The old man, having seen Ji Li’s reaction, knew what he meant and said slowly “The gloves are made of the silk of the Snow-Eating Silkworm, a very rare silkworm that is only found in the highest mountains of the Frostwind empire, while the petals are from the Silverwood, a very rare species of tree that absorbs metal energy and changes it into wood energy.

Lastly, the golden pearls are actually tree beads that grow at the bark of trees, these golden beads actually grew at the bark of an emerald tree for a full year, making them very welcoming to wood energy and saving it for the user – a safety measurement of sorts.”

Ji Li was astonished when he heard that the small glove, he was wearing was made of so many rare materials – truly only experts know how to simply use materials that were rare and from even outside the empire. He felt bad for knowing that he couldn’t pay, but didn’t want to take them off, so he asked solemnly “Esteemed Sir, please tell me what I can do to pay for these, they will become very important to me, so I will do everything needed!”

The gloves could be used for a very long time – the shield of the flower might be the only thing that would one day become useless, as he didn’t know the strength of it yet, but he was sure that he could use the beads forever, or just switch them to the older beads later on. The silk was very well too and helped him, even later he could just strengthen the silk with his ice energy, as in the core, the silk was just a gathering of the snow energy of the Snow-Eating Silkworm.

Nodding, the old man just replied, “This shall be your opportunity and chance, I ask for nothing more but for you to always be true to the robe you wear.” The message was clear – be loyal and true to the Eunuch Palace, which was known for protecting the empire.

Ji Li bowed deeply and told him “I will never dishonour my robe, as I will never forget my origins” he then looked up and smiled, as the old man’s stall had disappeared. He was sure that the stall owner was a high expert that was working in secret and the item he just got might very well be the last thin he gave away, he was also happy that the stall owner disappeared like that.

At least now, he could simply carry on, without having to awkwardly find a way to leave the scene. Ji Li had already spent some time eating and doing other stuff, and although he was sure that the gloves, he just put on wouldn’t be dirtied by fat, he still wanted to cherish them more.

So, he looked back and saw the shocked faces of his brothers, that probably just saw that the old man suddenly disappeared after talking shortly. The guard behind them was different, Ji Li could only see that the guard was stern and quiet at always.

He knew that the guard couldn’t be so composed as to not me surprised – meaning that only he and his brothers saw the scene before, no one else knowing what happened. This reassured him even more that the expert wanted him to keep it to himself, so he didn’t say anything.

He just looked at the guard and told him “Get the carriage”, to which the guard set off. Shixuan and Qianyu calmed down and looked at him, but he just shook his head, signalling that they would be talking in private later on, as it was neither the right time nor space.

…

The carriage soon came, Ji Li and his brothers entered but didn’t say anything. Shixuan took out the usual formation Jade and used it, only afterwards did he dare ask “Brother, what was that?”

Qianyu was also curious but knew that there was no point in being hysterical since Shixuan had already asked. He wasn’t calm at all, but urged himself to be, so he could keep his composure, like his big brother had always told him.

Ji Li looked at both and felt a sense of pride as even in such a situation where they experienced such a shocking scene didn’t bring them out of their calm… well, at least they knew how to behave and act like them were composed, although their hands, hidden in their sleeves, were vividly shaking.

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Smiling, Ji Li answered “When we came towards the old man, I noticed that the things he offered all had traces of essence, and his temperament was also very attentive, so I thought it was just an expert that looked to spend some time leisurely and sold some of his work.

Who would have thought that he was actually a very high expert! He crafted me this pair of gloves” Ji Li took his hands out of his sleeves as he showed “This pair of gloves is made from such materials that one might think that it’s a treasure worth thousands of Essence Stones! The wonderous about all this was that he did so without letting out a single trace of essence, clearly very experienced.

You might call a lucky encounter, as the gloves are truly fit for my talent, he might have sensed the little lingering traces of the energy I just used to create the small flowers to clean out hands. To have such a perceptiveness means that he might very well be an expert of great standing.

Don’t worry, there was nothing that he could do to damage us. We live in the Eunuch Palace, formations are there in every corner, our robes serve as a protection and key that allows us to move about, and they are bound to our blood, so they would burn if anyone else wore them.

I just talked about being proud of my robe, which indicated that I stay loyal the palace, which he said that I should honour my robe, which meant that he thought high of our Eunuch Palace. The old man might very well be a trained expert that had relations to us, so we shall not feel too worried about it.”

Shixuan and Qianyu were nodding their heads like pecking hen, looking very funny. They understood that what they experienced might have just been a great opportunity for their big brother, but they didn’t feel envious of him at all.

Qianyu finally had the chance to talk, so he began, before Shixuan could speak “Brother, this is such a good opportunity! With this, you are gonna be so much stronger!” At this point, Stone and Monkey had already taken over a large part of Ji Li’s vocabulary, especially during private times.

This once again gave Ji Li a proud feeling, so he chatted happily with them, totally forgetting that he’s actually a bad influence on them. They spent another hour in the carriage chatting while the carriage was driving towards the centre of the capital.

The speed of the carriage wasn’t slow at all, and most of the time, the roads were either clear or broad enough for them to drive through fast. For them to take over an hour to reach the centre wasn’t too surprising though, as the capital was huge.

If they were riding any other carriage, then they would have surely taken at least three hours, as only the official’s carriages were allowed to drive on the main road that directly went into the inner palace city, all others had to take several side roads, which were also very broad, but these roads normally were intervening with each other and simply not direct.

Soon, they reached the Inner Palace City, where only officials lived. Even the Nobles had their official residences outside, naturally most of them also had a standing that gave them residency inside the palace city, but the residencies weren’t too big either, so most would stay outside with their families if possible… of course many more had to always be close to the imperial court.

The only exception was the Eunuch Palace, as it was the largest complex after the Imperial Palace Complex that housed the imperial family. Even the Ministry Palace Complex that housed all ministries was behind, as the officials still had their own residencies outside the Inner Palace City, while in comparison, most eunuchs lived only inside the Eunuch Palace Complex or at other branches.

The carriage arrived at the Inner Palace City gate, which was guarded by many people and had high walls on each side, making the border very clear. Left and right there were many large mansions all around and barely any shop that traded luxury goods.

The reason was clear: Luxury goods normally didn’t take up too much space, while any other would do. Why was space important? Naturally because the space all around the Inner Palace City had the highest cost of all, as the Palace City itself was managed by the several factions and the space was never sold, many were even fighting and scheming for just a meter more.

The guards at the gate were very strict and even asked the Eunuch Palace’s carriage to stop, simply because the city was too important to let in anyone unknown. Each of the guards was at least at the Essence Awakening stage, with the four leading guards being Talent Refining Stage.

That wasn’t surprising, they most likely didn’t awaken with Nature’s Gift anyways, so the cost to bring them towards that cultivation stage isn’t too high. They were all orphans that were brought up by the Imperial Guards, so their loyalty was unmistakably high.