Even more than 2,000 years after his reign, Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty has left treasures worth billions to be discovered in his tomb, buried more than 114 underground and rumored to contain running rivers of poisonous mercury.

Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, built the huge Terracotta Army to protect him in the afterlife. An elaborate tomb complex in Xi'an, the city-size compound came equipped with everything the emperor would require in the afterlife. Like the Egypti...