First Emperor’s Tomb Chamber.” Seeing the prompt on his wrist, Zhang Xiao was startled. Was he in the tomb of the First Emperor of Qin?

He swallowed nervously. Before the heavenly transformation, countless people had tried to excavate Qin Shi Huang’s tomb, all to no avail. Now, he found himself inside the mausoleum of the greatest emperor in history. The thought filled Zhang Xiao with excitement, but he had no idea how to enter. Force his way in? What a joke.

The terracotta warriors within his spiritual sense numbered at least a thousand, and there were likely even more inside. Even though Zhang Xiao was at the middle stage of the Golden Core, facing so many would be troublesome if surrounded. Flying on his artifact? He quickly dismissed the idea, sensing the air above was even more dangerous than the ground. Looking at the high walls around him, inspiration struck.

He summoned his Bronze Armored Corpse. Though not powerful, it could manipulate earth by nature and perform earth escape techniques. Surely the terracotta warriors would not detect it. Acting swiftly, Zhang Xiao merged with the Bronze Armored Corpse using the Corpse Armor Technique and slipped underground. But soon, he shot out from the earth, cursing the tomb’s architect.

Beneath the soil was a slab seven feet thick, with a strange silver liquid flowing all around. The Bronze Armored Corpse had managed to dig a hole in the slab, but the silver liquid immediately brought trouble. Its left hand was now riddled with corrosion; just a few drops had caused such damage, and if a whole basin were poured, the corpse would dissolve into a puddle of corpse water.

Looking at the corroded hand, Zhang Xiao felt helpless. It seemed he would have to break in by force. Just as he prepared to disengage the Corpse Armor Technique, he glanced at the nearby earth and a spark of inspiration flashed through his mind.

A bright smile spread across his face. "Haha, I am a genius!" The Bronze Armored Corpse he possessed was suddenly enveloped in a layer of earth, forming an outer shell identical to the terracotta warriors. He carefully compared himself to them with his spiritual sense, confirming he was indistinguishable from the terracotta warriors.

Only then did Zhang Xiao stride boldly toward the palace walls. "Thump! Thump! Thump!" Squads of terracotta warriors marched past him in orderly formation, paying him no heed. Delighted, Zhang Xiao quietly moved further into the palace, posing as a guard whenever others approached.

After they passed, Zhang Xiao hurried deeper. Gazing at the largest hall ahead, he couldn't help but admire the ancient emperor: even in death, he maintained such grandeur.

Along the way, terracotta warriors were everywhere, their vigilance so tight not even a fly could slip through. Seeing no patrols nearby, Zhang Xiao strode toward the hall. But as his foot touched the stone steps before the hall, a chill swept over him from within, making his heart freeze. His expression changed and he leaped back, but a sword’s light slashed out from the hall.

Though the sword aura had yet to reach him, its cold, violent energy immediately crushed the earth layer on the Bronze Armored Corpse into dust. Zhang Xiao stomped his foot, raising a stone wall from the ground to block the sword aura.

"Impudent! How dare you disturb the emperor! Seize him!" A cold shout rang out. Terracotta warriors rushed toward Zhang Xiao. Seeing the oncoming squads, Zhang Xiao had no time to hesitate. He disengaged the Corpse Armor Technique and, with a burst of divine speed, charged toward the grand hall. The Bronze Armored Corpse summoned stone walls to hold back the advancing terracotta warriors.

"Hmph! Courting death." A cold snort echoed from within the palace. Suddenly, an overwhelming, icy killing intent exploded forth. A man clad in golden armor strode out slowly. Zhang Xiao’s pupils contracted in disbelief.

A shroud of black energy enveloped the golden-armored man—killing intent! Zhang Xiao was stunned; never had he seen someone condense killing intent so intensely it was nearly tangible. How many must one kill to reach such a state?

The golden-armored man stared coldly at Zhang Xiao, drawing an ancient bronze sword from his waist and pointing it with a fierce shout: "Kill!"

With just that single word, Zhang Xiao's face changed dramatically as the powerful killing aura pressed upon him. But Zhang Xiao did not flinch; the opponent’s strength was similar to his own—both at the middle stage of the Golden Core. Aside from the astonishing killing intent, there was little difference.

Zhang Xiao’s body radiated Buddhist light, instantly dispersing the killing aura from the golden-armored man’s shout.

"Take my blade first!" Zhang Xiao wielded the Bloodthirsty Blade, a ninth-grade artifact once used by Han Meng. As he swung it, countless blood shadows slashed toward his foe. Overhead, a golden light shot forth—Zhang Xiao's clone appeared, wielding the Crystal Demon Subjugation Staff. Countless staff shadows formed a golden lotus, striking at the golden-armored man.

"Well done!" Facing two opponents, the golden-armored man not only did not retreat but swung his ancient bronze sword, sending waves of sword energy roaring forth.