Silence fell over the great hall of the Royal Palace, leaving only Zhao Gao's terrified voice and the First Emperor's suddenly raised voice.
Zhao Gao really had consulted a great many ancient texts, but not to grant the First Emperor eternal life.
Unlike the First Emperor, he did not believe in any so-called elixir of immortality at all, but humoring the emperor was one of his duties.
He had consulted the texts to compete for more favor before the First Emperor and gain more power.
But as he searched, he discovered that becoming an immortal seemingly did exist, though not as the immortality seekers and occultists described it. Everyone, including the First Emperor, seemed to have fallen into a misconception.
Zhao Gao prostrated himself on the ground, trembling with fear. "Your Majesty, if there were immortal Sage Kings in this world, how did the later Sage Kings arise?
"If the Celestial Emperor was immortal, how did the Terrestrial Emperor come to rule All Xia?
"The Celestial Emperor vanished, and the Terrestrial Emperor was immortal, yet the Supreme Emperor appeared. Is that not the strangest thing about the path to immortality?"
The First Emperor's gaze darkened, and his voice grew hoarse. "You mean there is no eternal life in this world? That everyone has been deceiving me?"
The air in the great hall had frozen completely. The First Emperor's anger made everyone tremble; even the bitterest winter days, when dripping water froze into ice, could not have been colder than their hearts were now.
When the Son of Heaven raged, a million corpses lay fallen and blood flowed for a thousand miles. There was not a word of exaggeration in that, especially with the First Emperor, probably the most powerful Son of Heaven in history. The entire world had to prostrate