#ImperialEunuch

That was a big fault because many prodigies only came out later, it was usual for trolls that come from lesser origins to never see their talent be, because their very cultivation method is restricting. For some they lose a minor stage that can’t be realised, others would lose whole major cultivation stages. This was why the Warmonger Tribes could never come close to the empire which had focused its resources on the masses and the minority at the same time.

Natural resources of lesser rank would never be piled for a select few, while the highest rank of resources would only be awarded for meticulous service towards the empire. With time, this strategy proved to be the right one, as many of the talents nowadays came from pebbles.

There was of course a disadvantage, as there are always faulties in everything, else they wouldn’t be real. Balance was the key to existence, imbalance, no matter if it is good or bad one, will one day cause destruction. This was why the _world_ would never allow imbalance.

The disadvantage was that the nobles would, over time, fall down, only being a façade of its past glory. The marquis was a depiction of that, but this problem fell on many, if not all, nobles. Since they couldn’t provide unending resources to their above-average children, their children would never be able to be geniuses and would stay the way they were.

This was no issue for the empire as a whole, since the population would provide more geniuses than a few noble houses could, while any above-average personnel of the empire would one day outdo the children of nobles.

And there was also the most important reason above all: none of the factions, of course excluding the nobles, wanted to strengthen the nobles. The military thrived because nobodies would join them and reveal their talent. The emperor had enough resources for his family anyways, it was better not to take this route just to gain a few more, which would also result in the nobles, an opposing faction, gaining power.

The officials didn’t want more work for themselves, and many of them also came from poor conditions. They also had very few close family members they would trust, and these would get their support and resources anyway. The value of branch families was too low for the mighty officials to support each and every relative.

Lastly, of course, the eunuchs were a special case. They were one of the main consumers of the resources that didn’t go towards the nobles, and they wouldn’t have families either, so it was better to spread the resources among all the eunuchs, the military and the population, than a few noble families.

That is not to say the nobles are lacking in resources, no, they were just greedy and wanted more and more. If they had the strength, there was no doubt they’d kill the emperor and his family to become the new royal family.

The little fight was soon over with the soldier’s side winning, some of them had been injured, but there were no casualties. The orcs were all slayed, as there was no reason to keep them alive. Their bodies didn’t have any value for them, if they were of higher rank, then there would be many things one could harvest, but of this rank, it was better to just feed them to some less sentient beasts, or worst case, it could be used as a compost. No single piece of body is wasted!

The essence awakener came towards Ji Li after making sure the soldiers were fine. He cupped his hands and bowed “I greet the esteemed eunuchs; how may I help you?”

Shixuan cupped his hands and bowed while Ji Li, Qianyu and Lu Wei stood in the back only cupping their hands. He said “We are here on the behest of Lieutenant Tian Xuan.”

The captain cupped his hands again and brought them into the outpost. Their robes were enough proved for their role. Inside, one could see that besides a strong and wide wall, it was pretty bare with mostly tents and some stone buildings around. The quintet, a bad summarisation of their group which has become even worse, soon arrived in front of a stone building, it was pretty central, and two soldiers stood outside.

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The captain went inside, and in a split second one could hear the voices inside. The sound was blocked just as fast as it came out. ‘Well, guess their sound-cancelling formation is pretty well but can also be disturbed very fast. My guess is that my own is better because it has a more versatile movement and is capable of blocking specific things. I guess it’s the military after all, even if they don’t want to, they have to make cuts at some points, and a stationary silence-formation is more than enough for mere outposts.

A tall man in his early thirties, with a stubble beard and short black hair, he looed like a young commander. His presence was strong, and one could feel slight vibrations in the air, they were full of vitality and strength, ready to rush at a moment’s notice.

The tall man looked confused at first, he had not called for any person, but it was an eunuch, so he had to attend them anyways. When he saw the quintet, he was even more confused, as he felt like they were familiar, but at least two didn’t fit into the picture. He cupped his fists when he came closer and asked in a confused tone “How may I help the esteemed eunuchs?”

Ji Li chuckled as he said, while cupping his fists, “Uncle Xuan was away for so long, he doesn’t even recognize us. Shixuan, quick call mentor, what a bad uncle this is. He should be scolded by his husband, or else he might get unruly!”

Tian Xuan was shortly confused but it instantly cleared up when he heard the name and Ji Li calling him uncle. There was only one young man bold enough to call him uncle while still saying he had a husband, everyone else would say wife, while this particular young man said that since they were both men, it was only right to call them husband and husband. He even dared threaten him with calling him wife, since his mentor obviously would be the husband in the relationship. He told him that he should think twice before questioning the manhood of an eunuch! Xuan could only blame himself for arguing with a talker while he was a fighter.

“Ji Li! You are as bold as the day you were born! I still remember the look you gave us when I delivered you to the training yard! It was the same Eunuch Lin gave us, his ‘Ahh, these young people’ look. Even now you look at me like that! One day you will be an old grumpy man, running after young people and hitting them with your stick!” Tian Xuan had become very open in his way of talking, since he had Hua Jing, he would just follow his orders in the capital, while in the military, there were those worse than even him when trying to sound wise. He really wondered how he was so good at it when he was younger, but over a decade in the military ruined any ability to speak like a fine man.

_Tsk_ _Tsk_ _Tsk_ “Uncle Xian, if you saw what I saw, you would have looked the same. Two young men being lovey-dovey in front of a man that was the age you are at now, and Hua Jing held me like I was the first born of you both, can you imagine how hard I fought the urges to hunt the crane and send myself back? You were lucky that mentor is such a good man, or you’d land in the eunuchs inspection palace for how you behave.”

Tian Xuan shuddered slightly but just rushed forward and patted Ji Li on his back, then he shook Qianyu like he did in the past, monkey loved being in the air, and he had a connection to Tian Xuan since he was a wind elf and Tian Xuan had wind affinity. Then, Tian Xuan went to Shixuan and tried to carry him with all of his strength, Shixuan used his talent and made himself heavy. No wind could blow off a stone of similar strength. Tian Xuan might be a major stage ahead, but his talent was more of a endurance strengthening and speed-inducing, while Shixuan’s was to make himself a fortress that would defend itself from anything.

“Little stone, you have become very heavy, I must say.” Then Tian Xuan used his talent to make the earth more vivid, making it move more and loosen around Shixuan. He then used his strength to throw the giant that was as tall as himself into the air “But in front of your uncle Xuan, you still have to learn a thing or two!”

Tian Xuan would have done something similar to Ji Li, if he didn’t know that the retaliation would be too strong for him to handle. It is all joke till you embarrass Ji Li, he would be petty about it and make vines grow during unexpected moments, make you trip over yourself, as the vines would instantly disappear. Tian Xuan became so embarrassed over those things, and after arguing and taking revenge for the ‘childish pranks’ of a kid, as that was how Hua Jing called these actions, he had to give up. His husband would never take his side and probably make him stumble and trip intentionally as a way to show everyone he was just clumsy, and it had nothing to do with Ji Li and his ability.

Ji Li might have only awakened his ability pretty late, but he always had a unique connection to nature, so such things were as easy as stealing candy from a child. Which was also something Tian Xuan had done, making him lose his food whenever he was visiting the eunuch palace, he would always go back starving, and Hua Jing wasn’t aware of those things yet, so he only assumed it was the growth spurt and how he was lacking nutrition even after a full meal. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do anything about it, the eunuch palace had regulations, after all.