National Guardian's Gone and We're Done

It is a unique landform of the Qinling Mountains, formed in the late stages of a long geological evolution

and uplifted by tectonic movement.

It stands alone within the Wei River rift valley,

like a sturdy fortress—a classic horst-type fault-block mountain.

The mountain range meanders and twists, resembling a colossal, living dragon crawling across the earth.

The trees on the mountain are lush and verdant, their dense branches and leaves interwoven.

From a distance, it looks like a powerful, galloping steed with a dark coat, which is how it earned the name Lirong Mountain.

Since the Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang dynasties, this land has been highly favored by royalty

and has always been used as a sacred site for imperial gardens.

Its imperial palaces and villas stood in dense clusters,

like brilliant pearls embedded within the landscape,

bearing witness to countless moments of splendor and glory, and carrying so many stories from the past.

In ancient times, legend says that Nuwa began her great feat of mending the heavens with molten stones right here.

It is an ancient legend filled with fantasy and mystery, a mystical mark left on the world by the Deities.

In the final years of the Western Zhou Dynasty,

King You of Zhou staged his infamous farce here, lighting the warning beacons simply to amuse his consort.

This incident not only became a historical laughingstock but also inadvertently changed the course of history, like a stone tossed into a calm lake, sending out a thousand ripples.

During the height of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Xuanzong and Lady Yang composed a poignant and moving Chapter of their love story here.

Their love story is like a lingering, sorrowful ballad, echoing endlessly through the river of time. It still moves people to this day and has added a touch of romance and sorrow to this mountain."

Xia Yunya’s voice was deep and magnetic,

carrying Chu He across time and space, back to those distant historical eras.

Every word was filled with a deep nostalgia and boundless sentiment for the years gone by.

"And beneath that Lirong Mountain,

lies buried a person of utmost importance.

The history of our Great Xia Empire,

which should have been a continuous and complete epic,

was instead mercilessly distorted, tampered with, and even largely erased

due to the wanton interference and manipulation of the Deities,

ultimately resulting in severe fractures and omissions.

In the historical texts that my generation studied,

these stories and figures were all recorded in detail and thoroughly explained.

That was the precious cultural inheritance passed down by our ancestors.

By your generation, however, this history seems to have been submerged by the torrent of time,

vanishing without a trace. The young people know nothing of it,

as if it never existed at all.

"Qin Shi Huang once built his mausoleum at the foot of Mount Tai

and left behind the world-famous Qin Terracotta Warriors Array.

The Qin Terracotta Warriors Array is vast in scale and magnificent in its grandeur,

like a mighty subterranean army that has slept for a thousand years.

When it was revealed to the world,

it shook the entire globe, becoming one of the glorious symbols of the Great Xia Empire’s ancient civilization

and a brilliant jewel in the history of humankind."

Xia Yunya raised his head slightly, a trace of reverence and nostalgia for past history in his eyes.

"Qin Shi Huang?"

Chu He frowned slightly, his face a mask of bewilderment and his eyes full of confusion.

He had indeed never heard this name before.

Just as Xia Yunya had said, in the current era,

the older generation could still recount many of the Great Xia Empire’s historical anecdotes with intimate familiarity.

But among the current younger generation,

the world seemed to be filled with negative forces like restlessness, fear, and Evil Spirits,

and people had long since left history to gather dust in a corner of time.

The Great Xia Empire was no exception. As he thought about it carefully,

Chu He suddenly had a startling realization. It seemed that during a specific period, the history of the world,

and indeed the entire history of the Great Xia Empire,

had been abruptly severed as if by an invisible hand,

vanishing without warning.

’Perhaps this was all deliberately done by the Deities to hide some ulterior secrets.’

"Qin Shi Huang is Ying Zheng—with the family name Ying, clan name Zhao, and given name Zheng. He also had other titles, such as Zulong, the First Dragon.

He was an exceptionally brilliant strategist and reformer in the ancient history of the Great Xia Empire,

a true legendary figure of his era.

With his outstanding wisdom and extraordinary courage,

he established the mighty Qin Dynasty and became the first Monarch in the history of the Great Xia Empire to dare call himself Emperor.

His virtues and merits were so great they were said to encompass those of the Three Sovereigns and surpass those of the Five Emperors.

Therefore, he innovatively took the ’Huang’ from ’San Huang’ (Three Sovereigns) and ’Di’ from ’Wu Di’ (Five Emperors)

to form the unique and supreme title of ’Huangdi,’ or Emperor,

and was later respectfully addressed by posterity as the First Emperor.

His life was magnificent and tumultuous, filled with legend and historical significance.

Every decision he made, every battle he fought,

had a profound and indelible impact on the course of history for the Great Xia Empire and even the entire world,

making him like a dazzling star, forever shining brilliantly in the sky of history."

Xia Yunya’s eyes shone with reverence and admiration,

as if he had traveled through time and was seeing the heroic bearing and great achievements of that timeless Emperor with his own eyes.

His narration also filled Chu He with curiosity and a desire to explore that forgotten history.

"In the later years of his reign,

Qin Shi Huang developed an almost fanatical obsession with the Immortality Technique,

and he firmly believed in the mystical power of fate and destiny.

At that time, it was rumored that there were three immortal isles in the sea: Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou.

They were said to be the homes of Immortals, and on these islands grew the miraculous Potion of Immortality.

If a mortal could consume it, they could transcend the cycle of life and death, remain in the world forever, and become an ageless Immortal.