Chapter 72

Shixuan and Qianyu also took brooms and cleaned some more, then went into their rooms to also clean there. They soon finished all of it and gathered in the front yard again. Ji Li had calmed down on his excitement a lot during this time.

So, after making sure that there was no problem with the early exam being in a few days, he explained to them that the fruits would be delivered before that. Then, he looked at them deeply and smiled as he had something to say.

"I talked with the elder brothers. We are kind of pretty much free for the next few weeks, which wasn't good for our own progress. Sure, we could cultivate in the Yard and keep to ourselves, but I thought that that's not what we should be doing.

Although the outside world often has a less dense concentration of essence, the difference isn't huge, and there were many natural gatherings of essence, which were just as concentrated or even more. As you can already guess, I plan for us to leave.

So, I asked the elder brothers, and they told me that the Eunuch Ceremonial Hall has been assigned a volunteer mission, because we had done well in our previous one. It is one where we would travel far distances, are you interested in going together with me?"

Shixuan and Qianyu looked at each other, a bit speechless, but they soon replied "Big brother, we always follow you, wherever you go! The outside world is so large, of course we would like to see it. Cultivated here is very relaxing, but it can become boring very fast."

Ji Li was happy about the answer and also nodded "Yes, it might be boring at times. Even if it wasn't because of that, the world is going into turmoil currently. You have seen how the young master of the Yi family acted in the Ferrarius Town, naturally there is a reason for this.

There were also other things that bothered me, but that is not important currently. We will be taking the mission in exactly two weeks, until then, we will be doing a lot.

First of all, you two will be cultivating on your own for some time. You both don't really have a lot of fighting experience, so I will give you some pointers on how to do. Don't be courageous and try to fight a high rank monster just to prove me something, I had a lot of time preparing while I was at the Essence Awakening Stage, but you guys have just joined the low rank.

Then, after the exam, I want you guys to take your time to recover and cultivate some more, in those days I will also take care of you guys, so don't worry too much. During that time, I will also be calling Rong Xi into the capital, together with Shanmao Luo.

Let's see how far Luo progressed, while we will be finalizing all things for Rong Xi to officially become a Baron, meaning a small city lord. His city will also officially enter the ranks of our Servant Palace, so he will have to take an oath in our Eunuch Ceremonial Hall.

Finally, we will be holding our ceremony. Since you will become Intermediate Eunuchs too, let's hold it together. There is no need to make it larger than it should be, that'd be just wasting time. We have a close time plan, so I want to hurry things up a little."

They all nodded; it was true. The mission would begin in two weeks, but they had to arrange so many things till then. But it was fine, there was nothing that would truly take longer than a day. So, they began with the list of what they had to do.

Ji Li invited them all to go to the Training Hall, where they slowly began to run around and warm up for a bit. Then, Ji Li asked for the two of them to charge at him purely with physical abilities together, there was no need for him to fight them one on one.

The reason Ji Li was so good in martial arts was that he took some usual martial arts classes when he was younger. It wasn't really him 'taking' them, more like they were forced upon him to take. His family wasn't a fanatic that honoured the old traditions that much, but it would be too embarrassing if their child ended up fat in their eyes, another reason Ji Li didn't like them.

Ji Li, Shixuan and Qianyu trained like this for the rest of the day, they would check the exam yard the following day, and the days after. Ji Li would prepare some healing salves in the meantime; not everyone should suffer like he did, that was counterproductive.

He would also write letters for Shanmao Luo and Rong Xi separately to call them back. He would also need to take Rong Xi personally to the Servant Palace to introduce him there and initiate the procedures to make him a baron through the hall; in the storm of the empire's bureaucracy, the Eunuch Palace had halls to take the work off of them, so not every eunuch was hindered with them.

…

A day prior in the Ministry of Management, Nobles Hall. A young eunuch entered a grand hall and bowed towards the table in the centre of the hall and went up to one of them. He whispered something he had heard in the restaurant of the Trade Hall.

It didn't take long for the Vice-Minister to smile. A minute later, he looked at the other Vice-Ministers, especially at the Minister of the Nobles Hall of the Ministry of Management, which were in place for taking care of the issues of nobles.

They had just received a request from a marquis a week ago and were still contemplating how to go on the issue. There were several different issues, and the Vice-Minister was assigned the mission for the marquis. The marquis had three wives and six concubines, even for the empire's preferences, it was a lot. Now, the issue was the succession for the marquis.

Too many sons and several daughters too, he was already old, and his oldest son was nearing thirty, while the second was just a few weeks younger; this went on till their seventeenth child, a daughter that was also already thirteen old.

The women of the marquis' harem were already fighting before, now it was even worse. Although old, the marquis would be able to live much longer. The issue was that he was expected to soon join the army as a commander, so he needed a representation at home.

The vice-minister was not only confused but also disappointed; instead of sending all of his sons to war and making the most prestigious one the heir, they were all staying back and fighting for the succession while the wives and concubines were trying to tempt him at every corner.

It was even worse than the bureaucracy and politics of the capital, at least here there was the Eunuch Palace and the Imperial Palace. Both had the future of the empire in thought and would never act in a way that would disadvantage the empire; the other big players found no place in the balance the two kept each other at. The moment someone else tried to influence the balance, both parties would jump on them for treason and then go back to the balance.

The story the eunuch told him just now was what Ji Li said to Wu Xun. Although Shixuan's formation was strong, it wouldn't be able to stop a Palace Eunuch, someone at the Materialisation stage. The story was very interesting, as well as the backing of the eunuch.

So, he looked at the minister of the Nobles Hall, waited till the current talking vice-minister stopped, then raised his hand. With a nod of acknowledgement, the vice-minister told the minister the story exactly how Ji Li said it, with the emperor as an example, while still showing respect.

Some of the vice-ministers' faces showed frowns while others nodded and some few smiled. What a smart young fellow, they thought. He had barely reached age and was already criticizing old traditions and talking about morality; it couldn't be denied that he fit the Eunuch Ceremonial Hall, it was unmistakably a moral pillar of the eunuchs and the empire, and now a young eunuch of the hall was reinforcing that statement, teaching moral to the citizen of the empire.

At the end the minister had a smile and chuckled "This fellow had already perceived the world at such a young age, how right he is. How could someone ever question the manliness of a eunuch? He is the moral representation of a future very promising, where every girl and boy of the empire revere the soldiers while striving to do their best for it; the smart would fight with the brush at home while the strong would fight with the sword at the border.

Shen Lu, you are working at the mission about the succession of the marquis, right? Since you tell us this story, it means you deem the young eunuch fit to fulfil it. Write a letter for the Eunuch Ceremonial Hall, they had done their mission already, I heard, but this shall be a volunteer mission."