Chapter 69: Epang Appears

The mercury rapidly poured down the valve port’s waterway and the level of mercury within the secret chamber quickly decreased.

The two of them were happy to realize that as the mercury began to pour down the valve port, the mercury flowing down from the holes on the walls also stopped all a sudden! It was likely that a control mechanism was involved in it.

They waited for around 20 to 30 minutes for the mercury to flow away, exposing the bottom area of the secret chamber.

The bottom area was shaped like a bowl, allowing the mercury to flow towards the valve port’s waterway that was located at the centre.

Soon, the mercury level reached the bottom. Chen Xiaolian and Miao Yan were pleasantly surprised to finally see the exit for this secret chamber!

At the most bottom right corner of this secret chamber, there was a hole leading to a passageway. Miao Yan jumped down from the stone platform and quickly ran over to investigate it. Pulling back, she laughed. “It really is the way out!”

Chen Xiaolian breathed a sigh of relief. He held onto Soo Soo and jumped down before running over.

This walled passageway was circular in shape and it went upwards. However, it was a winding path with no end in sight. Chen Xiaolian produced his flashlight and was about to move forward when Miao Yan stopped him. “What are you doing?”

“Opening the path,” Chen Xiaolian replied as a matter-of-factly.

“Your strength is too low. It would be best for me to do it. If we encounter any danger, I will be able to fight back,” Miao Yan shook her head.

Chen Xiaolian glanced at Miao Yan and smiled. “All right.” He smiled as he took two steps backwards, and made a ‘you first’ gesture.

Miao Yan lowered her head and entered the path. Chen Xiaolian deliberately fell back by about 5 to 6 steps, pulling Soo Soo with him as he too entered the passageway.

The walled passageway was very long, winding about up and down, left and right. It does however, give off the impression that it was headed upwards.

The walled passageway was very narrow. In the end, even one person could barely move through it. Additionally, they were also unable to maintain a straight posture with their bodies. Both Chen Xiaolian and the tall and slender Miao Yan had a difficult time there. On the other hand, the little Soo Soo did not face as much difficulty.

After having walked for nearly a quarter of an hour, Miao Yan who was at the front spoke out. “It seems we have reached the end!”

Miao Yan who was at the front pushed with both hands, pushing open a circular shaped stone board. A faint light from the exterior spilled down and Miao Yan poked out with her head and headed out. Chen Xiaolian and Soo Soo quickly followed suit.

The moment they emerged from the mouth of the hole, they caught sight of what lied on the outside and both Chen Xiaolian and Soo Soo became shocked!

Even Miao Yan, who was standing to the side was quietly observing the sight before her…

“This… this is…” Chen Xiaolian gasped!

…

What lied before them was a great mountain cavern that was without equal!

The size of it was simply unbelievable! Chen Xiaolian suspected that only by excavating an entire mountain range would it be possible to create such a big underground cavern!

Raising their heads, they were incapable of seeing the ceiling! All that they would see was the faint fluorescence emitted by some fluorite-like minerals embedded into the structure of the ceiling, seemingly concealed in its design. It shone like the blinking stars and when they saw it for the first time, they believed themselves to be standing under the starry night skies. What a glorious sight!

The mountain caverns area was extremely wide and open, perhaps even vast!

After all, the light from the ‘stars’ were weak. Thus, the surroundings remained mostly dark.

Even so, no edges could be seen when turning to the left or right!

Perhaps they would not have fallen into such a shocked state if it were only the vast mountain caverns they saw. However, the sight that made their eyes turned wide open was the thing that stood before them…

A massive and grand palace!

The only thing they could clearly see was probably the front hall of the palace! They spread out to observe it and saw that it has a width of hundreds of steps! Made of rammed earth upon stone foundation, it rose high above with a height of 7 to 8 metres! Pavilion buildings could be seen everywhere!

Both sides of the front hall, which stood high, were open, revealing corridors; the eaves of the rooftop were ancient yet strong, and the atmosphere of darkness caused it to exude a certain feeling of coldness.

At the centre was a staircase leading to the top with a width of tens of metres! The markings of a pair of Yin Yang dragons were fashioned onto the stairs. On each side, gigantic, ferocious looking sculptures of stone beasts of ancient times were placed to stand guard.

