Chapter 20: Longevity Ii (2/2)

I called people in after the effects wore off.

I kept eighteen pills and offered one as a tribute.

At the main palace hall, Emperor Qin split the pill into two.

He gave one to the old eunuch beside him.

The eunuch swallowed it with half a cup of tea and immediately became floaty.

He started mumbling gibberish about how time was slowing down and how he was flying.

We waited for the effects to fade.

The Emperor looked at me. ”This is the immortality drug?”

I pointed at the eunuch, smiling. ”Yes or no, ask him.”

”Long live the Emperor, thank you immortal for the gift,” the eunuch cried as he knelt down by the Emperor's feet.

The old eunuch had been following the Emperor since he was young and he was very much trusted by the Emperor.

The Emperor swallowed his pill as well.

After half a cup of tea, the Emperor started laughing uncontrollably.

”It's slowing down, it's slowing down. Time has slowed down. I can live longer.”

I smiled bitterly. ”You ate only half so that's an additional 25 years. The real pill can give you 500 years.”

The Emperor yelled, ”The immortal's right. Get me the drug, get me the drug quick!”

I smiled. ”3,000 virgin males and females, a hundred carpenters, scholars, officials, boatmen, and doctors.”

”The small pill is enough, the real one is too extravagant,” the advisor whispered to the Emperor.

The Emperor got angry. ”How dare the advisor disrupt my immortality plan? Behead him!”

The guards immediately dragged the advisor out.

The Emperor nodded toward me, asking, ”How long do you need to make a real pill? You can be my advisor.”

”The real pill is complicated so I'll need 10 years. I don't need the t.i.tle. I'm an immortal and I have no desire for such glory.”

”You act the part, indeed, but 10 years is too long.”

”I've already extended your life by 25 years so what is 10?” I challenged.

The Emperor stared blankly into s.p.a.ce for a moment before bursting into laughter. ”You're right, you're right.”

It was then that I realized that this emperor who conquered six nations was a good emperor; I was the cause of his stained name, but in order to save the world, I couldn't possibly stop now.

Half a year later.

Emperor Qin seized 3,000 virgin males and females by force.

I brought all 3,500 over people over to Penglai Island. Of course, by Penglai, I meant the island state outside of it.

Indeed, nuclear radiation was strong on this island state.

There were still some small problems even after thirty years of radiation.

The children on the island couldn't grow tall. They also started developing bow legs and buck teeth.

These negative issues did not affect my plan.

In order to accelerate the population, I allowed them to reproduce freely.

Tilling, hunting.

Teaching, building.

Every ten years, I would send someone to the palace to present a cannabis pill to Emperor Qin.

Outsiders only saw ordinary people sending the pills but couldn't find Penglai, now coined the island of the immortals, simply because the island state was very far from Penglai.

I handed down all my knowledge.

Mathematics, literature, language.

Geometry, science.

Another twenty years pa.s.sed.

I was severely deteriorating with age.

I received the news of the king's demise.

Of course, this matter had long been mystified since the old eunuch who had swallowed half a pill had indeed lived till the ripe old age of 63.

Well, a ripe old age in that era at least.

As such, many versions of the story spread around.

Some believed that the immortal and immortality pills were real and that the emperor had died because of robbers who had seized the pills during the deliverers' journey back to the palace.

Whatever it was, I've already done what I was supposed to do.

It seemed that under my guidance and strategizing, I've advanced the science and technology of this world ahead of schedule.

It was too bad that I won't be able to witness it since I'm not immortal...

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