Chapter 62
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Dream Pill
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It was war.
A fierce clash of flesh unfolding on the bed.
"Haaang! W-Wait! Too deep...!"
Cheolhyeol couldn't regain her senses amid the shock she'd never experienced in her life. Cheonwi's movements evoked the forms of martial arts techniques. Thrusting in, pulling back, coiling around, then charging again.
Screech! Screech! Crack!
The bed, crafted from premium purple sandalwood by the imperial carpenter, let out agonized creaks. The frame warped, and the legs cracked.
"More! Harder! Haaang! Yes, that's it! Are you trying to pierce my womb?!"
Tira screamed in ecstasy, raking her nails down Cheonwi's back. But his skin was like indestructible diamond, unscratched.
The effects of the Red Dragon Root went far beyond mere enhancement of virility.
The heat boiling up from Cheonwi's dantian regenerated endlessly. One should have been exhausted after releasing once, but instead, the more he expended, the clearer his energy grew and the more strength surged through him—a bizarre phenomenon.
'It's so hot... My whole body feels like it's melting.'
Cheolhyeol felt her vision go white.
She had crossed countless brushes with death on the battlefield as a great general, but the terror of possibly dying in bed was a first.
"S-Stop... I'll die... Please, spare me..."
The mighty Iron Blood wept and begged. Her sturdy thighs convulsed and trembled uncontrollably.
But the rampaging Cheonwi had no mercy to offer.
In lieu of a reply, he gripped her waist like a tyrant and drove his hips even more savagely.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Primal sounds like beasts mating filled the room.
Cheonwi, lost in a trance, gained a strange enlightenment.
The Red Dragon Root's effects gathered in his lower dantian, bursting through his blocked qi and blood.
'Is this... libido converting into inner energy?'
The scorching energy climbed his spine, struck the crown of his head, then spread through his entire body. Amid the pleasure, he felt his martial realm elevate a step.
"Grrrrraaah!"
A roar erupted from Cheonwi's mouth.
That night, screams, moans, and the sounds of the bed breaking echoed in the imperial bedchamber until dawn.
The next day at noon.
Harsh sunlight slipped through the window cracks, tickling Cheonwi's eyelids.
"Mm..."
Cheonwi cracked his eyes open, disheveled.
Refreshed.
No—his body felt as light as a feather.
He clenched and unclenched his fist. His knuckles cracked crisply. Power brimmed within. His vision sharpened; he could clearly see even a speck of dust in the room's corner.
"This stuff... is the real deal."
Cheonwi looked down at his body. His abs stood out even more sharply, and his skin gleamed with luster.
"My inner energy's increased, and my back's fine. No, stronger than ever."
He glanced to the side.
A battlefield in ruins.
The term fit perfectly.
All four legs of the bed had collapsed. Pillows and blankets lay shredded, feathers scattered like snow.
And amid the wreckage, Cheolhyeol and Tira lay unconscious.
Cheolhyeol lay passed out with her mouth half-open, drool trickling. Even the mighty Amazon queen Tira had her tongue lolling out in surrender, sprawled white-flagged. Their bodies bore the vivid marks of last night's fierce battle.
Cheonwi grinned and rose from the bed.
"Effects like this... beyond imagination."
As he picked up his scattered clothes and dressed, he began calculating in his head.
Red Dragon Root.
This wasn't just some tonic.
It was the ultimate item every man in the empire—no, across the continent—would sell their soul for.
"Selling it pure like this could kill people. Too potent."
Cheonwi's eyes sparkled like a merchant scenting gold.
"Need to dilute it. Properly dilute so anyone can safely enjoy it. Fancy packaging too..."
A product name popped into his mind.
Imperial secret. The tonic for emperors.
"Selling this... I could rake in the empire's entire wealth."
Cheonwi planted light kisses on the foreheads of the two fainted women.
"Good work, clinical trial subjects."
Whistling cheerfully, Cheonwi left the wrecked bedchamber.
"Off to the office. 'Imperial Vitality Pill' project, launch."
A few days later.
A strange rumor began circulating in the imperial capital.
Word was, the Eunuch Bureau was secretly producing a miraculous elixir that turned one into the emperor of the night.
At first, no one believed it. Eunuchs, who were gelded, making aphrodisiacs? Just scornful laughs.
But the rumor spread like wildfire with specific testimonies.
"Heard Vice Chief Cheonwi knocked out two tiger-like women in one night!"
"True they ordered a new bed after the old one got smashed?"
"They say just smelling the smoke from the Eunuch Bureau chimney gives you a stiffie!"
In the basement of the Eunuch Bureau building, in a secret space no one knew existed.
A place that normally reeked of mold and rat piss now brimmed with a bizarre, alluring fragrance.
Bubble bubble. Drip, drip.
Red liquid bubbled down transparent glass tubes.
