Yu Wei took over “The mission is a volunteer one, so you may decline. It is one where you will be going around a lot, do you wish to know what the mission is about?”
Ji Li had nearly jumped at the question, of course he wanted to know more about a mission where he would see the world a bit, so he replied “Yes, of course I would like to know about it.”
Yu Wei chuckled; he expected the answer but wanted to tease Ji Li a bit. So, he started explaining “This mission is about … you will have to visit the nobility of our Imperial Region, and even visit a Minor Region and talk with the marquis’ family there.
Strictly speaking, you are not eligible to do such, which was why you will not take the mission as a eunuch of the Eunuch Palace, but as an envoy of the Eunuch Ceremonial Hall. High Eunuchs are of the same rank as a marquis, so it’s not wrong for two High Eunuchs to send a lower eunuch to represent them in this visit.
Do you wish to take the mission? You will also be visiting all the noble families on the way there and have to check upon them, it’s just something eunuchs do regularly whenever they go on a longer mission, so you do not need to feel burdened about it.”
Ji Li was very excited about the mission… it was too good to be true! Finally, he could do something more interesting than just a competition and some small talk with young masters. This journey would be truly unique for him.
Not only would be go through the southern part of the Imperial Region, but he would also pass by two duchies on his way to the march, meaning that he would see a scenery change. The most interesting part would be that the march itself was at the sea.
The empire had three seas that were under their control. The first was the southern sea, which separated the southern-most territory of the empire and the central territory of the empire. That would be the sea he was going to see.
The second would be the south-eastern sea, which separated the island-territory of the empire, and the mainland. The island territory itself wasn’t too large, but it was the marine core of the empire, so its importance was pretty high, although there was no grand duchy on the island.
Lastly, there was the eastern sea, which separated the mainland and the whole eastern territory, which was even larger than the Frostwind Kingdom. Because the eastern territory was further away from the empire, it bordered four other countries. Because of the size, and the opportunities it had, it was also where the Grand Duchy of Trade was.
Ji Li was not going to cross those seas anytime soon, but it was very interesting for him to come to the shore and experience a bit of marine life, although he was sure that being a eunuch, he would not really be free during his stay, he was still excited.
Composing himself for a moment, Ji Li finally accepted the offer in a calm way “Yes, I shall accept the mission and honour our Eunuch Ceremonial Hall. Shixuan, Qianyu and I will set off when they finalised their Essence Awakening Stage and took the fruit. May the emerald tree shine forever!”
Yu Wei and Yu Bao were very proud of Ji Li, Shixuan and Qianyu. Initially, they only accepted and taught them out of interest, but now it seems that they are already repaying gratitude so much earlier than they had expected.
They smiled and repeated “May the emerald tree shine forever!”
Ji Li talked some more about the mission, and the two elder eunuchs said that they would give him the mission scroll officially when he would set off, as it was not really necessary for them to do that currently. Unlike the previous mission, that was truly for Ji Li, this one was assigned to the Eunuch Ceremonial Hall, so naturally, they had the mission scroll, and it itself was authority and power!
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
…
Soon, Ji Li arrived back at the Yard. Now, he had only a few plans remaining. He thought about it, and rejected the idea of visiting the back yard, although he was interested in doing so, and it wouldn’t really take time – he planned to visit it when he finished the mission and have a small celebration.
He went to his room and cleaned up, as he had left it in a bit of a mess. There was no servant that would clean after him, and he didn’t really mind, so he just did it. Afterwards, he went to the front yard and also cleaned the ground a bit.
There was not much to do for him currently besides stabilizing his cultivation and preparing for the mission, but he had barely anything to prepare, and his cultivation needed time. He might as well do minor chores and calm his mind with that, so he did exactly that.
Thinking back, they had barely cleaned the whole Yard in the past. Ji Li, Shixuan and Qianyu would always clean their rooms, while they would also clean the front yard’s table after eating. But they didn’t interact much with the Training Hall after just a day, so it was a bit dusty already.
They had left in a hurry after cultivating and advancing, so it was in a bit of a mess. The stone resources had some splitters around them on the ground, while the plants had withered slightly, as they would always be sent to their peak by Ji Li, and would then wither if no energy came, or freeze.
Ji Li felt guilty and used a lot of essence to send the plants back to how they were before he influenced them, meaning that he was recovering them. As the withering process had already started, that meant that his own essence inside of the plant was used up, so it wasn’t an absorption of the essence and needed its own essence, a lot of it as Ji Li tried to recover it to health.
Technically, withering was already past Ji Li’s ability, it would only send plants to their peak and then freeze them, not let them wither. He thought about it and was enlightened. In the future, to make it a full circle of growth, the plant would also need to die.
That was the future direction of his Talent, to finish its own recycling process and not be forced to freeze the plants at their peak. He also understood that they would then gain the ability to freeze the plants whenever he wanted them to.
That was very practical, as the seed form of some plants were stronger, while some other plants would grow fruits that would only ripen when the tree used all of its energy, making it collapse to grow the fruit. That was out of his wood-domain, and he would have to incorporate it into the Talent, or he would lose a lot of potential progress.
This really came from his when he was leisurely cleaning up – he understood once again the importance of taking breaks from cultivation and meditation. If he was always focused on progress, then he would miss out on many opportunities that might be even strengthen than progress.
He really didn’t want that to happen, and planned to clean up more, while also telling his younger brothers to also focus on other things and not on cultivation all the time. It was good to let the brain lose focus and just wander sometimes, although on the other side, it wouldn’t always be good.
The cleaning reminded Ji Li of his shocked moment when he realised that he really had to clean and do everything on his own in the previous world. Although it was obvious that that would be the case, being catered his whole life, it still came as a surprise.
Still, he quickly accepted it and found some fulfilment in it, it made him excited at one point, as he did something much newer to him. Of course, it was also annoying later on, but he never stopped himself from cleaning… well, of course… that one time when he was roleplaying…
Ji Li really had a lot of things go through his mind, and soon, it was Shixuan and Qianyu’s time to come back. They didn’t really plan a lot and just reported and wanted to take the exam a few days earlier, they probably only took so long because of the bureaucracy of the Eunuch Palace.
When they saw Ji Li clean up, they didn’t stop him or act like some shocked servants seeing their lord clean and work for the first time. They were all in the trainee yard together and experienced a lot of things, had many tasks and such. Ji Li might have pushed a lot of things upon them, but in compensation he would also teach them. But he always showed them how to do the tasks properly if they were doing something wrong, meaning that he was just lazy and not uneducated.
That was fine by them, and Ji Li also often taught them the importance of cleaning, as keeping up the hygiene would make your life healthier. The Eunuch Palace luckily had similar regulations all over, Ji Li was not sure why, but he thought that a world that was larger than his previous one, although it was not as technological focused as his, was still richly knowledgeable.