The Eunuch Regains His Manhood in the Second Round

1. Prelude

Beijing.

The capital of the empire ruling the Central Plains.

The center of the world where the emperor, ordained by the Mandate of Heaven, resides.

There stood the Forbidden City.

The forbidden city of purple.

A grand palace with 9,999 rooms, one less than the palace of heaven.

The Forbidden City, also known as the Ninefold Palace, surrounded by nine layers of gates.

In the deepest part of that place, a secret ritual was beginning.

An altar piled high towards the sky, objects and formations set on the ground, and smoke rising from incense placed in all directions.

In the midst of it, sorcerers surrounded the altar, looking up nervously at the old man in eunuch attire lying on the altar.

The eunuch on the altar.

He was none other than Yi Cheol-su, the de facto ruler of the current Ming Empire, the shadow power who made the emperor a puppet, the ruler of the Eastern and Western Chambers, the head of the eunuch organization 24 Departments, and the leader of the faction that monopolized the court’s power, the Yan Faction.

“Your Excellency, Yi Cheol-su, the preparations for the Great Rebirth Ritual are complete. Your Excellency.”

The head sorcerer reported to Yi Cheol-su.

“Then proceed immediately.”

A thin voice characteristic of eunuchs leaked out.

Twitch.

The sorcerer’s beard trembled.

Yi Cheol-su, the Grand Eunuch.

The top martial artist of the imperial palace, the emperor’s closest aide since she was a princess, and at the same time, the worst traitor in the history of the Ming Empire.

He clouded the emperor’s eyes, purged all the officials of the Donglin Party, and privatized the Ming Empire with power stronger than the emperor’s.

The de facto ruler of the Ming Empire was before his eyes.

He was conferred the title of Duke Yi Cheol-su by the emperor, who could only hear the three cheers of “Long live” that were one less than the emperor’s ten thousand years, and received the nine items of the Nine Bestowments, the privilege to wear a sword in the emperor’s presence, the right to walk without haste before the emperor, the exemption from announcing his rank and name when entering the court, the exemption from bowing during court meetings, the right to sit and lean on a staff during court meetings, and the privilege of the Iron Certificate of Amnesty that pardoned all crimes except treason.

A power holder who received the highest treatment as a subject, like usurpers Cao Cao and Wang Mang.

His power was so overwhelming that he could perform a private ritual in the Forbidden City where the emperor resided.

The sorcerer despised the eunuch, but he had no choice but to obey his power, the wealth he bestowed, and his overwhelming power over the emperor.

“Understood, Your Excellency.”

The sorcerer hid his true feelings and bowed his head politely.

How many scholars and officials had lost their heads for offending this eunuch monster?

—

—

He never wanted to disappear like the morning dew on the execution ground.

Just as the sorcerer was preparing the ritual.

“This old man!”

From afar, a beauty in a yellow silk dress walked in with graceful steps.

The supreme ruler of the Great Ming Empire.

It was the Emperor.

He ran in, crying, and grabbed the hand of the eunuch lying on the altar.

“Why are you trying to leave?”

“Your Majesty…”

A thin voice escaped from Lee Cheolsu’s lips.

“What is so great about the pleasures of the flesh? Why are you trying to leave me and depart from this world already? Even going through an unknown ritual! Sob sob.”

The Emperor shed tears.

To her, Lee Cheolsu was not just a mere eunuch.

The third princess born of a concubine.

Being an illegitimate child and a woman, she was far from the throne. Her father, the former emperor, did not even pay attention to her, and her mother did the same.

Only him.

The eunuch Lee Cheolsu, who was in charge of her care, raised her with utmost devotion.

Though he was a slave from the distant land of Joseon, to the Emperor, he was a parent, a teacher, a family, and everything to her that could not be explained with the word love.

For him, the Emperor could do anything.

So the Emperor killed the ministers who uselessly suggested dismissing this old man and exiled the scholars who petitioned to keep him away.

She secretly eliminated and purged all those who threatened his position without his knowledge.

She did not marry.

To her, having him alone was enough family.

She bestowed upon him wealth and glory greater than that of the Emperor, the honor of the corner, and the privilege to wear a sword and ascend to the main hall.

He was everything to her.

It was not regrettable at all.

But he was now trying to abandon everything and take his own life, being tempted by the mysterious superstition of the Great Rebirth Law, which claimed to allow one to be reborn with memories of their past life.

The Emperor could not bear to see it.

Her everything, who held all the wealth and power of this world, who was called the old man by the Emperor, was trying to take his own life for mere pleasures of the flesh, for such lowly pleasures.

She could not accept it.

—

It was impossible to send him away like an adoptive father.

“That’s good, isn’t it? The union of yin and yang! What’s lacking, then? If it’s wealth, power, I’ll give more of it. No, please, regain your senses. Ah, ah, ah.”

