Ji Li was happy for having fulfilled something that brings him the giggles, but he still kept a serious face and lastly said “If anyone ever says that what you are doing is unreasonable and unmanly, just say that it was a eunuch that told you to do so. After all, who could tell a eunuch that he is unmanly? They would rather eat their own words before that.”

Wu Xun laughed at the sudden joke, lightening his burdened mood. Ji Li nodded at Shixuan, and the formation was lifted. They soon ate as the food arrived and talked some more, where Ji Li came to know that Wu Xun was actually an adventurer that was wandering the lands.

He just felt that the main character became more and more main character, but he didn’t say anything and just nodded to himself. He was happy with his work, making his day much better. After some time, Wu Xun and co. left the table as they were sent off by Ji Li.

He wanted to give them some time to discuss it among each other, but mainly he wanted to send them away to properly eat. Till now, he only took some mannered bites. He couldn’t eat like a beast in public, but he would at least eat some more and then take some home.

Shixuan was curious about the conversation, and before he could ask, Ji Li had already nodded and Shixuan used the same formation for himself, Ji Li and Qianyu. Ji Li told him to repeat what he said for Qianyu, which also confused the latter.

Ji Li looked at them and said “It is not a rare case for such things to happen to young geniuses. Men who see their potential will always try to send their daughter to them. I despise such behaviour. How can a father send away their child for a forced marriage?

If it is only an arranged marriage and they get to talk with each other for some time before they decide whether they marry or not, I would not say anything. But some of these men send their daughter into the beds of men three times their age, how can I think well of it?

Now Wu Xun might not be so old, but he already had a wife, have you guys not seen? I can’t sit by and let a woman suffer at the old tradition of the empire of having a harem. How can a harem do well in any time? I have never thought of it as good, and even in our case, we should just make time for the soldiers to come back more often and have them make their children.

The one child of a soldier is much better than ten children of someone with two wives and three concubines. The soldier’s child will have reverence for the empire and heritage of being a soldier, while the children of a harem will just have resentment towards their parents.

And the worst is, how can we honour woman if we make them share their own husband? In what world are we that we force woman who find the love of their life, such as Xue Yu, share their husband with some off-the-mill woman that just threw herself at him?

Even if it was another woman that Wu Xun knew longer than Xue Yu, he had already married her, so how could he take another woman? In such a situation, it is even more likely that one of them will be neglected. I am very unhappy with the situation, and the same goes for the emperor.

We do not need to have such a tradition, and if I have enough power someday, then I will look down and shame all those that follow such old ideas. I do understand that especially someone as Wu Xun, who only feels like it’s his responsibility, would take on several women. He is someone who could take care of them, protect them and never let them feel bad.

But is that truly the case for all of them? And even Wu Xun himself does not wish to get into another romantical relationship, so we as eunuchs should teach him how to behave properly. Worst case, if we truly have too many women, we’ll just have an increase in female cultivators, which is good.”

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Ji Li ended the discussion there, as he did not wish to talk any further about the pros and cons of harems, especially not to his younger brothers. They were eunuchs in the first place, if they had not found someone that truly grew upon them with all their heart, then they would never find a romantical partner, as there was no need for one, if not even sexual attraction existed.

There was no need to stay in the Trade Pavilion for too long, as they just took a lot of food to take home. The whole restaurants were owned and financed by the Eunuch Palace in the first place, why would you need to pay for the food in your own home?

The trio didn’t plan to do anything else and went back to their Yard to relax and stabilize their cultivation once again. They had to do a lot of things once they were finished, the time Ji Li planned was cut shorter than he wanted.

…

The next morning, Ji Li told the two at breakfast “The training I planned would only work for you if you had not entered the Essence Awakening Stage. Now that you did, there is pretty much nothing cultivational for me to teach you, at least not when you have just entered the stage.

You guys go to the Examination Hall and ask them to take the early exam as soon as possible. We planned for it to be in a month, but just tell them that you unexpectedly rose in your cultivation, and they won’t make it difficult for you.

I will go and visit the elder brothers and ask them for Nature’s Gift for you. The application takes longer if we do it personally, so let them do that. Go now.”

Shixuan and Qianyu left for their thing, while Ji Li left for the Eunuch Ceremonial Hall. Once arrived, he took the normal procedures and then went into the back where the garden was. Yu Wei and Yu Bao closed the hall and then came, asking him how he was.

Ji Li smiled at them and used some of his essence, which had surprised Yu Wei and Yu Bao, as they felt the streaming energy to be of a higher quality. When advancing, the Essence Field would transform the essence into different forms.

Low rank would be gaseous, Middle rank would be liquid, High rank would be solid while Peak rank combined the whole essence field into a large wall that surrounded it wholly, making it a secure and strong foundation. To get to the next cultivation stage, you would have to break the whole wall, shatter all essence back to be small particles flying together in a gaseous form.

Gaseous, Liquid and Solid were only the closest to describing how the consistency of the essence was, but in truth, nothing that was right. Solid would not become Gaseous before becoming Liquid, and if it truly just shattered, then the shards would be dust and not gas.

Essence wasn’t part of the three states of matter, not even plasma, the exception, came close to it.

Yu Wei and Yu Bao could feel that the properties of Ji Li’s essence were liquid, and they were curious how it happened. Ji Li explained the whole situation, as well as how Shixuan and Qianyu also advanced, and lastly asked for Nature’s Gift, which they naturally promised him.

Since both of them already became Essence Awakening Stage cultivations, it would be even easier to get the fruit than when they got it for Ji Li. What really made them happy was that they got a dual awakening pair into their Eunuch Ceremonial Hall.

Ji Li alone was already a large property, but with Shixuan and Qianyu, he basically became a combined stock in which the Eunuch Ceremonial Hall invested and got a lot back.

Now, they only had to steadily cultivate, and someday, they would become big shots. Ji Li wasn’t one to sit still and cultivate the whole time. He liked doing that, but he preferred cultivating and sitting still while he was driving around the whole empire.

So, he asked Yu Wei and Yu Bao “Elder brothers, I have already progressed in my cultivation further than a new Intermediate Eunuch has, while Shixuan and Qianyu did so too. When they awaken their Talents, we, as a trio, will have a lot of strength.

So, I wanted to ask of you something. Could we take on a mission?”

The elder brothers were positively surprised and thought of some things, then an idea came to them, and Yu Bao said, “There is no need for you to take a mission from the Mission Palace. Every Hall of the Main Palace gets their own missions assigned each year.

Normally, they are smaller tasks, and our Eunuch Ceremonial Hall was always ordered to teach every of our visitors the way of a eunuch, and how they should behave. Our Eunuch Ceremonial Hall has always been a moral pillar, and strictly speaking, we are the only eunuchs assigned here.

So, with no real manpower, we can’t really do anything. But, when we asked for Nature’s Gift, we got a mission, the one you did. You did it perfectly, and just yesterday, a letter came requesting for you to do another mission of the same kind.”