As soon as Zu An heard those words, he pointed to Qiao Xueying and exclaimed, “Her! Let her go first!”

Qiao Xueying’s mouth fell open.

“Wow, I really should thank you for your generosity, huh?” Qiao Xueying said venomously, shooting Zu An a deadly glare.

Zu An wasn’t the least bit embarrassed. “You aren’t even my woman, so why should I protect you? Besides, we’re enemies now. Haven’t you heard of the saying ‘kick them while they’re down’?”

Qiao Xueying sighed deeply and said, “Huh, I guess you really do have no reason to protect me.”

Zu An was a little flabbergasted by how easily Qiao Xueying was going along with him. “Am I hearing things? Are you actually agreeing with me?”

Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes and said, “What’s wrong with you? Why do you look so horrified that I’m agreeing with what you said? Do you actually enjoy having me argue with you? Disgusting!”

On the stone table, Chu Chuyan let out a little laugh. The two of them always bicker with one another whenever they meet. It really feels like a love-hate relationship.

The black-armored general shot a glance at Zu An before saying, “At least you’re much more straightforward than that man earlier on. You’re a genuine scoundrel.”

“Wait a moment, why am I a scoundrel? Haven’t you seen how devoted I am to my wife?” Zu An immediately lost his temper. “Oh, wait a moment. Does that mean that Shi Kun abandoned her? Did he try to use her as a shield to buy time for his own escape?”

Qiao Xueying was taken aback. “How did you know? Have you been spying on us?!”

“I don’t have an interest in that.” Zu An said with a shrug. “Besides, do I even need to watch it unfold in order to know what happened? It’s such a clichéd scene in all drama series that it hardly interests me anymore.”

“What is this ‘drama series’?”

Neither Qiao Xueying nor Chu Chuyan had heard of this term before.

“That’s not important. The important thing is that you should have finally seen what kind of a man Shi Kun is. He’s someone who values his own life above others. Putting aside a servant like you, I reckon that he wouldn’t hesitate to abandon his own father in times of danger!” said Zu An. “That’s why I say that women like you are too shallow. You think that good-looking guys are bound to have pretty hearts too. Please! Men who look good are bound to be creeps!” 

A split second later, he quickly supplemented, “Cough cough, I’m the exception, of course. Someone as handsome and gentle and kind as me is one-of-a-kind in the entire world!”

“Stop it, I’m going to puke.” Qiao Xueying rolled her eyes. “It’s already bad enough that I’m going to die here. Could you at least stop torturing me?”

“Hey, are you going to continue being so rude?” Zu An was rather displeased.

The black-armored general finally cut them off with a cold snort. “How long are the two of you going to argue for? Don’t worry, I’ll take both of your lives at once so that you can continue bickering on your way to hell.”

It raised its hands, and two sabers materialized before their heads like guillotines. It looked like they were about to fall the next moment and decapitate the two of them.

“Ah Zu!” Chu Chuyan cried out in alarm, but she couldn’t move at all. Even if she were in her peak condition, she still wouldn’t have been a match for this black-armored general.

Qiao Xueying closed her eyes. Ever since she had been treated like a shield by Shi Kun, her heart had already withered. At this point, death would almost feel like a relief to her.

Suddenly Zu An spoke. “Brother Zhang Han, there’s a question that I need to ask you.”

These abrupt words left Chu Chuyan bewildered. Even Qiao Xueying also opened her eyes in puzzlement. Who is he talking to?

The two women looked around, but there was no one else to be seen.

“Zhang Han…” The black-armored general shuddered upon hearing the name. It took him a long while before he finally responded wistfully, “It has been a long time since anyone has called me that. I had almost forgotten my own name.”

Qiao Xueying’s lower jaw fell almost to the ground. The zombie general has a name, and Zu An actually knows it? What’s the world coming to?

Chu Chuyan was stunned as well. Zu An had really given her a lot of surprises over the last few days. More and more secrets were surfacing from him, stoking her curiosity. She realized that she had never really gotten to know the real Zu An all this while.

“How do you know my name?” Zhang Han turned to Zu An with doubt in his eyes.

Zu An smiled and said, “If I said that we were friends in our previous lives, would you believe me?”

He had already used his skill ‘Befriend a Rich Man’. Yet another hundred thousand taels of silver going to waste… Damn!

He had learned his lesson from his previous failure with Shi Kun. He knew that, even if he became friends with the target, he still couldn’t forcefully manipulate the target’s train of thought. Thus, he chose to proceed with this matter carefully, not daring to be too direct.

“Friends?” Zhang Han was stunned for a moment before roaring into laughter. “I, Zhang Han, have no friends. I didn’t have any before, and I will never have any!”

Despite those words, Zu An noticed that the two sabers in the air had subconsciously drifted a little to the side.

He sighed softly and said, “You know, we have a word for people like you—’tsundere’. Are you sure that you don’t want to have friends? Surely it must have been lonely for you to guard this lifeless tomb all alone for so many years?”

Zhang Han was silent for a while before sighing deeply. “Lonely? Time already holds no meaning to me—what does loneliness count as?”

Both Qiao Xueying and Chu Chuyan exchanged bewildered looks. The scene playing out in front of them was simply too incomprehensible. In the dingy depths of this underground palace, Zu An is actually having a philosophical debate with a zombie?

However, Zhang Han soon snapped out of his daze. He stared at Zu An, blue flames burning intently in the depths of his eyes as he asked, “Who in the world are you? How do you know my name?”

“A woman named Mi Li told me,” replied Zu An. 

He made sure to pay close attention to the black-armored zombie general as he said those words, hoping to garner some information from the latter’s reaction.

“Hmmm~” A surprised, feminine remark sounded from the depths of the underground cavern. However, it was too soft for any of them to hear.

