Imperial Garden.
This was Qin Shi Huang’s favorite place.
In particular, the patch of “Wei Zi” peonies had been personally dug up with soil and transported back when the State of Wei was destroyed.
Normally, even if a single leaf fell, the eunuch in charge would be punished with caning.
“This is the plot.”
Ying Ziye pointed at the luxuriant peony bed.
He tossed the dragon tooth rice in his hand up and down, making a clicking sound.
Wang Li stood there holding a hoe, stunned.
He looked at the priceless peonies, then at Ying Ziye.
“N-Ninth Prince?”
Wang Li swallowed hard, his neck stiff.
“These are His Majesty’s precious flowers…”
“If I destroy them, my father will skin me alive…”
Ying Ziye frowned.
Annoyed, he lifted his leg and kicked Wang Li in the backside.
“Stop talking nonsense!”
“I told you to pull them, so pull them!”
“Or do you want to go build roads with those 200,000 Xiongnu instead?”
Wang Li shuddered.
Build roads?
That would be worse than getting beaten by his father.
“Pull them!”
“I’ll pull them right now!”
He gritted his teeth, raised the hoe, and rushed in.
“Crack!”
A top-grade Wei Zi peony was uprooted.
Petals scattered across the ground like the blood of a beauty.
The surrounding eunuchs and maidservants turned pale and dropped to their knees, burying their heads in the soil, terrified of being implicated.
Qin Shi Huang stood with hands behind his back.
Watching his beloved flowers turned into fertilizer, his eyelids twitched twice.
But only twice.
Compared to immortality, a few flowers were nothing.
“Wasteful.”
“Truly incomprehensible barbarians!”
The Dayuan prince stood not far away, covering his nose with a handkerchief, full of contempt.
He pointed at the ruined garden and spoke loudly to the Qiuci envoy beside him.
“See that?”
“This is Great Qin’s so-called refinement.”
“A perfectly good imperial garden, and they turn it into farmland.”
“Truly like burning a guqin to cook a crane—vulgar beyond measure!”
The Qiuci envoy also shook his head, laughing as if watching a joke.
“And that Ninth Prince seems rather foolish.”
“Planting crops at a time like this?”
He laughed out loud.
“Unless he is a god who can make crops sprout in winter.”
“And even if they sprout, harvest would only come next autumn.”
The Dayuan prince sneered.
“Next autumn?”
“I think those broken stones will rot in the soil by tomorrow.”
“Let’s just wait and watch the joke of the Qin royal family.”
The Western Region envoys around them burst into laughter.
Very loud laughter.
They were deliberately making sure Qin Shi Huang could hear.
Ying Ziye acted as if he heard nothing.
The land had already been turned over.
The once neat flowerbed was now black, muddy soil.
“Plant it.”
He casually scattered the dragon tooth rice.
The motion was as casual as feeding chickens.
White seeds fell into the black soil, instantly covered in mud.
“Water.”
Ying Ziye extended his hand.
Wang Li hurriedly handed over a water jug.
Inside was not ordinary water.
It was a diluted mixture with a single drop of spiritual spring liquid that Ying Ziye had added earlier in front of everyone.
Just one drop.
Any more and the land might not be able to handle it.
Ying Ziye took the jug and poured it onto the soil.
Water entered the earth.
Nothing happened.
The Dayuan prince was about to mock again—
“BOOM!”
A deep, muffled roar came from underground.
It sounded as if a sleeping earth dragon that had rested for thousands of years had suddenly turned over.
The prince froze mid-breath.
Even the floor tiles beneath them trembled.
“An earthquake?!”
someone screamed in panic.
“No!”
“Look at the ground!”
Meng Tian pointed at the flowerbed, his voice cracking.
Everyone stared at the black soil.
It was boiling.
Like water in a cauldron, the dark earth churned violently.
A visible white mist burst upward from the ground.
“Crack! Crack! Crack!”
A teeth-grinding sound echoed.
It was the sound of seeds breaking through shells.
