“Don’t compare yourself with me too much, you should know how good you are! Even if there wasn’t me, in at most a year, you would become Intermediate Eunuchs on your own and get your yards, don’t tell me you are trying to pay gratitude now and leave me later!

You will forever be my little assistants, so there is no need to make such a show! Now come and sit down, eat with me or I will eat everything and let you starve for the next week!”

They all ate together and had some fun talk, while Ji Li put an end to their suffering and called back the trees. His Talent was truly very useful, it could make so many things! He thought about it and was sure that it would also work as an excellent cage!

Ji Li didn’t spend too much time with them, he was going to prepare for the exam. It was a written exam to be honest, so there wouldn’t be too much movement besides thinking and learning a lot of things. The exam itself will be a bit different because it is an early examination.

He will have to prove his own strength… so he had to prepare himself mentally to…! Although to be honest, Ji Li had already killed someone, so there wouldn’t be too much that could hinder me. The murder that he did would have disturbed him in the past, but the 16 years of this life have given him valuable experience, which he cherished a lot.

He understood the world was different, especially after reading the history and seeing how much bloodshed was caused, much more than his previous life. He was theoretically a doctor in psychology, so his own mind was open to himself.

The knowledge he had gave him a way to diagnose and treat any hidden symptoms of discomfort and uneasiness about his quick decision of killing someone, although he had already talked to himself prior to the action which was planned from the moment he knew what happened.

It was not only a punishment but also a test to himself, to make him adapt to the worlds morals more and not be overly confused and indecisive in a serious situation, where every little hesitation could kill him or his comrades.

…

Two days had passed, during which Ji Li had persistently learned the cultural arts of the Eunuch Palace, although most of it was just a repetition of what he already knew or the exams of the previous eunuchs, as the exam was always different, there was no law restricting the eunuchs from writing down their own answers and giving them others to learn from.

The general course of the exam questions would always be the same, three categories given, and the examinee has to answer from these three categories, which of course have many subcategories and other branches, making them unique of sorts.

Ji Li had learned more answers and repeated his knowledge but had one worry. He was sure that he would not fail in the written exam, what worried him a little was the demon beast he had to fight to prove his worth to advance earlier in the ranks than the norm.

Beasts were split into three kinds of creatures, which were the Spirit Beasts, Sentient Beasts and Demon Beasts. The spirit beasts were those that had goodwill towards non-beasts and were often taken as a companion or guardian, making them highly respected in many countries, especially so in the Emerald Brilliance Empire, which had many beasts because of their large territory which was very fruitful and had a variety of weather conditions.

The Sentient Beasts were basically the same as spirit beasts, only that they did not have any deep binding to non-beasts like the Spirit Beasts did, they were often seen either as individuals or in groups, but rarely did they have a size that was comparable to a village.

Sentient Beasts, unlike Spirit Beasts, cultivate on their own, which takes longer and is more difficult. Additionally, their reproduction is very low, considering that all Beings had to have a certain cultivation and wisdom to rise from normal animals. Still, there were some villages and clans of Sentient Beasts that were very strong on their own.

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Demon Beasts were beasts that had lost their rationality that was the aspect that made beasts rise from animals. They were either those that gained partial sentience by only cultivating strength and not wisdom and still kept their animalistic instincts, or Beasts that deviated in their cultivation. They were just stronger animals and not real beasts.

The beasts hated them for being called ‘Beasts’ when they were barely sentient, while the sentient non-beasts also thought badly of them, as they often crossed borders unknowingly and attacked them or destroyed the ecosystem, so there was a unified front against them always. There were some crazy people that used exactly the lost of their rationality to abuse them in experiments or use them as weapons, but those people were hated even more, as in the end, the creature was still partly sentient and felt the pain even more intense.

Sentient Beasts and Spirit Beasts were the majority, while Spirit Beasts were more popular and easier to find, considering their relationship to non-beasts, Sentient Beasts were more often than not stronger, as Sentient Beasts had cultivated on their own, but the difference of quantity balanced the scale, as cultivating alone was truly too difficult.

Humans, one of the most prominent species, were only so strong because of their teaching systems and generally the quantity of them. Often the sole cultivators showed great progress, but a talented genius among the large territories wasn’t rare either.

So, in total, one could say the balance was very strictly kept, at least in the Emerald Brilliance Empire, that stretched far and wide. Ji Li liked his empire exactly for that reason, as a eunuch is really a job that would never even have the chance of switching countries.

He would have to be satisfied if he was born into a small kingdom and had to fear of elimination of the kingdom everyday if he had gotten strong with his smarts and talent. That was not something he wished to do, not in a million years. In the worst case, he would have to abandon said country and wander the world, like he had planned, just without a place he could call home.

…

The exam day came, and Ji Li had prepared everything, so he ate leisurely with Shixuan and Qianyu in the front yard, which became their dining place. They had still not seen the back yard to this day, but it has only been less than four days since it was finished, so there was no need to rush things, especially since they wanted to see it together.

Ji Li stood up, to which stone and monkey reacted, but were stopped by Ji Li’s cough “I will be going alone. The exam isn’t somewhere you can enter anyways, so you would only be sitting outside nervously, doing nothing, so you might as well stay here.”

Qianyu countered “Then we will sit here being nervous and do nothing, how is that different?”

“It is different in that I am telling you to stay here, isn’t it?”

Shixuan replied to this upset “But big brother- “

Before he could finish, he was already interrupted by Ji Li who was waving his hand “I don’t want to hear an objection. I know that you want to follow me, but the exam isn’t like the report at the Mission Hall. It will take hours and you will only be able to sit outside, doing nothing.

Do you want your big brother to fail because he is thinking about you guys outside, rushing me to do fast instead of be patient and focus?”

Qianyu obviously knew that it was just an excuse, there was no way Ji Li would be influenced by something like that, that would not be like him at all. So, Qianyu refuted again “But if we sit here, we will be thinking of you and not be able to do anything, even if we wanted.”

Ji Li nodded to this, knowing that already, so he told his prepared reply “I know, that’s why I want you guys to do something for me, so you will not feel bad. In all honesty, even if it would be a close call, I will succeed in my examination.

So, let’s talk about you guys. You obviously have stabilized in the past few weeks, so I am sure that you would be ready to receive Nature’s Gift, too. I was already in the peak nearly a year ahead of you but had to wait to become a Junior Eunuch official to get the fruit, but that isn’t the case for you anymore.

You guys have reached a point where you can take the fruit after just a few more days, so I see no issue for you guys to prepare. I want you to firstly apply for an early examination in a months’ time and buy training equipment for yourself.

But most importantly, talk to the elder brothers and ask them about their opinion before you apply. They will most probably approve and give you the fruit after a few days, so we will be working on you guys’ Talent and strength a month long for the examination.”

Ji Li’s plan surprised the two, as they had just realized themselves that they were ready but didn’t want to tell Ji Li until he was over with his exam. Now in retrospect, he was always up to date with their cultivation rank, so it wasn’t too much of a guess and more like a calculation.