“Her Majesty? No, that’s impossible!” Zhang Han shook his head vehemently, a fearful look on his face, as if he had just learned something incredibly terrifying.

Her Majesty? Zu An’s eyes lit up as he remembered a piece of history from his previous life. 

In the Spring and Autumn–Warring States period, the Qin State was originally on good terms with the Jin State. It supported the fleeing Duke Wen of Jin as he rose to the throne, ushering in prosperous times for the Jin State, who swiftly moved to conquer the states around it. Unfortunately, the Qin State harbored great ambitions itself—it intended to conquer the Central Plains, and the Jin State was both literally and figuratively standing in its way. 

The Jin State couldn’t bear the notion of the Qin State expanding its influence to the Central Plains either, so a conflict broke out between the two countries. It eventually led to the Battle of Xiao, where the Jin State set up traps for the Qin State along the way, finally defeating the Qin army. That led to a complete fracturing of relations.

Having become enemies with the Jin State, the Qin State soon proposed a political marriage with the Chu State in order to forge an alliance. It just so happened that the Jin State was their common enemy, so it didn’t take much for them to get in the same bed together.

In the next hundred years to come, the Qin and Chu states strengthened their bonds through intermarrying. The queen of the Qin State would often be the princess of the Chu State, and the men of the Chu royal family went by the surname of ‘Xiong’ while its women went by the surname of ‘Mi’.

‘Mi’ was a truly rare surname, so it was easy enough to link it to the Chu Country.

However, the Chu State’s princesses who had married into the Qin royal family were only able to be given the status of queens. Theoretically speaking, only two of them were qualified to be termed as empresses.[1]

However, based on what he knew, there were no records on who the empresses of Qin Shihuang or Qin Ershi were.

“How do you know Her Majesty’s name? There should have been no one in the world who knows who she is. Who are you?” The black-armored general rushed up to Zu An and demanded with a fevered tone.

The other party’s powerful presence made it hard for Zu An to breathe. He gulped fearfully as his heart quivered in hesitation. Should I gamble on it?

He was aware that even if the black-armored general viewed him as its friend, it was unlikely that it would let Chu Chuyan go just because of that. Since that was the case, he had no choice but to give it a try.

Go big or go home! If I’m right, it’ll be all good. If I’m wrong, well, death is the worst that can happen.

“Hahaha! You’re asking who I am?” Zu An suddenly burst into hearty laughter.

Qiao Xueying turned to stare at him with a bewildered look. Has this fellow been scared silly?

“I’m the one who has risen above the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors[2] to become the first sovereign emperor of the world! I am Qin Shihuang, Ying Zheng[3]!” Zu An put on an air of royalty as he spoke. “How could I possibly not know the name of my own empress?”

In a hidden space in the depths of the underground palace, within a big crystal coffin, lay a beautiful woman draped in the fineries worn only by the empress. She opened her eyes and spat, “That bastard! How dare he take advantage of me?”

At the altar, Zhang Han was utterly shocked. He staggered a few steps backward in shock before murmuring weakly, “Y-Your Majesty?”

Qiao Xueying was baffled, unable to comprehend what they were saying at all. 

What ‘sovereign emperor’ and what ‘Qin Shihuang’? Why haven’t I heard any of this before? It’s lucky that we’re the only ones here. If word were to spread that he just proclaimed himself emperor, the whole Chu clan would be executed together with him.

Only Chu Chuyan frowned upon hearing those words. She remembered hearing those names from the historical records in the academy, but there were very few details stated in them. This world was severely lacking in the research of historical texts.

“Zhang Han, why are you not kneeling despite being in my presence?!” Zu An roared majestically, but his heart was fluttering uneasily. Did I go too big this time around?

“Chamberlain of Palace Revenue, Zhang Han, pays respects to Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty!” 

The black-armored general recalled how it had sensed a closeness to this man in front of him earlier on. Now that all of this circumstantial evidence had fallen into place, it quickly kneeled onto the floor and kowtowed to Zu An.

The two women were so shocked that their eyeballs nearly popped out. It was unbelievable to them how a powerful expert like the black-armored general was actually kowtowing to Zu An. They would have never imagined this to be possible.

Chu Chuyan fell deep into thought. The black-armored general had identified himself as the Chamberlain of Palace Revenue, which was one of the Nine Ministers. He was in charge of collecting land taxes and managing the imperial family’s vault. He was also responsible for maintaining the imperial garden, imperial chambers, and all building-related matters.

That would explain why the black-armored general was so powerful. He was a ninth rank cultivator. This would also explain why this place resembled the mausoleum of the imperial family.

But what is going on with Ah Zu? Is he really this Ying Zheng that he claims himself to be?

“How long are you going to continue holding me hostage?” said Zu An coldly.

“I dare not!” Zhang Han quickly released the bindings around Zu An, although he wondered why the emperor had suddenly become so weak.

Having guessed the general’s thoughts, Zu An added, “I’ve only just regained my memories, but I have yet to regain my strength. You may rise.”

Zhang Han nodded in understanding, satisfied with the explanation. “Thank you, Your Majesty. It looks like Xu Fu has successfully discovered the art of longevity for Your Majesty. Congratulations, Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty!”

Zu An was dumbfounded. 

Wow, this is really odd. It’s exactly the same as what I’ve heard about the Qin Dynasty in my previous life… but did the Qin Dynasty in my previous life have such formidable cultivators as well?

Something must be wrong here!

However, since he had already begun this act, there was no choice but to see it through to the end. So, he sighed deeply and said, “What’s the point? My Great Qin Dynasty has already fallen!”

Zhang Han quickly kneeled onto the ground frightfully and cried out, “I deserve death for my incompetence!”