Too loud.
Like bones snapping.
The next second—
Green light exploded.
Not soft green.
But a deep, almost black emerald glow, eerie and intense.
Hundreds of shoots as thick as arms burst upward like spears, piercing through the soil.
“What… what is this thing?!”
The Dayuan prince stumbled backward, nearly tripping over his robe.
No one answered him.
Because it was growing too fast.
In a single breath—
One foot high.
Two breaths.
Five feet high.
It was not growing at all.
It was expanding.
The originally delicate peony garden instantly turned into a green forest.
The leaves were sharp like blades, edges serrated, slicing through the air with faint “hissing” sounds.
“Holy—!”
Wang Li was the closest.
He watched helplessly as a seedling shot up like a snake, rising above his head in an instant.
The terrifying pressure made him feel as if he was facing not crops, but a swarm of green monsters crawling out of hell.
“Retreat!”
Wang Li instinctively tried to run.
But his legs gave out.
Those two pillar-like legs tangled together.
Thud!
The young Qin general fell hard onto the ground.
His heel hit the marble edge of the flowerbed.
It hurt.
But he didn’t even cry out.
He just sat there, head tilted back, mouth wide open, staring blankly at the towering green shadow above him.
Two meters.
A full two meters tall!
This… this is rice?!
One of these stalks could be used as a roof beam!
The Dayuan prince’s face had turned pale as paper.
The handkerchief in his hand fell to the ground and was blown away by the wind.
He was shaking all over.
This is impossible.
This makes no sense.
This must be sorcery!
“Mon… monster…”
He trembled as he pointed at the forest of crops.
“This is sorcery!”
“Qin Emperor! You are raising demons in your palace!”
Before his words even faded—
The green forest changed again.
At the tops of the plants,
fist-sized buds swelled up.
Then—
Pop! Pop! Pop!
The buds burst open.
No petals appeared.
Instead, grain heads emerged directly.
Heavy clusters of grain drooped downward, bending the steel-hard stalks.
Each grain was as large as a grown man’s thumb.
No husk.
Completely translucent, like jade carved from pure white nephrite.
A dense, overwhelming fragrance instantly filled the entire imperial garden.
It was a scent so dominant—
So aggressive—
It drilled straight into people’s nostrils.
Just one breath.
Everyone’s stomachs began to rumble like thunder.
Hunger.
A hunger from the depths of the soul.
Like a wolf that had not eaten for three days suddenly smelling meat.
The Dayuan prince stopped shaking.
His eyes locked onto those jade-like grains.
His throat moved violently.
Drool dripped from the corner of his mouth onto his silk robes, and he didn’t even notice.
He wanted it.
He wanted it madly.
The entire garden was silent.
Only the sound of wind brushing through giant leaves—
and the endless swallowing of saliva.
“Can… can this really be eaten?”
The voice of Qin Shi Huang was slightly dry.
He stepped forward, then hesitated, his hand reaching out and pulling back.
It looked too frightening.
And too beautiful.
Like something from the heavens.
Ying Ziye pulled one foot out of the black soil.
He didn’t even wash his hands.
He casually grabbed a drooping grain cluster.
With a slight force—
Snap!
The joint broke with a crisp sound.
He plucked a single grain.
It glowed warmly in his hand.
Under everyone’s gaze,
he didn’t wash it.
He simply tossed it into his mouth.
Crack!
The sound of teeth biting into jade echoed sharply.
Clear.
Loud.
Everyone’s hearts twitched along with that sound.
Ying Ziye chewed twice.
Raised an eyebrow.
“Mm.”
“A bit hard.”
He swallowed the fragments, then casually picked another grain, wiped it on his clothes, and handed it to Qin Shi Huang.
“Father, try it.”
“Eating it raw is a bit tough on the teeth.”
“But it’s extremely nourishing.”
He brushed the dirt off his hands, speaking as calmly as if discussing tonight’s vegetables.
“One grain can extend lifespan.”
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