Atop the flight of stairs were two astonishingly enormous black gates! Exuding a dignified aura of vitality, the gates were shut tight.

Chen Xiaolian had visited the Imperial City before, but the old palace of the Forbidden City pales in comparison to the majesty of this palace before him!

Chen Xiaolian had once visited a movie set and observed the architectures involved in the restoration and construction of the imperial palace. Within the famed movie ‘Curse of the Bouncing Breasts’, he had witnessed the imposing majesty of the great hall… [1]

However, this front hall before him was at least 2 times bigger than the front hall of the imperial palace within the movie!

This magnificent great hall was like the firmament of the Heavens standing upon the mountain peak, and this mountain interior was like the outer walls of the palace located within this vast underground hole. This grand palace stood before them!

How such a gigantic interior could be excavated within a mountain, how that Heaven like top of this mountain cavern could resist collapsing upon itself; it was as though everything within this space had overturned Chen Xiaolian’s knowledge of common sense and laws of physics!

Miao Yan stared at the grand hall before them and was also stunned for at least one minute. She then exhaled deeply. “This… is the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang? How spectacular!”

“Not Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang,” Chen Xiaolian’s face turned somewhat peculiar and he suddenly whispered in a low tone.

“Encompassing 300 odd li, severing the light of day.

From the north of Mt. Li to the west, straight to Xianyang.

Two rivers dissolve, flowing into the mighty walls.

A tall building for every five steps, a pavilion for every ten steps.

The twisting promenade forms a long circle, eaves peck high into the air.

Each pavilion in its own terrain, the promenade forms the hook of the Big Dipper.

It coils about, bending and twisting, dense like honeycomb structures form a whirlpool, how many hundred thousand pedestals are there.

The long bridge lies upon the lake, yet without the clouds how could the dragon…” [2]

Hearing that, Miao Yan frowned. “What are you reciting? A poem?”

Chen Xiaolian’s face was one of complexity. Upon it were emotions, of absurdity, of calmness and also a trace of awe.

He took a deep breath and whispered. “Six kingdoms reached their end, the four seas were united, Mt. Shu rose, Epang appeared.”

“What?”

“This is not a mausoleum, this is… Epang Palace!”

Epang Palace!

The palace that had disappeared from history has miraculously appeared before them!

…

…

Naturally, Chen Xiaolian was very clear on the documented history of Epang Palace. The First Emperor devoted all the manpower of his kingdom, expending who knows how many labour forces, porters and craftsmen to create this city of wonder! For this massive construction project, Qin Shi Huang poured in every last work force in his nation, spending half his life only to have it remain incomplete! After Qin Shi Huang’s death, it too accompanied the dynasty in its destruction and disappeared from history. It was said that the King of Chu burnt down this city of wonders…

However, that city of wonders have now appeared before me?

This…

What son of a bitch logic is this?

“My History teacher will be angered to death,” Chen Xiaolian suddenly let out a bitter smile.

Then, Chen Xiaolian suddenly made his move!

“Damn! I must not throw away this opportunity!”

He quickly retrieved a mobile phone from his backpack: En, as expected, there is no signal!

That is all right!

Opening the camera function, he turned around and entered selfie mode. He had his back facing the grand palace, ensuring both his head and the background was inside the shot, then he tuned the angle…

V-sign pose, Lucky Cat pose…

In one breath, this fellow took 17 to 18 pictures!

“… Are you done taking pictures?”

Miao Yan asked in a clearly restless manner.

“Soon! Soon!” Chen Xiaolian made a funny facial expression and took another picture before contently keeping the mobile phone. He thought to himself: When I get out, I will show it to Qiao Qiao and Roddy. Those two will certainly be shocked!

“If you are done, let us go!” Miao Yan pointed towards the great doors atop the stairs of the great hall. “I think… the final instance dungeon quest must be inside. An Emperor must certainly reside inside the Imperial Palace.”

Chen Xiaolian looked at Soo Soo. He pulled her over and whispered. “When we enter later, you must stay close to me no matter what happens. Understand?”

Soo Soo’s expression remained calm and she nodded.

Xiu Xiu look calm and nodded.

The three of them moved forward. After walking over tens of steps, they took their first step upon the staircase…

Suddenly, a prompt appeared in Chen Xiaolian’s system view!

