Chapter 72: Take It Apart

“How about it, Lord Fan?”
With a voice so low that only the two of them could hear, Princess Changle teasingly flirted with Fan Li.

“…The princess is formidable.”
Fan Li gazed at the Duanlong Stone, now reduced to a heap of useless rubble, and hoped this method was only effective on rocks. If it worked on people as well, wouldn’t it be able to permanently disable a man?

The group pressed onward.

Beyond the Duanlong Stone, an astonishingly vast space unfolded before them.
The ceiling and the ground were separated by at least a hundred yards!
At a glance, Fan Li realized this was nothing less than an underground city!

There were outer walls, deep moats, and high ramparts.
Within, there were palaces, with carved beams and painted rafters, pavilions, towers, and terraces, all resplendent and magnificent!
He could even see the grand plaque above the main palace, boldly inscribed with two characters: Epang.

“What’s going on?” Fan Li muttered in surprise. “Is this the imperial tomb already? Wasn’t it said that the Qin Emperor’s mausoleum was supposed to have thirty-six levels, corresponding to the thirty-six heavens of the immortal realm?”

Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan also exchanged bewildered glances.
Had they truly reached the imperial mausoleum merely by passing the Duanlong Stone?

This was clearly at odds with the records in the ancient texts. Could it be a false tomb?
But if it were merely a decoy, why go to the trouble of using such a massive stone as a barrier?
And the grand scale of the palace before them rivaled, even surpassed, the palaces of the Chu and Han dynasties!

Among their group, Yan Yuan—renowned as a learned scholar—stepped forward.
He scrutinized the palace ahead for a long moment before finally uttering three words: “Epang Palace.”

Fan Li rolled his eyes, thinking to himself: I can read, you know!

But Yan Yuan continued, “This is not a false tomb. It must be the late Qin Emperor’s mausoleum.”

“Oh? What makes you say that, Master Yan?” Cao Cao asked, intrigued.

“The imperial mausoleums of Qin, by custom, were constructed with thirty-six levels. The first thirty-five served as barriers to protect the final level—the burial chamber itself. This is indeed what the classical texts record.”

“But the last emperor, Ziying, ascended the throne in haste. At the time, there was chaos within from Zhao Gao’s rebellion, and threats from the warlords outside. I fear the declining strength of Qin meant they no longer had the means to build a standard imperial tomb according to custom.”

Yan Yuan’s reasoning quickly won the group’s approval.

“Moreover, Ziying’s reign was brief, while the construction of an imperial mausoleum is a vast undertaking. Even if the treasury were full, there simply wasn’t time to complete a standard tomb,” he added.

Though the Epang Palace stood before him, Fan Li was in no rush to enter.
Just traversing a tomb passage several miles long had cost them a hundred Golden Core cultivators from the Tomb Guard Corps.

With such a vast palace, who could guarantee there were no deadly traps lurking within?

Yet in this group, Fan Li was the leader; others could advise, but he alone would decide.

Cao Cao said, “Duke Jin, I recommend sending a detachment through the main gate to scout the layout before bringing in the rest of the troops.”

Liu Bei offered, “The front gates may be trapped. Why not dig a tunnel and enter from below?”

Sun Quan proposed, “I think we should have skilled cultivators leap into the city from above…”

After voicing their ideas, all eyes turned to Fan Li, waiting for his final decision.

“To be honest, why should we rush in to die?”

Fan Li’s question left everyone speechless.

Without giving them time to ponder, he waved his hand and ordered the two thousand-plus garrison soldiers behind him.

“Tear it down!”

Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Quan, and the esteemed Yan Yuan were all caught off guard.

What?
Tear down what?

Princess Changle, however, burst into laughter.

Tear down the Epang Palace?
Even she hadn’t thought of such a wild idea. Fan Li was full of cunning schemes indeed—no wonder he’d become the infamous power-broker of Great Chu. She found herself quite taken with him!

Yan Yuan finally came to his senses, his face twisted in pain. “Duke Jin, the Epang Palace is a marvel of architecture. Wouldn’t it be a terrible waste to demolish it?”

“A waste?”
Fan Li shot him a glance.

“If there are traps, mechanisms, or arrays inside the Epang Palace, they must rely on the palace structure to function. If I demolish the building, won’t all hidden dangers be neutralized?”

Yan Yuan stared dumbly for a long moment before nodding numbly.

“But still…”

He couldn’t help but feel distressed.

Fan Li waved him off. “I know the value of ancient architecture, but compared to the lives of my garrison soldiers, it’s nothing at all.”

At these words, the two thousand garrison soldiers preparing their demolition tools howled with excitement.

“We are willing to give our lives for Duke Jin!”

Their voices echoed throughout the entire underground palace.

Fan Li, playing along, turned to the troops and gave a grand wave of his right hand.

“You’ve worked hard, men.”

“We serve Duke Jin!”

Thus began a grand campaign of demolition.

In just half a day, a huge breach had been opened in the eastern wall of the Epang Palace.

A soldier reported back.

“Duke Jin, we’ve uncovered ten Five Elements arrays and twelve hidden traps in the eastern wall!”

Fan Li nodded. “Well done. Any casualties among the men?”

“Only two were slightly burned by a fire array, the rest are all safe!”

Fan Li was quite satisfied with this result.

“Pass the word: no reckless advances. Proceed steadily and cautiously. Demolish the outer walls first, then the palace itself. Strip it of every last blade of grass—flatten the entire palace to the ground!”

“Yes, sir!”

Though none of the garrison soldiers could be called masters, their discipline and execution were second to none.

Cao, Liu, Sun, and Yan Yuan were all dumbfounded; none had ever imagined Fan Li would use such a method.

To raze the imperial palace to the ground?

Yan Yuan sighed and shook his head in regret.

Cao Cao, however, had three words leap to mind: I learned something!

“Everyone,” Fan Li intoned with an air of authority, “demolition requires patience; don’t rush things. Tearing down the palace is merely a means, not our end goal.”

He looked up.

“I see it’s getting late. We’d best set up camp and rest, so as not to disturb the soldiers’ work.”

Getting late?

Where could there be any sense of time—nothing but soil above and below.

The group fell silent, but knew Fan Li was right.
Given their status, they certainly couldn’t roll up their sleeves to shift bricks or dig dirt themselves; they could only wait for the garrison to finish the job.

A few dozen soldiers remained behind to serve as guards. Hearing the order to make camp, they busied themselves at once.

Once the camp was set, Fan Li slipped inside—not to sleep, but to sit cross-legged in meditation.

Seeing his focused demeanor, both Qingqiu and Princess Changle left him undisturbed.

Yet Fan Li’s mind was elsewhere, focused on one of his incarnations.

The capital, Pengcheng.

One of Fan Li’s avatars slowly opened its eyes.

“How’s the situation in the capital?” he asked.

The secret training chamber in the Fan mansion, prepared specially for him, held three people: his two avatars and Wu Zhui.

“Xiang Ning is acting strangely,” Wu Zhui replied.

“Oh?”

This surprised Fan Li.
He’d been wary of Empress Dowager Li and Xiang Chong, but hadn’t expected Xiang Ning to be a problem as well.

“What’s she up to?”

Wu Zhui pondered for a while, as if struggling to describe it.

After a long pause, he finally said, “She’s been obsessed with reading lately, refusing to meet the officials. She hasn’t attended court for days.”

Obsessed with reading?

Fan Li was baffled.

“What book?”

“The title is odd… something like ‘The Virtues of Women’?”