Located at the northern foothills of Mount Li, the First Emperor's mausoleum took nearly forty years to complete, only finishing two years into the Second Emperor's reign.
The mausoleum lies to the south of Mount Li and north of the Wei River, designed by Chancellor Li Si. A total of 720,000 laborers were conscripted for its construction, with the workforce peaking at 800,000. Mobilizing 800,000 people to build a tomb in this era could truly be called a miracle.
Construction began when the First Emperor first ascended the throne and was only fully completed two years after his death.
While the fires still raged in the Epang Palace, Roy, accompanied by Yu Ji and Tamamo-no-Mae, had already arrived at the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang. Against an emperor who had likely achieved the form of a "True Human," armies would be useless. Thus, Roy brought no soldiers—just the three of them.
At this time, the mausoleum had just been completed, consisting of both aboveground and underground sections. The aboveground portion was laid out in a "return" shape, modeled after Xianyang, with inner and outer walls. The First Emperor's coffin was placed underground within the inner city.
Entering the mausoleum's gates felt like stepping into a miniature version of Xianyang. The layout aboveground was identical to the capital, so Roy and his companions headed straight for the "Xianyang Palace" replica within the tomb complex without hesitation.
As the first emperor of the Central Plains, Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum had no precedent to follow. It was built according to the principle of "serving the dead as one serves the living."
"How do we enter this tomb?" Yu Ji asked, somewhat dumbfounded by the sheer scale of the mausoleum, which resembled an entire city.
In the "history" Roy knew, "Xiang Yu" had once sent 300,000 troops to excavate the First Emperor's mausoleum, yet even they failed to reach its core. Moreover, in this world, the construction involved not just laborers but also tens of thousands of occultists. Who knew how many traps and mystical arts lay hidden within? Sending 300,000 men to dig would likely result in all of them perishing here.
"While in Xianyang Palace, I had people scour the Qin imperial records and found Li Si's original blueprints," Roy said. "But this tomb was designed to be impenetrable—sealed with massive stones upon completion, burying all the laborers alive inside. At the same time, the grand formation activates, making it impossible to locate the First Emperor's coffin."
As they walked through the deserted mausoleum—not a single tomb guardian remained, having fled after learning of the Chu-Han contention and the massacre of the Qin royal line—Roy noted that while the aboveground section was grand and expansive, it contained nothing of real value. The true burial treasures lay underground.
The First Emperor was no fool. Placing valuables aboveground would have been an open invitation for grave robbers.
"If there are no entrances or exits, and it's sealed by mystical arts, how do we get in?" Yu Ji asked with concern. After surveying the vast expanse of the mausoleum, she turned to Roy and suggested, "...Or perhaps Your Majesty could wait awhile. Allow your consort to flood the tomb complex with a sea of blood—maybe that will expose flaws in the mystical formations."
Yu Ji's words left Roy stunned for a moment. He blinked at her, causing the beauty to blush deeply as she stammered, "...Why is my lord staring at me? Did I say something wrong?"
Wrong? This was absolutely wrong! Your first instinct to just destroy everything is way too aggressive. Don't you have any more skillful suggestions, Yu Ji? Is violence your only solution? Aren't you worried there might be countermeasures here?
Roy mentally complained, but outwardly maintained a calm demeanor. "...Of course there's nothing wrong with Yu Ji's suggestion. It's just that I'm concerned about you, my dear. That 'bloodlust impulse' still binds you, and I fear this might harm your health. Let's forget this approach."
Hearing Roy's concern, Yu Ji beamed with joy, completely unaware that he was actually criticizing her lack of thoughtfulness in his mind.
The delighted Yu Ji said, "...My lord cares for me, and of course that makes me happy. But flooding this mausoleum won't affect my health. Please step back a little, my lord, and let me destroy this place."
Though Yu Ji wasn't one for roundabout tactics, she was straightforward to a fault—one might even call her impulsive. Seeing Roy agree with her method, she immediately volunteered to put it into action.
Roy quickly stopped her. "...There's no need for that, Yu Ji. If this tomb held no mysteries—if it were just ordinary architecture—then destruction would indeed be our only way in. But since the First Emperor had occult masters design this place with mystical arrays, that actually gives us an opportunity. We just need to create an opening in the formation and calculate the core's position. Entering shouldn't be difficult then."
Yu Ji obediently relented when Roy suggested an alternative approach and stopped her.
Ah, what a simple-minded wife. I can't very well tell her she's being foolish—it'd be terrible if she started crying.
Roy could only sigh at Yu Ji's straightforward personality and methods.
After stopping her, Roy began observing the mausoleum. He had learned many occult techniques from Luo Hao through "sex magic," and though the moonlit world and the Campione world differed in their mystical arts, both magic and occult techniques followed the same fundamental theory—philosophical principles.
Both worlds' occult arts originated from Eastern philosophy. While they differed in details, their foundations were the same.
However, Roy had forcibly acquired his occult knowledge and wasn't proficient in its use. His true expertise lay in magic. The mystical arrays in the First Emperor's mausoleum were undoubtedly complex—even Roy would need time to decipher them.
As Roy pondered whether to slowly unravel the ritual arrays or follow Yu Ji's suggestion of brute force, Tamamo-no-Mae raised her hand nearby. "...Leave this to me. Little Tamamo is best at these things, meow~"
With that, she began waving her five slender fingers like a fortune-telling charlatan, the whole fox taking on an air of mystical eccentricity.
Roy found Tamamo-no-Mae's suggestion quite reasonable. As a nine-tailed fox who had lived for who knows how long, once revered as the 'Sun Goddess,' and now calling herself a curse master, she must be very familiar with Eastern mystic arts.
He glanced at Tamamo-no-Mae, who was frowning delicately while calculating the formation, then at Yu Ji, whose resolute expression showed she clearly preferred her straightforward destructive approach. Roy couldn't help feeling his wife wasn't the brightest.
"Hmm... This is an enormous and complex barrier. It's clearly meant to conceal from the Counter Force. The underground of this mausoleum practically forms its own separate world," Tamamo-no-Mae said with unusual seriousness.
"Oh? Could this be a Reality Marble down there?" Roy's interest was piqued.