The curse of immortality

Long, long ago in the far lands of Ancient China, Ying Zheng at the age of 13 became the king of the state of Qin who conquered the warring states and then later he proclaimed himself as the First Emperor, united China and took the name Qin Shi Huangdi. It is said that he was a brutal tyrant and had an obsessive fear of assassination which was actually in place since there were many assassination attempts on him. This fear of death awakened his yearning for eternal life and the elixir of life which would supposedly grant him to live forever. He soon fell prey to many who offered these kinds of mythical elixirs and rituals. On one of his travels he met Anqi Sheng a 1000 year old magician who invited the paranoid emperor to Zhifu Island, Penglai mountain in promise of the sought for elixir. Of course Shi Huangdi believed the "magicians" words and he immediately sent 3 ships carrying hundreds of young women and men to the island to find the magician and bring back the elixir. Out of the hundreds sent only one woman returned and stood in front of the emperor to give him the message from Anqi Sheng carefully written on a rice paper scroll. The message said the following "Am I not worthy enough of your own presence that you've sent your merest peasants?" As the scroll hit the ground the fury was more than visible on Shi Huangdi's face. "Assemble the army!" he yelled. "Bring me the magician, dead or alive." It only took a few days and 12 of the finest battle ships full of the best troops were on their way to the Zhifu Island. When they returned to meet the Emperor at the palace they bowed down before him and brought the magician forward on his knees. "I Qin Shi Huangdi have summoned you here and I command you to grant all my wishes." The magician gave him a slight grin and asked,"And for what do you wish for my ruler?" The emperor didn't have to think twice so he exclaimed, "I wish to be immortal! I wish to forever rule over these people, these soldiers, these rivers and horses and I wish for the whole dynasty to be united with me and with itself till the end of times and for ever more." "Very well your majesty, I'll give you exactly what you wished for" said the magician and slowly pulled out a terracotta jar from underneath his long worn-out robe. "Please, drink the contents of this jar and you'll stay as you are forever." Shi Hunagdi accepted the terracotta jar but he didn't drink a single drop. First, he poured half of the jar into the main river stream running through the palace and then he commanded the whole army to drink form the stream and to let the horses and everyone else in the place drink form it as well. Everyone did as he said and drank form the stream. The emperor waited for a whole day with everyone who drank form the stream at his sight and then, when he was sure that the elixir isn't poisoned he drank the other half at last. As soon as the last drop of the magical elixir was gone, a piercing silence spread through the entire palace. Everything froze. The only thing to be heard was the river stream which was no longer full of fresh water but toxic liquid mercury that splashed around and left drops on the terracotta Qin Shi Huangdi and some of the thousands of terracotta soldiers that stood near, forever frozen in time.