The Tomb of the First Emperor: The Immortality Mound

During the Zhou dynasty, a regime belonging to a northern ethnic minority was known as the Guifang. Legend has it that the Guifang people excelled at witchcraft, poison magic, and divination. They once glimpsed the secret of immortality, which drew the covetous eyes of the Central Plains states and ultimately led to their annihilation. The mystery of immortality vanished with them. However, the Guifang state is absent from official histories. It is mentioned only occasionally in books such as the Classic of Mountains and Seas and the Book of Changes, along with folk legends and unofficial historical accounts. Archaeologists have never been able to determine whether such a state ever existed. Yet every account hints at its mystery. According to legend, Emperor Qin once sent people to seek the Guifang secret of immortality. After they found it, however, he did not reveal the secret. Instead, he had everyone responsible for the search killed. Not long afterward, he himself died at the Dune Palace. The mystery of immortality was sealed away once more, until two thousand years later, when a band of tomb raiders discovered it. Its secret, however, was connected to a black cat. Our story begins with an old cat in my family…