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

Xuan Ye was refining an elixir of immortality.

He didn't even attend today's ceremony to appoint the crown prince; instead, he stayed alone in the palace.

His eyes were tense.

He sat upright deep inside the hall, fiddling with something.

He boiled the medicinal herbs he brought back over a fire until all their medicinal properties were extracted, then poured the decoction into a mortar.

All the remaining dregs were removed, leaving only the essence.

Looking at the medicinal essence in the mortar,

His eyes lit up, and then he looked up and looked around, and saw a sword on a table in the distance.

He stood up and walked forward.

Standing in front of the table, he picked up the sword on it, gripped the hilt, and slowly drew the sword from its sheath.

His calm eyes were reflected in the sword.

"Ha, sharp enough."

He smiled, nodded in satisfaction, picked up his sword, walked back to his original spot, and sat down.

Looking at the medicinal essence in the mortar.

With a heavy heart, he drew the sword beside him.

"prick!"

He touched his hand, but strangely, the sharp blade didn't make a cut on his hand.

"Clang!"

He threw the sword to the ground.

He sat there, holding his forehead for a long time, and finally, as if he had thought of something, he stood up.

His figure changed drastically in an instant.

The outer skin was torn off, revealing jet-black feathers, and a giant black bird appeared in the hall.

He slowly turned his head.

Its sharp beak swooped down on its own body, controlling the feathers to deflect the attack, allowing the beak to pierce through instantly.

After a long while, he slowly lowered his head.

Blood dripped from its sharp beak, staining the medicinal essence in the mortar.

"Tick-tock".

The main hall was completely silent.

Only the sound of dripping blood echoed in the quiet hall.

After a long time, he transformed back into human form.

He picked up the mortar, lowered his head, and looked at the medicinal essence stained red with the blood of the black bird.

He smiled.

Finally, I looked around again.

He took the eggshells he had brought from the treasury, ground them into powder in a container, and poured them into a mortar.

Finally, mix everything in the mortar together.

He kneaded it into pills by hand.

In front of him was a cauldron with a roaring fire beneath it, into which pills were being placed.

Finally, close the lid of the cauldron.

The flickering firelight illuminated Xuan Ye's obsessive face.

"I am certain that I can refine the elixir of immortality using the blood of the divine bird, eggshell powder, and the rare medicinal herbs I brought back."

"We will definitely be able to refine the elixir of immortality..."

"It definitely can..."

.............

The crown prince has been chosen.

The carriages for the First Emperor's eastern tour have also been prepared.

Unlike previous imperial tours, this time the procession consisted of thousands more horses, making it a grand spectacle.

Several thousand Lang Guards prepared their horses and sharpened their swords.

They will form the central army to defend the emperor!

In addition, there was the Imperial Guard, which was responsible for defending Xianyang. They were the most elite troops in the land, composed of young men from Guanzhong.

This is an unprecedentedly large-scale operation.

Black flags blotted out the sky, black armor shone like the sun, steeds were like dragons, and long halberds were like a forest, all gathered around Xianyang, waiting for the emperor to make his tour!

But the First Emperor still did not leave.

Unbeknownst to everyone, the Crown Prince was overseeing the state in Xianyang, and had no further worries.

So what was the First Emperor waiting for?

"Is he still not coming to see me?"

After resting for several days, the First Emperor, no longer confined to his bed, sat behind his desk and looked at Zhao Gao, who was lying on the ground.

Zhao Gao lowered his head, somewhat hesitant.

The First Emperor's expression immediately turned sour.

He slammed his hand on the table. "Speak!"

Zhao Gao lowered his head, then carefully raised his eyes and saw the First Emperor looking at him with a gloomy expression.

Fearing that the First Emperor would blame him, he quickly said...

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Physician lies in bed all day. When I was ordered to inform him, he waved me away, saying he would not see me."

The First Emperor stroked his chin, seemingly lost in thought.

Zhao Gao looked up at the First Emperor. He was now gradually realizing that the Physician was definitely not His Majesty's illegitimate son.

otherwise.....

How can a son not obey his father's summons?

He felt that this young man was arrogant because he was favored, having risen from a commoner to one of the Nine Ministers, and had lost sight of reality.

Thinking this, he raised his head and spoke carefully.

"Your Majesty, the Chief Physician has disobeyed orders. Should we order him punished and force him to come to court?"

But to everyone's surprise, the First Emperor looked down at him.

A pair of cold eyes,

She looked at him coldly: "Is this something you should be saying?"

As he spoke, he grabbed the bamboo slips from the table and hurled them at Zhao Gao!

"Get out! Get out of here!"

Clutching his smashed head, Zhao Gao scrambled away from the First Emperor's palace in a disheveled state.

The bleeding still hadn't stopped.

It kept flowing down from between his fingers, dripping onto the stone bricks.

"His Majesty...."

Looking back at the gloomy and enormous palace, Zhao Gao felt both lingering fear and extreme confusion.

Why such a different attitude towards that person?

After Zhao Gao left.

The First Emperor sat alone in the hall, without saying a word.

After a long while, as if he had regained his spirits, the First Emperor clapped his hands and smiled.

"Since you won't come to see me, then I will go to you myself."

Thinking this, he got up from behind the desk and walked out of the palace alone. The people outside immediately bowed down.

He waved his hand, scattering the debris in all directions.

The First Emperor, without any attendants, walked alone with his hands behind his back towards the scattered palaces.

............

"Haha, it worked!"

Inside a palace, Xuan Ye opened the lid of the cauldron.

The fire in the furnace was blazing, and inside the cauldron, three round pills lay quietly.

Breathing rapidly, Xuan Ye disregarded the raging flames.

He raised his hand, reached into the cauldron, took out three pills, and placed them in a jade box.

Grip the jade box tightly,

He then ran outside.

His first thought was to give it to the First Emperor, who would surely gain immortality after consuming it.

But just as he stepped out of the palace gates, he hesitated.

"No!"

He walked back into the hall and paced around. "It's not appropriate to give it to the First Emperor now. We should test it on others first."

Thinking this, he took a death row inmate from the prison.

He carefully took a pill from the jade box, handed it to the condemned prisoner in front of him, and said, "Take it!"

The death row inmate tremblingly accepted the pills.

But after holding it in his hand and looking at it, his face turned pale, and he hesitated to eat it.

Although the person in front of him told him,

Once ingested, its life will be spared no matter what.

However, if this food of unknown origin is poisonous, what difference does it make whether you put it in or not?

"Let's give it our all!"

Either way, I'm going to die.

Whether I die sooner or later, as long as I take this pill, it might not be poisonous and I won't die!

Thinking of this, he swallowed the pill in his hand.

But the next moment, veins bulged on his neck, and the death row inmate collapsed to the ground, rolling around in all directions.

It kept emitting painful cries.

As for Xuan Ye, he was immediately stunned.

Seeing this, he became stunned, his face turned ashen, and he slowly backed away, stumbling.

Why...?

"Why is my elixir of immortality behaving like this?!"

"I clearly used herbs that can prolong life, along with my blood and eggshell powder; there's absolutely no way it could be poisonous!"

"Why?!"

outside the temple.

A figure stood there.

Looking at the death row inmate who had died suddenly, and Xuan Ye standing there in a daze, he raised his foot to go in, but hesitated.

After a long while, a long sigh seemed to be heard.

He turned around and left silently.