The Great Qin Dynasty: The egg of the Black Bird was revered as a national guardian beast.

He wiped the smile from his face.

He narrowed his eyes, looked up at Lu Sheng, as if considering whether his words were true.

After a long silence, he spoke.

"Is Lord Lu speaking recklessly?"

"Lord Hou," Lu Sheng said seriously, "you understand that this matter is of great importance. If I were not certain, how could I speak recklessly?"

"That's how it is." Hou Sheng's expression was somewhat unpleasant.

He stood up and paced slowly around the room, as if he were carefully considering something.

When he gradually stopped, he looked at Lu Sheng again and said, but his eyes were somewhat solemn.

"But Your Majesty's efforts to achieve immortality have not yielded any results; should you be held accountable?"

Lu Sheng didn't say it explicitly, but instead changed the subject and started talking about that supreme being.

"Lord Hou should know," Lu Sheng raised his eyes, "His Majesty is an impatient man."

"Any sorcerer who offers medicine and whose medicine does not achieve the promised effect will be considered to have committed deception and will be executed!"

"If I'm not mistaken, over all these years, Lord Hou has probably not presented a single one of the medicines he has refined."

Hou Sheng's face stiffened, and then he spoke.

"His Majesty only takes the elixir of immortality, but the elixir of immortality requires rare materials and is difficult to refine, so it has not yet been presented to him."

"I'm afraid even if Lord Hou concocts an elixir of immortality, His Majesty wouldn't take it so easily."

Lu Sheng smiled and began to recount another past event.

"Your Majesty is most fond of Han Fei's writings. Han Fei once mentioned something in a memorial to the throne about the elixir of immortality."

"It is said that back then, a man from the state of Qi came to offer the King of Chu an elixir of immortality, but he was stopped before entering the palace."

A palace guard asked him, "Is it edible?" He said yes, so the guard seized the elixir of immortality and ate it.

"The King of Chu was furious when he heard this, and had his guards bound and interrogated."

"But the guard said, 'The Qi man claimed that what he offered was an elixir of immortality. He said that if I took the elixir, the king would kill me. This is not an elixir of immortality, but a deadly poison.'"

"The King of Chu thought this made sense, so he released the guards, believing that the man from Qi had deceived him, and questioned him about it."

"Your Majesty has read this article and understands Han Fei's meaning."

"He was averse to being deceived, so whenever a sorcerer offered medicine, he would let the dog or the eunuch taste it first."

"If the boasted effect is not achieved, then there will be consequences!"

Lu Sheng smiled and shook his head: "I think this is why Lord Hou has not offered the medicine."

"Of course I know what Lord Lu is saying."

Hou Sheng sat back down, raised his hand, and let out a long sigh.

"This is a sword hanging over our heads."

"If it weren't for that, I wouldn't have been so greedy, constantly making demands of His Majesty, saying that the elixir of immortality requires all sorts of rare and precious medicinal herbs that are extremely difficult to find."

The medicinal herbs Hou Sheng needed were from a remote border region, existing only in legends, and could not be obtained in just a few years or even a decade.

He looked at his hands, then slumped down.

There was no other way but to exaggerate the difficulty of refining the elixir of immortality in order to buy time and avoid losing his head.

Of course, this is different from Lu Sheng's search for immortality overseas.

Hou Sheng himself was convinced that he could concoct an elixir of immortality.

It's just that we lack some rare materials and a lot of time.

"I've heard that thousands of miles to the south, there grows a type of lingzhi mushroom as tall as half a person. If we could harvest it, it would surely be made into medicine!"

"Just give me a little more time..."

Hou Sheng said with emotion that this was both something he firmly believed and a clever way for him to appease the First Emperor.

"Ha, how foolish!" Lu Sheng laughed. "You've been refining medicine for years, yet you always make excuses and delay producing any medicine."

"Things shouldn't happen more than three times. If this happens a few times, not only will His Majesty be disappointed, but he might also become suspicious of you."

Hou Sheng was taken aback, and then broke out in a cold sweat.

After some analysis, Lu Sheng realized, whether he should say it or not, that his situation was actually quite dangerous.

Looking at Hou Sheng, Lu Sheng began to talk about himself.

"I told Your Majesty that there are three immortal mountains overseas, where immortals dwell and possess the elixir of immortality."

"If a person obtains this medicine and takes it, he/she can live forever."

"But the Three Immortals Mountain is said to have been believed by King Wei of Qi, King Xuan of Qi, and King Zhao of Yan, who also sent alchemists to the sea to seek it."

"But ultimately none of these monarchs lived long lives."

"The former king sought the medicine but failed, and I, under Your Majesty's orders, went to sea several times without success, so Your Majesty is also skeptical."

"If I hadn't created the celestial prophecy..."