It was a modern-style distillation apparatus, specially custom-ordered by Cheonwi—something that shouldn't exist in this world.
"Hmm, nice color."
Wearing crystal-carved safety goggles, Cheonwi held a beaker of red liquid up to the light.
Red Dragon Root.
The raw extract writhed stickily like a living organism. A single drop could send a bull into rut—a dangerous substance.
Cheonwi used a pipette to drop exactly one droplet into a large jar filled with distilled water.
Whoosh!
Even one drop instantly turned the jar's water cherry-blossom red.
"Diluting to increase volume makes it usable for commoners. Watering it down—the universal sales trick."
Cheonwi murmured with a satisfied smile.
He was deploying all his knowledge from his past life. The 'art of dilution' learned in capitalist society. Cut costs, maximize margins, and ensure safety so consumers didn't drop dead—a triple win.
"Sniff sniff."
Then, Tira, squatting beside him and watching, twitched her nose. Her feral senses instinctively detected the red liquid's value.
"Smells delicious. Can I have some?"
Tira gulped and reached out. Cheonwi swiftly smacked the back of her hand.
"Tch. This isn't for eating."
"Then?"
"Bait."
Cheonwi's eyes gleamed coldly.
"For reeling in a very big fish."
Tira looked puzzled, but Cheonwi explained no further.
He shaped the diluted extract into tiny pills the size of a fingernail. Then dusted them with gold leaf for luxury.
This wasn't mere aphrodisiac.
It was the empire's most potent, secretive weapon to shake the power structure.
The next day, right after the morning audience.
The corridor outside the council chamber was rowdier than usual.
Ministers who should discuss state affairs clustered in groups, whispering. Their topic wasn't policy or民生, but the bizarre rumor from yesterday and today.
"Heard the rumors? Vice Chief Cheonwi's on fire lately."
A white-bearded Minister A whispered conspiratorially.
"You mean the smoke from the Eunuch Bureau chimney?"
Minister B's eyes widened as he chimed in.
"Not just smoke. Word is he ravaged that barbarian queen and Iron Blood General all night till they passed out. And he's a eunuch!"
"No way that's possible. Iron Blood could chew rocks."
"Exactly! Rumor has it the eunuch brewed a potion to restore lost manhood!"
Prime Minister Wei, eavesdropping, perked up.
Prime Minister Wei.
The court's elder statesman and empire's real power. But even he had an unspeakable worry. Approaching seventy. Power at its peak, but his manly function had retired twenty years ago.
'A eunuch... a gelded eunuch knocking out a female general?'
Wei swallowed hard. Hard to believe, but he clutched at straws.
"Ahem, ahem!"
As Prime Minister Wei cleared his throat and tried to pass the ministers.
There came Cheonwi, striding in splendid official robes. Confidence in his gait, luster on his skin. The picture of vitality.
Cheonwi nodded lightly to Prime Minister Wei as their eyes met. Then, brushing past—
Plop.
A small pill case slipped from Cheonwi's sleeve. The lid cracked open, and a gold-dusted red pill rolled to a stop at Wei's feet.
"Oops, dropped something precious."
Cheonwi feigned surprise, bending slightly, then waved it off lazily.
"Eh, rolled on the floor—toss it. Can't eat dirt-covered pills."
Cheonwi sauntered off, as if he had hundreds more.
Prime Minister Wei glanced around. Seeing no eyes, he forgot his dignity and bent like lightning.
Snatch.
His hand seized the red pill. Dirt was no issue.
A sharp, alluring scent at his nose.
His instincts screamed: This is it. What I've been seeking.
That night, in Prime Minister Wei's mansion.
In a lavish mother-of-pearl bedroom sat Prime Minister Wei and his fifth concubine. She was just past twenty, blooming youth, but her face dripped boredom.
"My lord, just sleep again tonight?"
She tugged the silk blanket curtly.
Prime Minister Wei sweated coldly.
"Ahem, state affairs wore me out today..."
He gave his usual excuse, reaching to douse the lamp. But his hand fiddled with the pill in his pocket.
'Nothing to lose. No way that eunuch's dropping poison everywhere.'
Wei squeezed his eyes shut and popped the pill in, swallowing dry.
And thirty minutes later.
Lying in bed staring at the ceiling, Prime Minister Wei's eyes flew wide.
It started as warmth in his lower belly. Then heavy heat gathered in his dantian, raced up his spine, and flooded his body.
"Uh, umm...?"
Wei sensed the bizarre change under the covers.
The dead tree of twenty years. The snake in winter hibernation. His forgotten appendage began to twitch.
No, not twitch.
It reared up like a raging bull, fierce enough to pierce the heavens.
"Raaargh! Ooooh!"
Prime Minister Wei kicked off the blanket.
"It's up! Standing! I... I'm standing again!"