Chapter 869: How Could It Be Him?

He told Mi Li his doubts. Mi Li shook her head and said, "That's unlikely. Although this tomb is grand, it's still far from an emperor's specifications."

Still, she was filled with questions. "Hmm, this is the ancestral land of the Qin kings. Besides the past Qin kings, who else would be qualified to be buried here?"

At that moment, Bi Linglong's voice rang out, "Look, there are paintings on the walls."

Zu An and Mi Li turned their heads and saw several paintings on the wall.

From their previous experiences, he knew that tomb owners often used murals to record significant events from their lives, so he examined them carefully.

The first two paintings depicted a general leading his army to conquer many cities, clearly indicating illustrious military achievements. The third painting showed him leading a vast army constructing a long city wall. The final painting depicted him surrounded by several envoys, forced to swallow poison and commit suicide.

Bi Linglong couldn't help but sigh, "This general led a magnificent life, yet ultimately met such a fate. It truly is a case of 'when the birds are gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning rabbit dies, the hounds are cooked'."

"Could this person be Meng Tian?" Zu An couldn't help but wonder as he looked at the murals.

Mi Li was a little surprised. "How did you know?"

Zu An pointed to the third painting on the wall. "Isn't that the Great Wall being built? It's recorded in history books that Meng Tian led 300,000 soldiers to construct the Great Wall."

Mi Li sighed. "That's right. The ancestors of the Meng clan were from Qi, later coming to Qin. They produced many capable ministers and renowned generals, making them the most prestigious family in Great Qin. He also had a brother, Meng Yi. Back then, with one brother handling internal affairs and the other external, the Meng family was truly at its zenith. Unfortunately, because they supported Fusu, they likely brought disaster upon themselves."

Having spent so much time together, she had already heard Zu An mention the later history of Qin, and naturally knew that both Fusu and the Meng brothers were later given death sentences.

Zu An's expression was a little strange. "Is Fusu your son?"

Mi Li's eyebrows nearly shot up, but since their relationship had grown closer, she thought for a moment and no longer hid the truth. "Fusu is my elder sister's son. My sister died young, and later I took on the responsibility of maintaining relations between Qin and Chu, coming to Qin to become the new empress. I just didn't expect Qin to begin conquering the six states later. The moment they went to war with Chu, us foreign relatives from Chu within the Qin royal family were naturally unwelcome. Because Fusu had Chu blood, Ying Zheng most likely wouldn't have let him inherit the throne either."

Bi Linglong's heart was filled with turmoil. Her previous suspicions were confirmed: this woman was indeed a figure from ancient times, and a dignified empress at that. No wonder her demeanor was so noble and authoritative. She thought, *But what dynasty is this 'Qin' they speak of? I need to ask Zu a lot more about it when I get the chance.*

"That's good, that's good," Zu An said with a sigh of relief. For some reason, he felt inexplicably happy when he learned that Mi Li had no children of her own.

"What's 'good' about it?" Mi Li retorted crossly. From her perspective, the fate of the foreign relatives from Chu was not a pleasant memory. She looked up at the coffin suspended in the air, her delicate brows furrowing. "What's the meaning of these chains firmly binding the coffin? It looks like it's being suppressed. Do they hate him that much? Not even letting him rest in death..."

At this point, Bi Linglong also spoke up, "Don't you think the elemental energy in the room is a bit strange?"

Because Mi Li and Zu An knew too much, their thoughts were complicated, causing them to overlook this most direct observation. After sensing for a while, they said, "The earth element in this room is exceptionally active and dense."

As Mi Li spoke, she walked around the room, inspecting. She crouched down, waved her sleeve, and swept away the dust, revealing various strange runes on the floor.

"Oh, this is a formation, and it has some kind of sinister aura..." Mi Li's delicate brows furrowed.

"Can you tell what kind of formation it is?" Zu An asked.

Mi Li shook her head. "There are too few clues, and the formation we see isn't complete. We need to examine other areas."

Just then, the ground suddenly rippled, and the entire room began to shake.

"Could it be that the room is about to change and move again, like before?" Bi Linglong quickly moved to Zu An's side, worried about being accidentally separated into different rooms. In this eerie place, that would truly be a desperate situation.

"Doesn't seem like it," Mi Li said, her gaze fixed on the ground directly beneath the coffin not far away.

