Liu Bang froze briefly after reading the question.
This question... he seemed to know the answer.
Option A was clearly talking about Qin Shi Huang. It could hardly be called life-shortening, but it was useless all the same. After all, Xu Fu had yet to return from his second voyage.
When he had discussed this with Xiao He, Zhang Liang, and the others, they had all agreed that Xu Fu must have failed to find the elixir of immortality and fled to some overseas island for fear of the First Emperor's wrath.
He did not know whether option B shortened one's life, but it was probably useless too.
Back then, the First Emperor had recruited practitioners of the occult from across the realm, both to seek the elixir of immortality and to concoct Immortality Pills. And what had come of it? The First Emperor had died before turning fifty. He had not even lived as long as Liu Bang.
C... even if indulging oneself shortened one's life, surely it would not shorten it the most?
D, toiling over affairs of state, certainly shortened one's life-Liu Bang had gained a deep appreciation of that over the past few years.
But whether it shortened one's life the most was another matter.
E sounded like something a minister would say, yet it involved medicine. He was no physician. How was he supposed to know whether that treatment was sound?
Option F, on the other hand, was bluntly worded but seemed quite reasonable...
Liu Bang had thought he knew how to answer this question, but after carefully considering all eight options, he no longer did.
"Which option shortens one's life the most? Which ones actually work? This question is far too devious."
Just as Liu Bang was scratching his head, Lou Jing and Chen Ping arrived outside his carriage.
The two were about to salute, but Liu Bang lifted the curtain and beckoned them straight inside. "There's not much time. You two, get in quickly!"
Lou Jing answered, "Yes," and climbed aboard.
Chen Ping, however, hesitated-he simply could not forget the burning look in Liu Bang's eyes as he watched the young soldiers in camp during those two days after escaping the encirclement at Mount Baideng.
After all, Chen Ping had been a handsome man in his youth, and even now that he was older, he could still be called beautiful. The imperial carriage was not very spacious. If he climbed inside and Liu Bang took the opportunity to get handsy with him, what was he supposed to do?
"Chen Ping?"
With Liu Bang urging him on, Chen Ping could only steel himself and climb aboard, though he knelt as close to the carriage door as possible.
Liu Bang knew nothing of Chen Ping's thoughts. With time running short, he said directly, "I'll give you a question. Help me work out the answer, and be quick."
He then recited the question.
Though Lou Jing and Chen Ping found it somewhat odd, they assumed Liu Bang was merely bored and had chosen to ask their views on emperors pursuing immortality in the form of a quiz.
They immediately began sharing their thoughts... and by the end, they were actually arguing over which practice shortened one's life the most.
Lou Jing said, "The greatest life-shortener must be either C or G! Wine and lust harm a man. Anyone who sinks into unchecked indulgence will surely shorten his life!"
"As for option G, there are countless ailments physicians cannot cure. If an emperor exterminates a man's nine familial clans for that reason alone, he offends the harmony of Heaven above and wounds the harmony of men below. That, too, will surely shorten his life!"
A few days earlier, Liu Bang had released Lou Jing at Guangwu and, after a lengthy conversation, bestowed lavish rewards upon him. That had already left Chen Ping feeling somewhat threatened.
Now that their views differed, he naturally argued with all his might.
"Wine and lust may harm a man, but they harm only his body. Toiling over affairs of state harms not only his body, but his spirit as well!"
"Therefore, if we are choosing what shortens one's life the most, it must be option D. As for exterminating nine familial clans shortening one's life, that is utter nonsense!"
"What do you mean, nonsense?" Lou Jing spoke faster, his voice rising as well. "The First Emperor died suddenly at Dune before he was fifty. Was that not because Qin Law was brutal and the slaughter excessive?"
Chen Ping was about to retort when Liu Bang noticed that the hourglass in the Rebel Army Group was almost empty. He hurriedly said, "Enough. Since you both believe that wallowing in wine and lust certainly shortens one's life, we'll choose that. Now hurry and tell me which options actually help prolong one's life!"
"F and H!" The two men, who had just been arguing, gave the same answer in unison.
Seeing this, Liu Bang asked no further questions and entered his answer just before the sand ran out.
Elsewhere, Zhang Jiao had no one to consult, while Zhu Yuanzhang had no time to seek out anyone reliable, so both made their choices alone.
[Administrator: All three group members entered their answers within fifteen minutes. Your answers and the correct answer will now be announced.] [Liu Bang: C shortens one's life the most. F and H actually work.] [Zhang Jiao: C shortens one's life the most. F and H actually work.] [Zhu Yuanzhang: C shortens one's life the most. F and H actually work.]
At this, all three breathed a sigh of relief. Liu Bang even looked delighted.
"Haha, all three of us gave the same answer. Surely that must be the correct answer?"
Yet before Liu Bang's smile had fully blossomed, he saw a new line of text appear.
[Correct answer: B shortens one's life the most. F and H actually work.]
How could that be?
Seeing the correct answer in the group, Liu Bang, Zhang Jiao, and Zhu Yuanzhang all found it hard to believe.
Once they recovered, Zhang Jiao and Zhu Yuanzhang frowned and pondered why this was the answer.
Liu Bang simply asked Lou Jing and Chen Ping.
"If the person who set the question says option B shortens one's life the most, what do you think?"
Chen Ping answered first. "How could that be? Even if the Immortality Pills made by the occult practitioners an emperor recruits cannot prolong his life, surely they cannot shorten it more than the other options?"