The Emperor grabbed Li Chaoxi’s hand and wept.

Tears flowed from her beautiful eyes.

*

I could hear the Emperor’s sobs in my ear.

The words he had spoken echoed in my mind.

“Sheng ren.”

A four-character idiom meaning “to make a comeback.”

In a nutshell, the Emperor was asking me if I would give up my life for s*x.

My insides were boiling.

I was consumed by rage.

“Is ‘Sheng ren’ that important?”

Yes.

It’s important.

50 years ago.

As I crossed the road, I was hit by a truck that was supposed to be a rebirth vehicle.

If I were hit by a normal truck, I would have gone to a fantasy world, but I fell into the Middle Realm of Wulin, which was a world that only appeared in novels.

My original age was 28, but I had regressed to a body of 12, and on top of that, I had been rejuvenated.

However, the Middle Realm of Wulin was a world that was too harsh for a modern Korean to survive, and I was eventually kidnapped by a slave trader and castrated, and then sold to the Imperial Palace as a eunuch.

So, I had become a eunuch.

I had not even had a chance to experience being a hero, and now I was a eunuch!

“Son of a gun.”

I felt like I was going to go crazy, but it was too late, my genitalia had already been cut off.

Moreover, the Imperial Palace where I was sold was a place where all sorts of schemes, plots, and power struggles were rampant.

As a modern Korean, I, Li Chaoxi, was not easy to survive in such a place.

But I had to survive.

This was not the Ming Dynasty of real history, but the Middle Realm of Wulin, where martial arts were real.

Perhaps, somewhere, there was a master of mysterious medicine who could restore my cut-off genitalia.

—

**Could it be possible to restore my manhood?**

But to invite a renowned doctor, power was necessary.

As the eunuch in charge of the upbringing of the third princess, it was insufficient.

So, I made the third princess the emperor, rose to the position of Grand Eunuch of the Eastern Palace, and finally became the hidden power behind the throne, seizing the empire’s power.

All for the sole purpose of restoring my manhood and achieving the union of yin and yang.

With such power in my hands, I secretly invited a famous doctor from the martial world.

However, the result was despairing.

I still vividly remember what the doctor said to me that day.

‘Duke Yang, it is impossible to create something from nothing.’

Indeed.

Even the doctor who could restore a broken dantian and treat the Nine Yin Severed Meridians could not restore lost hair or a severed reproductive organ.

The doctor might have lied. So, I invited the royal physician and famous doctors from the martial world and asked them the same question.

But their answers were the same as the doctor’s. Even in this world where martial arts exist, it was impossible to create a manhood from nothing, as the doctor had said.

To escape the fate of a eunuch, it was faster to die and be reborn in a new body.

So, I decided to do just that.

In the end, as a last resort, I used my power to gather sorcerers from the Left Dao Sect and shamans from the old Blood Sect to prepare the forbidden technique of reincarnation, which only appears in legends.

The Great Reincarnation Technique.

A technique that transfers the soul of the subject into another’s body, allowing them to be reborn with a new body through reincarnation.

As a technique that defies the heavens, the success rate of the Great Reincarnation Technique was less than 1%, with 99% of cases resulting in death, but I didn’t care.

After all, the power and wealth I held were for the sake of achieving the union of yin and yang.

The mountains of gold and silver treasures bestowed by the emperor, the powerful authority that could bring down even birds in flight, were all useless without my manhood.

At one point, I thought that if I underwent a complete transformation, my manhood might grow back, so I delved madly into martial arts. After rigorous training to restore my manhood, I succeeded in the transformation and even surpassed the Commander of the Golden Guards, earning the title of the greatest martial artist in the imperial palace.

But even after the transformation, my lost manhood did not grow back, and I despaired.

‘What use is it to have wealth, power, and strong martial arts?’

When I am a eunuch.

The joy of union! Three wives and four concubines!

Not just any union, but the union with an unparalleled beauty!

If not that, I cannot be satisfied!

Without the joy of union, I would rather die!

With that thought, I prepared the Great Reincarnation Technique, and here I am today.

—

—

But does that damn emperor enjoy the pleasures of the flesh so much?

My insides are boiling.

“Your Majesty… I have already made up my mind. Please forgive this disloyalty of leaving you without serving you till the end.”

He should understand by now.

The emperor, hearing my words, grabs my hand and sobs uncontrollably.

“You old fool. Oh, sob sob…”

She wails loudly and then faints.

I immediately gestured to the court ladies nearby.

“Attend to His Majesty.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Two court ladies, who received my order, carried the fainted emperor out.

Still, I feel a bit bittersweet.

I made her emperor for the restoration of her vitality and the pleasures of the flesh, but after over 40 years of living together, I’ve grown fond of her.

Now, she feels like a real child, a younger sister.