The ground there suddenly cracked, and a mound of earth slowly rose, growing larger and larger. The mound then twisted and transformed continuously, finally forming a giant bear several zhang tall.

It was fortunate that the room was originally spacious and tall; otherwise, it probably wouldn't have been able to stand upright.

It had no eyes, but its massive head still "looked" towards them, letting out roars before charging at them.

Mi Li quickly said, "When certain elements become exceptionally dense and active, corresponding demonic creatures are formed. This one is yours."

Zu An understood her situation; she avoided acting to conserve energy whenever possible, so he naturally had no objection. "Watch me," he said.

"A real man should... Ugh, no, a real man should face it head-on!" he yelled, charging directly forward.

Bi Linglong was a little worried and quickly warned him, "This demonic creature is called the Earth Bear. It has an extremely volatile temper, immense strength, and formidable defense. It's very difficult to defeat...?"

In her eyes, Zu An charged forward without dodging, allowing the creature to punch him. Yet, he seemed completely unfazed, delivering his own punch that struck the Earth Bear's head.

With a thud, the Earth Bear's head shattered instantly, and its massive body crashed to the ground.

Bi Linglong quickly ran over, pulling Zu An's sleeve to check on him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Zu An chuckled.

"But you just took a punch from the Earth Bear..." Bi Linglong said with a worried expression. Although she had never fought an Earth Bear herself, she had read about it in books. Its punch possessed the force of a thousand jun, enough to severely injure even a Grandmaster if they didn't dodge.

"Don't worry, this kid has no other strengths apart from his incredibly tough body. An Earth Bear's punch can't hurt him," Mi Li snorted. Zu An had just undergone three grand-completion body refinements with the Primordial Chaos Scripture; his body was harder than anyone before or after him. How could he possibly be injured by that?

"What do you mean, 'no other strengths'?" Zu An immediately felt dissatisfied. Just as he was about to retort, strange noises came from behind them.

Turning back, they saw the headless body of the Earth Bear move. The scattered chunks of earth on the ground automatically coalesced into a head, which it then awkwardly reattached.

Mi Li explained, "As long as the earth element isn't depleted, this thing can continuously regenerate. It's very difficult to kill, which is why it's so troublesome."

The Earth Bear roared and charged at Zu An again. Clearly, Zu An's previous attack had successfully drawn its aggression.

Zu An's mind raced, and he instantly had an idea. He summoned the Fire Phoenix, and its phoenix flames quickly enveloped the creature. The extremely high temperature instantly baked out the water from its body, causing its surface to visibly crack and even show faint signs of crystallization.

He then quickly dispelled the phoenix flames and summoned the Snow Phoenix. The room instantly became a world of ice and snow, and the Earth Bear's body rapidly cooled.

Experiencing both extreme heat and extreme cold in a short period, its body could no longer withstand the stress and instantly shattered into countless small clumps of earth.

Zu An waved his hand, and a layer of frost covered the earth clumps, freezing them and preventing them from reassembling to restore the body.

"The saying 'master science, math, and chemistry, and fear nothing in the world' truly is a golden rule," Zu An clapped his hands, thinking that if he had enough time, he could even bake this pile of earth into ceramic.

"While the ice hasn't melted, let's leave here and explore other places." Zu An wasn't so stubborn as to stay and waste time fighting this unkillable creature. Who knew where the emperor was now? He couldn't let him get ahead.

Mi Li and Bi Linglong naturally had no objections. Soon, the group passed through a long passage and arrived in a new room. Unlike the previous one, this room was vibrant and full of life, with lush green grass everywhere, as if they were in a primeval forest.

"Those vines seem to be wrapping something," Bi Linglong said, pointing at the tightly clustered vines in the center.

Both Zu An and Mi Li were highly skilled and bold; without any fear, they walked directly over to investigate.

Although many vines blocked their way, a path was quickly cleared by the sharp Tai'a sword.

"Another coffin," Zu An said gravely.

"Open it and see. I'm very curious who is buried here." Mi Li could barely understand Meng Tian being buried in the previous room, as he was a distinguished Qin official and arguably qualified to be there.

But this coffin in front of them was a mystery; there were no murals or anything else to indicate the tomb owner's identity.

Zu An was equally curious. He easily lifted the coffin lid with his current strength. However, upon seeing what was inside, his scalp tingled, and a chill surged up his spine. "How could it be him!"