"Indeed." Lou Jing was once again in agreement with Chen Ping. "Unless the practitioners concocting the pills deliberately intend to harm the emperor, claiming to make Immortality Pills while actually making poison pills."
"Still, it is said that before taking the Immortality Pills those practitioners made, the First Emperor always had them take some first to test for poison. Surely he could not have been poisoned by poison pills?"
Liu Bang had not expected that neither Chen Ping nor Lou Jing could deduce why taking elixirs shortened one's life the most.
He then silently counted himself fortunate.
Fortunately, in the two years since the founding of Great Han, he had been busy campaigning against rebels, and the Great Han court was poor. He had neither the inclination nor the money to recruit occult practitioners to concoct elixirs. Had he followed the First Emperor's example and taken pills to prolong his life, his body would probably have broken down even faster...
Elsewhere, Zhang Jiao was first startled by the answer, then enlightened, and finally excited.
The Way of Great Peace was a sect founded primarily on Daoist thought, blended with the teachings of the Way of the Immortals and the Way of Huang-Lao. It could be considered the progenitor of Daoism.
Its sacred text, the Scripture of Great Peace, also taught methods for prolonging life and even seeking immortality. Yet these relied not on taking external elixirs, but on seeking within. It taught the practice of Guarding the One, holding that prolonged practice could transform the physical form into spirit, thereby extending life and allowing one to attain the Dao and immortality.
Now that the Rebel Army Group had condemned external elixirs as the most life-shortening method of pursuing immortality, did that not prove that the inward-seeking methods of "Guarding the One" and "spirit transformation" described in the Scripture of Great Peace were the true path to immortality?
Amid his excitement, Zhang Jiao could not help sighing as he remembered his present circumstances.
Unfortunately, the inward-seeking methods in the Scripture of Great Peace demanded extraordinary talent. Though he called himself the Great Worthy and Good Teacher and the General of Heaven, he had little talent for cultivation and had not even reached the threshold of those methods. Never mind extending his life-he could not even restore his own health now...
Zhu Yuanzhang was equally surprised by the answer.
Though he had read many histories and knew that emperors throughout the dynasties had taken elixirs in hopes of prolonging their lives, he had never seen any history state that an emperor had died from taking them. At most, censors had remonstrated that seeking immortality through elixirs was an illusory pursuit, one that should not be allowed to exhaust the people and squander wealth.
After all, even an emperor as wise and mighty as Emperor Taizong of Tang had taken elixirs in his later years when plagued by stubborn illness, hoping they would ease his suffering or even prolong his life.
Who could have imagined that these elixirs not only did the body no good, but shortened one's life more than "wallowing in wine and lust," "toiling over affairs of state," and the other practices?
Indeed, with his health failing over the past two years and his persistent ailments refusing to heal, he had privately considered asking Celestial Master Zhang and other accomplished Daoists for miraculous elixirs to see whether taking them might relieve his symptoms.
Fortunately, he had only considered it and had not yet acted. Otherwise, would he not already have shortened his lifespan?
While each of the three pondered the answer given by the Rebel Army Group, new text appeared in the group.
[Administrator: All three answered this question incorrectly, triggering the explanation phase.]
An explanation?
Liu Bang's, Zhang Jiao's, and Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes all lit up.
An explanation was welcome. They were all eager to learn why option B shortened one's life the most.
[Explanation: The so-called Immortality Pills, golden elixirs, and miraculous elixirs concocted by occult practitioners, sorcerers, Daoist priests, and others are mostly made from heavy metals and minerals such as lead, mercury, and sulfur.] [These substances are inherently toxic and difficult to eliminate from the body. Long-term consumption causes them to accumulate in large quantities, resulting in chronic poisoning, also known as "elixir poisoning."] [Though such elixirs may briefly invigorate the spirit, qi, and blood, they do so at the cost of damaging the body's nervous, digestive, and blood-forming systems.] [Those who take these elixirs therefore often exhibit irritability, violent abdominal pain, numbness in the limbs, and festering sores. These are all symptoms of "heavy metal poisoning," which ultimately leads to death from toxicity.] [Throughout the dynasties, emperors of both great talent and vision and mediocre, muddleheaded incompetence have taken elixirs or even placed blind faith in them. Little did they know that these elixirs not only did the body no good, but greatly shortened their lives!]
After reading this text, Zhu Yuanzhang was momentarily stunned.
"So lead, mercury, and many other ingredients used to concoct elixirs are those things called heavy metals. They cause chronic poisoning, damage the body, and ultimately kill through toxicity."
"In that case, aren't those elixirs much like the Five-Mineral Powder popular during the Wei and Jin periods? No wonder the Rebel Army Group condemned them as the greatest life-shortener."
Thinking of how even men of great talent and vision such as the First Emperor and Emperor Taizong of Tang had shortened their lives through blind faith in elixirs, Zhu Yuanzhang silently reminded himself never to take such pills, no matter what happened.
Liu Bang and Zhang Jiao were equally shocked by the harm elixirs did to the body, and they silently committed the explanation to memory.
Liu Bang even wanted to use the Rebel Army Group's explanation to show off before Lou Jing and Chen Ping. Yet just as the corners of his mouth lifted and he was about to speak, more text appeared in the group.
[Administrator: Since no one answered this question correctly, we will now enter the race-to-answer phase. Anyone who fails to answer a single question correctly will be punished. One correct answer grants exemption from punishment, and two correct answers earn a reward. Anyone who answers three questions correctly in succession is guaranteed to receive an important piece of information concerning their own fate or the development of their faction.]