At this point, Lu Sheng smiled and shook his head: "I'm afraid I won't be able to sit here today."

But then, Lu Sheng became somewhat angry.

He slammed his hand on the table: "Hmph, in the end, it's that old man from Qi who benefits."

"A pharmacist, instead of practicing medicine, seized the opportunity to submit a memorial when His Majesty obtained my Heavenly Book."

"The former king sought medicine but could not obtain it, which was due to his lack of virtue."

"I was ordered by His Majesty to seek the medicine several times, but to no avail. This is because my heart was not sincere, and the immortals have rejected me."

"They also said that although they received the Heavenly Book this time, it was only because the immortals were concerned for His Majesty that they were able to bestow it upon them."

"If he brings a large amount of wealth to show his sincerity, and given that Your Majesty's virtue surpasses that of the Three Sovereigns, you will surely be favored by the immortals."

"If His Majesty hadn't remembered my merit in bringing back the Heavenly Book, I would likely have lost my head based on his words alone!"

"Hmph! How despicable and shameless!"

Hou Sheng looked at Lu Sheng's appearance, frowned and thought for a moment, and quickly remembered that person.

But he didn't say anything more, he just shook his head.

He was certain he could concoct an elixir of immortality.

For someone like Xu Fu, who, after failing to achieve results for a long time, gave up alchemy and instead went to sea to search for immortals,

There was a hint of disdain in his heart.

How can someone without sincerity concoct an elixir of immortality? It seems only I can accomplish this monumental feat.

But in the end, I remembered why Lu Sheng had come here.

He pondered deeply, but he had not yet found the precious medicinal herbs, and he simply could not concoct the elixir of immortality himself.

His face turned ashen instantly.

Then, he looked at Lu Sheng and said.

"Lord Lu, let's put that aside for now. After much thought, I believe what you said earlier is indeed the truth."

"His Majesty has long suspected us; if we don't save ourselves, we will lose our lives here!"

After a long silence, Lu Sheng raised his eyes and brought up the matter of the First Emperor summoning him to the palace.

"Lord Hou, the one who summoned me to the palace earlier personally inquired about the secrets of immortality."

Lu Sheng was silent for a moment, then said, "In my opinion, we don't have much time left."

"How could this be?" Hou Sheng narrowed his eyes, his hands clenched beneath his sleeves. "What are we going to do?"

This is not good news. The First Emperor only kept them around because he was suspicious of them.

If the First Emperor is truly nearing his end,

They will be the first to be purged.

Why? Naturally, it's because they failed to grant the First Emperor immortality, which means they were all deceiving the emperor.

Deceiving the emperor is a crime that alone is enough to warrant the extermination of the entire family!

Lu Sheng sat opposite Hou Sheng.

His expression was slightly somber, and he looked quite troubled.

After a long pause, he raised his eyes and said, "We both know what kind of person the First Emperor was; he was by nature stubborn, tyrannical, and self-willed."

"But we must admit, he was a great king; how easy was it for him to save himself?"

Hou Sheng sensed the bitterness in Lu Sheng's words and frowned, feeling the same way.

After a long pause, he slowly said, "That is indeed the case. That official was a prison guard, and he was favored by the authorities, so he used torture and killing as a means of intimidation."

"Those who fear punishment and cling to their positions of power dare not be truly loyal."

"According to Qin law, one cannot hold multiple positions simultaneously; failure to comply will result in death. The prime minister and other high-ranking officials all accepted the established policies, but out of fear and apprehension, they dared not openly criticize the faults."

At this point, Hou Sheng slightly raised his head, "Lord Lu, even so, we absolutely cannot sit idly by and wait for our demise."

Lu Sheng looked at Hou Sheng without saying a word.

Finally, he shook his head: "Lord Hou, if the ruler commands the subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die. What else can we do?"

"His power is not something that you or I can shake."

"Lord Lu," Hou Sheng said, "do not worry. I have been in Xianyang for many years and have a few close friends."

"With just a little money, one can escape to Xianyang."

"That's excellent, but..."

Lu Sheng looked troubled: "According to Qin law, neighbors are punished together, so there are many people in our area monitoring each other."

"If we flee for our lives, it will soon become known and spread among the people."

"Yes," Hou Sheng said quietly, stroking his beard. "If that's the case, even if we escape Xianyang, we probably won't get very far."

"Lord Lu, thank goodness you enlightened me."

They remained silent for a long time, watching the flickering candlelight on the table, neither of them speaking.

Finally, Lu Sheng urged, "There's no other way now."

"You and I have no choice but to create our own opportunities for salvation."

Hou Sheng rose from his seat and asked, "How should it be made?"

After a moment of silence, Lu Sheng looked up at Hou Sheng.

Suddenly, he blurted out, "His Majesty suspects more than just you and me..."