Chapter 51

Ji Li answered once again "I punished him while I proposed the recruitment to the town chief. The town chief had just gone deeper into the Branch Yard to think for some time. Just prior that same day, it was young masters of several families that suddenly came to the guard exactly as we left, which was more than obvious thanks to their information.

That morning as the food was presented and I ate breakfast, I saw how the servants hurried to leave the room and only came back with sweat and a thin breath minute. It was clear that they had done something in that meantime.

They were the aides most trusted by the steward, so I naturally had my guesses. When I finally saw the young masters, I didn't need further information to understand that I had been set up. Naturally it was just young people greeting a superior, but that was far from being just fine.

The danger that laid behind telling outsiders when I was doing or going where was too high, and he still proceed with it. The motives might have been the money or something else, but that didn't matter as he was punished rightfully anyways. During the punishment he wasn't rueful at all, so I didn't proceed to wait for the Inspection Palace and used my authority as an Intermediate Eunuch.

The bribery was included into the total prize pool of the competition, but the total amount has been documented and the place of finding was recorded as well, if that were what you would like to see."

The answers of Ji Li were loud and clear, every single one of the eunuchs heard but no one of them was shocked or surprised about the cruelty of killing someone and simply calling 'punishment', they knew best how much bribery was hated by the Inspection Palace. So, if it wasn't Ji Li who punished the steward, then although the end would be the same, it would have been much crueller.

The man in the middle nodded and ended the audit with a last comment "You have acted accordingly, which was very well. This contribution is still under discussion, as it involves the Main Palace, Inspection Palace and Servant Palace, As soon as the Ferrarius Town has undergone an oathing ceremony under the oath three, you will be rewarded."

All the eunuchs at the other side of the long table stood up and left into a backdoor one by one, till then Ji Li didn't get to even see their faces… or maybe he just didn't look. The case was obvious, and the contribution was large, so there was not much to say. Most of the eunuchs were Senior Eunuchs, so they had seen their fair share of the world, including some special geniuses. They were all just a tad bit happy that the talented person was in the Eunuch Palace, so they didn't plan to make trouble.

Not once in the conversation were the Junior Eunuchs mentioned, they were just too low to gain the attention of someone over a full Cultivation Realm above them. Ji Li didn't bother to mention them either and talked as if it was him alone that did the mission, partly because he was truly the leader of the mission, partly also because he wanted to safeguard his brothers.

Ji Li walked outside and found Shixuan and Qianyu nervously walking around in circles, to which he gave a light cough to tell them he was there. In truth, the whole audit was no longer than five minutes, but for those outside, it felt more like eternity.

Stone and Monkey knew how to behave and deduct, so seeing their big brother's normal expression, they understood that everything went well and there was nothing to worry about. At most, he would be telling them later and not in such an open space, so they followed him out.

Going down to the reception again, Ji Li stopped at the previous receptionist and stepped forward. He had finished his report, and his contribution would be counted, but he wanted to take a step to take a ranking up away from the rewards he might get, so he had to apply for an early examination.

The receptionist felt a shiver down his spine, so he looked up, only to see the cold and indifferent person he was lucky to send away just a few minutes ago. He asked nervously "Intermediate Eunuch Li, how many I help you?"

Ji Li replied in his usual manner "Apply for an early examination for me."

The Junior Eunuch was truly shocked – an early examination for an Intermediate Eunuch meant that he was approaching Senior Eunuch! That was a long way higher than his rank, barely been Junior Eunuch for a few years and not even peak body strengthening cultivator.

Qianyu got a rough idea of what Ji Li wanted, so he corrected "An early examination to become Intermediate Eunuch. You do not need to bother with the details, just inform the Inspection Palace about this and ask them for a time."

The Mission Palace wasn't the place for examinations or such, the Inspection Palace was. The reason the Eunuch Mission Hall could contact the Inspection Palace's Promotion Hall was because many would return from their missions with a higher cultivation level than before, so the communication has been quickened for efficiency purposes.

The receptionist didn't even have the courage to stay any longer and just went into the back. Although he was not sure why it would be an examination for the Intermediate Eunuch rank, he just accepted it and used the communication tool to make an appointment.

The early examination was a special examination that one was allowed to take if they had confidence in their ranking, enabling one to even have a higher eunuch rank than their cultivational rank would allow. After all, the Eunuch Palace wanted to have people with higher literary talent for management. There were more than enough strong servants that could act as guards, which was why anyone could take the examinations up to the Head Eunuch rank, which was a rank just below the higher ranks.

Whether one could succeed this way was a different question… there have been examples of people having one rank above their cultivation, but the truly rare were those that went two ranks above them. Of course, that only happened because the history of the Eunuch Palace was so vast, even currently there was not a single person that went two ranks above their cultivation level.

Ji Li asking for an early examination wasn't too weird, his cultivation level being above his eunuch ranking was normally something to be shamed for, if it wasn't because he was just 16 years old and barely left the trainee yard, then he might not have been respected at all.

The receptionist soon came over and told the trio "The early examination has been applied for, you may visit the Inspection Palace in three days' time to check for whether you have been approved or not. When you have been approved, then an audit team there will be available to you at any time."

As the team left, the receptionist finally let out a breath as he thought to himself 'Why do I feel such a strong cold energy from him? Ahhh! It's too difficult, just looking at him made my eyes feel like they were freezing! I wish I could leave this Palace and join another, much more peaceful palace! Everyday there are indifferent eunuchs that are scary or some overly energetic ones that ask too much!'

The suffering of the worker was noticeable, but none of the receptionist next to him commented. They had the same experience, while some worked for so long, they were used to the younger generation complaining about all that.

…

Ji Li went out of the Mission Hall and looked around at the Mission Palace, at all the officials that were looking around the mission boards and such. This really made Ji Li think whether he should also take up a mission, but he put it to the back of his mind.

The Mission Palace's Blackboard was very large and there were numerous missions, finding a fitting mission wouldn't be difficult, but he had different methods that he had to try out. Truthfully, the Mission Palace was the largest and most prestigious place for mission in the Emerald Brilliance Empire, as even the Branch Yard's of the various cities had the Blackboard.

Excluding the Ferrarius town, as it was still a town, all the Blackboards around were made of formations to always show the most recent updates, making it very important. Additionally, to the Mission Palace, there was something called the Adventurers Guild.

The Adventurers Guild didn't have a lot of influence in the Emerald Brilliance Empire, but normally, it was a guild that stretched all around the world. Inside the empire, they had some contracts that bounded them to the Mission Palace.

All their Adventurers were allowed to take on mission put on the Blackboard of the Mission Palace, as the Mission Palace itself only allowed official citizens of the empire to take on their missions, but with the extensions of the Adventurers guild, all wandering adventurers also got access to them.

Many of the strongest adventurers were on their own, citizen to none, so this gave not only the Adventurers Guild some advantages, even the Mission Palace gained financial benefits as well as manpower, making it a very beneficial exchange. If not for this, then there was no way for the empire to accept a foreign power into their country, much less the more isolated territories.