Chapter 169: Ancient Secrets

"Nonsense! If he didn't believe me, why would he kneel before me? Wait a minute..." Zu'an suddenly reacted. "You almost tricked me. What do you mean, 'pretending'? I am Qin Shi Huang, Ying Zheng."

The mysterious woman remained silent.

"Are you really addicted to pretending?" The mysterious woman sneered. "Then do you know who I am?"

"You are..." Zu'an was about to answer when he suddenly realized something, and his face immediately showed a hint of embarrassment. "You are my... wife? My Empress?"

The mysterious woman remained silent.

"You're really getting into character, aren't you? You even know my identity, and yet you still dare to spout nonsense here!"

Zu'an chuckled awkwardly, "I've only just recovered my memories; I don't remember many things..."

"Shut up. I wouldn't fail to recognize my own husband. Don't bother trying to fool me with the same nonsense you used on Zhang Han." The mysterious woman snorted coldly. "Besides, you didn't even fool Zhang Han."

"What do you mean?" Zu'an recalled her saying something similar just now. Did Zhang Han really see through him?

"You made three mistakes in front of Zhang Han just now." The mysterious woman said calmly, "First, Ying Zheng's personality was ferocious, cruel, and ungrateful. If the real Ying Zheng were to revive and learn that Zhang Han had lost the Qin Dynasty's last main army, he would never have forgiven him so easily."

"I've only just recovered my memories, and my strength is still weak. What's wrong with saying some soothing words to temporarily stabilize him?" Zu'an felt he was getting more and more into character.

"Temporarily appeasing him isn't the issue, but your methods are too childish. Also, your phrase 'It was fate; beyond human power to reverse' clearly doesn't fit Ying Zheng's character. Ying Zheng prided himself on achievements surpassing the Three Sovereigns and virtues exceeding the Five Emperors, believing himself to be as eternal as heaven and earth, shining with the sun and moon. How could he possibly submit to any 'fate'?" The woman's voice was full of sarcasm.

Zu'an fell silent. As a keyboard warrior, he was fine at pontificating online, but impersonating the First Emperor in reality, it would be a miracle if he didn't expose himself.

"Your second mistake was claiming the girl with the braids was your friend in order to save her," the mysterious woman continued.

"What's wrong with that?" Zu'an asked, puzzled.

"Ying Zheng was arrogant and wouldn't allow anyone to be his equal, much less have so-called 'friends.' You could have called that girl your subordinate, maid, or even female slave, and Zhang Han wouldn't have refused to release her. But you simply couldn't call her your friend," the mysterious woman explained.

Zu'an recalled the situation. No wonder Zhang Han's tone had changed then; even he had sensed it. Still, he asked, refusing to give up, "Hmph, I have been reborn into this world, completely transformed. What's wrong with a change in personality? Did he really conclude I was an impostor based solely on these things?"

"Personality isn't that easy to change. Besides, you made more than just those two mistakes; there was another, even more fatal one," the mysterious woman's distant voice stated.

"What?" Zu'an's heart skipped a beat.

"You just mentioned being worried about those undead legions rushing out and disturbing me?" The mysterious woman's voice was full of mockery.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Zu'an asked, looking perplexed.

The mysterious woman didn't answer directly but instead asked, "Do you know what those undead legions are?"

"Weren't they said to be the vengeful spirits of the rebel armies from the Six Eastern States?" Zu'an asked.

"Hahaha, if you're going to pretend to be Ying Zheng, at least do it properly. Ying Zheng wouldn't easily believe others' words," the mysterious woman let out an eerie laugh. "Those undead legions aren't the rebel armies from the Six Eastern States; they are the Qin Empire's last two hundred thousand main troops!"

"What!" Zu'an's face instantly changed.

The mysterious woman's voice drifted over, "Back then, Zhang Han, as the Minor Treasurer, was initially in charge of the Lishan convicts constructing the imperial mausoleum. When the world plunged into chaos and wars erupted everywhere, with Qin on the brink of collapse, he led the Lishan convicts to decisively defeat various rebel armies. Later, the court continuously supplied him with troops, and all the main forces came under his command."

"He was indeed very capable, forcing all the warlords into submission, and it seemed he was on the verge of completely suppressing the rebellion. However, then someone emerged... In the Battle of Julu, he and Wang Li were soundly defeated by the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, Xiang Yu. Later, they were defeated again in the Battle of Zhangyu. Additionally, being at odds with Zhao Gao, the powerful minister in the court, and fearing execution, he defected to Xiang Yu, causing Qin's last 200,000 elite main forces to be entirely massacred by Xiang Yu."

"Sealed beneath this pool are the spirits of those 200,000 Qin soldiers."

Zu'an's face changed drastically. No wonder he had noticed earlier that the escaped spirits all harbored intense hatred for Zhang Han; so this was the reason.

Zu'an pondered where his mistake was. "Because those undead are Qin soldiers, they wouldn't disturb you?"

"No, because Ying Zheng would never worry about that," the mysterious woman replied.

Zu'an was utterly perplexed.

Zu'an internally grumbled, *What's wrong with her? Can't she just say it all at once? I have to keep asking questions; it's exhausting playing the straight man.*

The woman's voice continued, "Do you know what Zhang Han was doing before he suppressed the rebel armies of the various states?"

"Weren't you saying he was the Minor Treasurer, in charge of imperial mausoleum construction and such?" Zu'an replied.