[Prompt: You have entered the final area of this instance dungeon. Instance dungeon’s final quest unlocked: Defeat the guardians and seize the soul essence of Qin Shi Huang to prevent Qin Shi Huang’s resurrection! Note that this instance dungeon has an A Class difficulty level. After the instance dungeon is completed, the calculation for the reward will be based on the degree of completion and contribution. Condition of failure for this instance dungeon quest: One, Player is killed. Two, Qin Shi Huang is resurrected. If any of the above conditions are met, the instance dungeon will be judged as a failure. You will receive the penalty for failing to complete instance dungeon].

After seeing this line of prompt, his face changed. Raising his head, he saw that both Soo Soo and Miao Yan had a different expression on their faces. Clearly, they too had accepted this prompt.

[Prompt: Players have already entered the final area, the countdown for Qin Shi Huang’s resurrection had begun. Time remaining until Qin Shi Huang’s resurrection, 197 minutes and 28 seconds. Countdown continues…]

Damn it!

Chen Xiaolian felt as though his head was about to explode!

Miao Yan and Chen Xiaolian turned to look at one another, both their faces turning grave!

There were 2 important factors in this prompt: Firstly, the damned countdown. There was only slightly more than 3 hours of time!

The second factor was of higher importance: Players have entered Epang Palace!

Chen Xiaolian was clear that those considered as Players by the system were not only those who ‘arrives’ [3]. The system viewed everyone who entered the instance dungeon as Players.

These people who were stated to have entered… Were they Awakened ones or were they the real Players?

None of them knew!

When the three of them were trapped in the mercury secret chamber, they had received the prompt stating that Players had entered!

“Do not dawdle, let us hurry and go up! Heaven knows how much of the quest have been completed by those who entered!” Miao Yan’s face was one of imposing grimness. She quickly leaped up the stairs in frenzy as Chen Xiaolian followed from behind.

In one breath, they reached the top of the stairs. There they caught sight of something astonishing.

Beneath the main gate of the great hall lied 7 to 8 corpses!

There were both males and females. A mere glance at the way they were dressed revealed that they were participants of this instance dungeon – however, it was unknown if they were Players or Awakened ones.

These people’s state of death were extremely miserable. That was especially true for the one closest to Chen Xiaolian. The corpse of a man near his feet had its head completely flattened, leaving a mashed mass. Red blood and white brain matter were all jumbled together within that mess!

Some others had their bodies pierced with several spears. One of them was far worst off, as he was shot and pinned on the surface of the stonewalls. His entire body was pinned up high, akin to a hedgehog.

“Obviously, they were all killed by the monsters defending this instance dungeon. These monsters must be of the Qin terracotta soldier type,” Chen Xiaolian said quickly. “The arrows on their bodies, the spear weaponry, they are all the standard of the Qin army. En… they are all also made of stone.”

Chen Xiaolian picked up a stone spear that happened to be pierced into the ground. Weighing it for a moment, he felt its weight bearing down on his hands. In addition, it was also very sharp.

“We will talk after entering!” Miao Yan narrowed her eyes. “I must complete this quest! Regardless of what monster it is, any who blocks my path will die!”

After saying that, this woman walked forward and delivered a kick onto the 5 to 6 metres high, gigantic black coloured gate!

Boom!

Following the impact of her kick, an oppressive roaring sound rang out! One could only imagine how much power lied within this kick executed by this woman!

But…

The gate remained immobile!

1 The movie ‘Curse of The Golden Flower’ starring Chow Yun Fatt and Gong Li. The reason it is also known as ‘Curse of the Bouncing Breasts’ is because… them breasts stole the show… boing!

Also, the literal translation of the movie title is actually ‘The Whole City Is Clothed In Golden Armour’. Likewise, the literal translation for what the author wrote is… ‘The Whole City Is Filled With Bouncing Breasts’. Boing!↩

2 A poem about Epang Palace by poet Dumu from the Tang Dynasty. Six kingdoms reaching their end refer to the other 6 states of the Warring States Era that was conquered by Qin, thus unifying the (four seas) world. My head hurts… ↩

3 He is referring to the Players who ‘arrives’ by taking over NPC bodies.↩

Extra: Epang Palace is a palace built by Qin Shi Huang. However, archaeologists concluded that it was never completed.