Maybe it’s because of her martial arts training, but she still looks like a beauty in her early twenties.

Honestly, I was slightly shaken when she cried earlier.

But what’s not possible is not possible.

Even if it were another woman, the emperor feels more like family than a woman.

I steeled my heart as I looked at my still numb, castrated lower body.

“`

“······Maya.”

A voice whispers in my ear.

Did it work?

A headache surges.

I rub my temples and open my eyes.

“Kid. Are you awake?”

My blurry vision gradually clears.

What I see is a coffin in the middle of a dense forest.

And a pot-bellied middle-aged merchant with a kind smile and a bundle on his back.

Wait, a middle-aged merchant?

“I found you collapsed by the roadside. Are you alright?”

The middle-aged merchant smiles kindly.

My hand trembles as I confirm his face.

I still don’t know if the great technique succeeded or failed.

But I remembered that damn middle-aged merchant’s face very well, even after 50 years.

I still vividly remembered his fake smile and those damn lines.

Because he was the one who picked me up, castrated me, and sold me to the imperial palace as a eunuch!

He was the one I had vowed to kill first when I gained power. Unfortunately, when I finally found him, he had already been stabbed by bandits and sent to hell, so I couldn’t take my revenge with my own hands.

But he’s alive?

Does that mean I’ve returned to the past, like in a novel?

“Kid?”

Tap, tap.

He tapped my cheek.

Without a word, I slowly reached down and touched myself.

“······!”

It was there.

The manhood that had been missing for 50 years was now intact.

I had it again! I was no longer a eunuch!

But I couldn’t fully enjoy the joy of being a man again.

My head cooled down.

“`

Reborn as the Great Law, I thought I would be reborn in someone else’s body, but it seems I’ve regressed to the beginning of my time in the martial world, like I’ve gone back in time.

This miserable middle-aged merchant, Wang San, is living proof.

It’s not rebirth, but I don’t know why it happened, but it doesn’t matter.

I won’t be a eunuch again!

To achieve that, I need to take care of the despicable person who’s trying to sell me off to the royal court.

A body with no internal energy, like a child.

But even a commoner is no different from me.

So, I’ll crush the person who’s treating me like a child and kill them easily.

“Auntie······.”

I put on a politicized expression, honed from decades of training in the palace.

I called out to them with a pitiful voice and expression, like a real child.

“Why are you doing this?”

“My hand······. It hurts······.”

“What’s wrong with your hand?”

The person smiled kindly and grabbed my wrist.

A guy, even a sworn enemy, is grabbing my wrist?

But this is exactly what I intended.

I applied the Five Ancestors’ Mysterious Fist technique and twisted Wang San’s wrist, breaking it.

“Ah?!”

Wang San’s face contorted, but it was too late.

While I may not have internal energy, my body movements, built through years of training as the greatest martial artist in the palace, are unmatched.

I momentarily subdued Wang San and then leapt onto their back, throttling them.

“Ah! Why are you doing this······.”

“Die! Die, you b*stard! You’re a worthless merchant who’s turned a normal person into a eunuch and ruined their life! You’re a son of a b*tch who’s got no father or mother! Die!!”

I shouted insults at Wang San while continuing to throttle them.

“Snap, crack!”

Wang San’s eyes rolled back.

Wang San tried to rip my arm off their neck, but I clung tightly, throttling them.

“Snap, crack······.”

The strength is draining out of Wang San’s body.

The head has dropped.

It’s dead.

“Ugh.”

I confirmed the death of that person and finally untied my neck.

Plop.

The person’s body fell to the ground.

“Ah.”

I spat on the person’s body.

That kind of trash, who cut off the innocent child’s arm and sold it to the palace.

Damn it, fall into hell.

Tap tap.

After wiping my hands, I took a deep breath, stood up, and checked my pants again.

In my sight, something I had never seen before in my previous life, a massive lump between my legs, appeared.

I recalled the adult figure I saw before I fell into the martial world.

The woman’s bare body appeared in my mind.

The child’s blood-filled body responded directly to my imagination.

Wow!

A man’s pride puffed out like a puffed-up chest.

“I’m done!!”

I couldn’t hold back my joy and let out a scream from the middle of the forest.

I, Icheol-soo.

After 50 years as a eunuch, I’ve returned to restore a man’s pride.

Sigh.

Tears flowed from my eyes.

The 50 years of contempt and oppression I received flashed through my mind like a panorama.

As a eunuch, as a court official, as a palace servant.

Even with the powerful authority and wealth of a king, I couldn’t do anything.

The scenes of the court officials behind me mocking me, calling me a eunuch, flashed through my mind.

In my previous life, I was a eunuch, so I couldn’t have relationships.

But now, it’s different.

“Now·····. I’ll live for s*x!!”

—

I clenched my fist and shook it towards the sky as I shouted.

My life was just beginning.