"No, to be precise, he wasn't building the imperial mausoleum, but rather the empress's mausoleum," the woman said with a sigh.

"Empress's mausoleum?" Zu'an was startled. "But later history has no corresponding records, and there's even much debate about whether the First Emperor even had an empress."

"That's because Ying Zheng eradicated all traces of my existence, just like the burning of books and burying of scholars," the woman said. "Since you know this history, you should be able to guess my origin from my surname."

"You are a princess of Chu?" Zu'an ventured.

"That's right, I am from Chu. Because I was the empress, many Chu nobles also held high positions in Qin. Initially, our interests aligned with Ying Zheng's; we helped him govern the country and even assisted in suppressing the rebellions of Lao Ai and Cheng Jiao."

"Unfortunately, later on, when Qin sought to unify the world and even destroy Chu, the conflict between us became irreconcilable. My uncle, Lord Changping Xiong Qi, had been in Qin for many years, even serving as Prime Minister. However, he was, after all, a prince of the Chu royal family, deeply devoted to his homeland. So, when Qin launched its first major attack on Chu, he raised an army in rebellion, causing the Qin army to suffer its greatest defeat since the subjugation of the Six States."

"Ying Zheng was furious about this. While he gathered 600,000 troops from across the nation for Wang Jian to conquer Chu, he also completely purged the influence of Chu's maternal relatives within Qin. As a princess of Chu, I was naturally the first target."

"Soon, I was deposed, and all Chu maternal relatives were executed. Even my son, Fusu, due to his Chu bloodline, completely lost his right to succession and was exiled to the frontier to construct the Great Wall..."

Zu'an was shocked, "Fusu is your son?"

The woman named Mi Li's voice grew cold, "What, is there a problem with that?"

Zu'an chuckled awkwardly, "Of course not..." He thought to himself, *The glamorous older sister I had been fantasizing about has now officially become an aunt with a child. It's a bit disillusioning.*

He suddenly had an epiphany. Historically, there has been much debate about the mystery of Qin Shi Huang's succession. Many believe Fusu was the legitimate eldest son and should have inherited the throne, but Hu Hai, Li Si, and Zhao Gao, through their conspiracy at Shaqiu, usurped the throne and then ordered Fusu's death.

However, what puzzled people was why Qin Shi Huang would send his eldest son Fusu to the remote frontier, far from the center of power. Some said it was to train Fusu, allow him to build good relations with the Meng family, and familiarize himself with the military system in preparation for his future succession. Others claimed it was actually an exile for Fusu. Both arguments had their merits, and neither could fully convince the other.

Only now did he realize it was because of his mother's Chu heritage that Fusu lost his right to succession!

Mi Li said coldly, "Because of his mother's affair with Lao Ai, Ying Zheng deeply hated women. Coupled with that crushing defeat from Chu, he despised me intensely. Deposing me as empress wasn't enough to satisfy his hatred, so he had Zhang Han specially construct this mausoleum to seal and suppress me, preventing me from ever returning to seek revenge. Therefore, if you were truly Ying Zheng, how could you possibly worry about those common people disturbing me?"

Zu'an finally understood where the problem lay. He couldn't help but curse internally, *As an outsider, how was I supposed to know your circle was so chaotic!*

"Uh, Auntie, wait a minute, I have a question..."

"What did you call me!" A trace of anger entered Mi Li's voice.

Zu'an thought, *You already have kids; am I supposed to call you 'sister' instead of 'auntie'?* Of course, he was quick to adapt and immediately corrected himself, "Empress Sister, as far as I know, historically, both Qin Shi Huang and Zhang Han were ultimately just ordinary people, possessing none of these miraculous powers. Yet now, Zhang Han seems like an immortal, indestructible zombie, possessing abilities that could reach heaven and earth. And you, Sister, seem to have lived for thousands, even tens of thousands of years. I don't know if you're a ghost or some other kind of being..."

"I want to know what exactly happened to you all, how you came to this cultivation world from Earth, and where you learned all these abilities?"

Mi Li's tone held a hint of surprise: "Earth? I don't understand what you're talking about. We've always been in this world. Our abilities, naturally, we cultivated ourselves. If Zhang Han hadn't possessed these skills, how could he have attained the position of Minor Treasurer, one of the Nine Ministers, back then?"

"As for Zhang Han's current half-human, half-ghost appearance, it's because he practiced a dark-elemental cultivation technique, sacrificing his physical body to gain a certain degree of immortality."

Zu'an listened, dumbfounded: "You've always been in this world?"

After receiving confirmation, he was utterly bewildered. So this world also had the familiar dynasties from his previous life, and the historical trajectory wasn't significantly different. The only distinction was that the individual power in these dynasties was almost god-like.

Was this a mythical version of a parallel world?

Combining the information he had gathered since transmigrating to this world with Mi Li's words, he roughly deduced that a major event occurred in this world after the Qing Dynasty, leading to a break in civilization. It was only much, much later that civilization reappeared on the planet.

The new civilization included not only humans but also various other races. In their struggle for resources, different races quickly began to fight amongst themselves.

After thousands of years of conflict, the human race, led by the Emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, finally emerged victorious, driving the non-human races to the harsh, desolate borderlands.

As for the dynasties preceding the civilization break, people in this current world collectively referred to them as the Ancient Era.

At this point, Mi Li's voice interrupted his thoughts: "You have too many questions. You need to make a decision quickly. Once Zhang Han finishes suppressing those escaped undead legions, it will be the death of you and these two women."