This discovery adds a new chapter to the legend of Qin Shi Huang, long known for sending the alchemist Xu Fu eastward, possibly towards Japan, in search of the elixir of life.

What it described was stunning: an imperial mission, dispatched by Qin Shi Huang in 221 BC, to venture westward toward the mystical Mount Kunlun in search of the elusive elixir of life.

Roughly 2,000 clay warriors have been unearthed from Qin Shi Huang’s tomb since the site was discovered in 1974, but only ten of these have been statues of military leaders.

Qin Shi Huang’s Terracotta Army is thought to have been erected between 247 and 208 B.C.E., more than 2,200 years in the past.