From street beggar to high-ranking official

June 25th marks the beginning of autumn; the summer heat has not yet subsided, and the signs of autumn are beginning to emerge.

After bestowing his reward that day, Eunuch Chen stopped coming to the martial arts training ground. He spent the rest of his days teaching martial arts and reading to the other eunuchs. Eunuch Ji also only recited his lessons at dawn. Lu Li enjoyed a rare period of leisure.

Several eunuchs died during this period, reportedly from fever and infection caused by overdoing their training.

Unlike when Lu Li framed Xiao Douzi, this time the Inner Palace sent someone to investigate, and after confirming that the wound had reopened, they let the matter drop.

Lu Li recalled that the dead boys were all young eunuchs who had just shown their talent after receiving a reward from Eunuch Chen that day.

"Just as Xiao Shunzi said, people like us, even if we die, no one will care." Lu Li recalled carefully, wondering if Chen Ji's two eunuchs rarely showed up, was that also intentional.

He wasn't annoyed by his past caution in framing Xiao Douzi; even though Xiao Shunzi had said those things, he still needed to be careful.

There is no one in the palace you can truly trust!

Lu Li continued his cultivation as usual. The only unusual thing was that a new batch of eunuchs had entered the palace, and every time he passed by, he could smell a fishy stench.

However, he didn't care about any of that. These newly arrived palace boys still had that rustic air about them, walking with a limp and swinging their arms around casually, which made people feel uncomfortable.

"Brother, where's the outhouse?" As Lu Li returned from the kitchen, a young man blocked his way.

The smell of the fishy stench assaulted Lu Li's nostrils, and the other man's words sounded even more grating to his ears. A wave of disgust washed over him, and he snapped, "Get out of the way! Can't you see you're blocking our path?"

The boy who had asked for directions was so frightened by Lu Li that he ran away, his legs spread apart like a standing toad.

......

The next day.

Lu Li continued to cultivate in his room as usual. The path of cultivating true qi is not limited by location, and moreover, the "Netherworld Inner Landscape Technique" is suitable for cultivation in the deep palace.

With his inner energy circulating throughout his body, Lu Li immediately waved his hand.

call!

A gust of wind howled.

"If we slap him hard, his neck might break instantly."

As Lu Li was contemplating himself, Xiao Fengzi walked in from outside: "Little Lu, there's a good show to watch outside."

"What kind of show is so good that you, Xiao Fengzi, have to come and call us personally?" Lu Li got up and followed him out.

On the training ground, Xiao Jizi was facing off against a newly arrived teenager.

"Are you going to kneel or not?" Xiao Jizi's henchman shouted sternly.

"A man has two knees; he kneels to heaven and earth above, to his sovereign and father in the middle, and to his teacher below. How can he kneel to a lowly person?!" The young man stubbornly refused, his originally fair face turning red.

"A man whose manhood has been severed still calls himself a man?" Xiao Jizi sneered. "If you refuse to kneel, you shouldn't have entered the palace."

"What dignity can a person who has lost their roots have? When you enter the palace, the first thing to be cut off in the castration room will be your dignity."

Perhaps because he had recognized Eunuch Ji as his godfather, Little Ji's words carried a lecturing tone.

With a single sweep of his leg, the boy, who looked to be no more than a teenager, suddenly bent his knees and slammed them heavily onto the ground.

"Xiao Jizi is used to being arrogant here, and he gets resentful when someone contradicts him," Xiao Fengzi said to Lu Li.

"It's just kneeling down and kowtowing, nothing serious," Lu Li said, puzzled. He didn't understand why this young man seemed so stubborn, when it was just a matter of kneeling down, kowtowing, and begging for mercy.

Lu Li had no aversion to kowtowing. He had begged for alms all the way to the palace. If he had encountered human traffickers, they would not have let him go even if he kowtowed until his head was broken. Unlike the palace, where there were rules.

More and more eunuchs gathered to watch, but even more were the newly arrived young men, especially a few who had previously been on friendly terms with the young man. Their faces turned ashen, as if they had never witnessed such an arrogant and domineering behavior before.

Xiao Jizi's henchmen also joined in, with Xiao Chengzi beating the most hard. He struck the boy on the back with a palm, and the boy actually braced himself with both hands on the ground, his head hanging down and staring at the ground.

"You're already kneeling down, why aren't you kowtowing?" Xiao Chengzi yelled, his calloused hands gripping the boy's nape and pressing him down.

"Kowtowing three times will get you off this time." Xiao Jizi thoroughly enjoyed this feeling. He was used to the eunuchs around him being obedient, and they could hardly find anything to cause trouble for him. Today, he ran into this young man and had a good time.

It is enjoyable to be flattered and praised by others, and it is also enjoyable to be able to discipline oneself.

Xiao Chengzi's grip tightened, and the boy's once-rigid spine gradually hunched over as Xiao Chengzi slammed his head against the bluestone ground three times.

"Good, not bad." Xiao Jizi chuckled and left the training ground with his followers, leaving the boy still frozen in the kowtow position, unattended by anyone.

After the excitement ended, everyone dispersed. Lu Li found it boring, but Xiao Fengzi, who had a rather wicked sense of humor, grabbed Lu Li and wouldn't let him leave, wanting to see the boy's dejected appearance after he stood up.

"This kid doesn't look like a poor wretch. If he can get through this, Xiao Jizi might be in trouble in the future," Xiao Fengzi suddenly said.

"What do you mean by that?" Lu Li asked, puzzled.

"Look at ours." Xiao Fengzi stepped forward and, surprisingly, gently helped the boy up.

The boy's eyes welled up with tears and he quickly thanked him. Xiao Fengzi chuckled inwardly, but offered words of comfort: "We've been through this before. What eunuch doesn't have to kowtow? Just bear with it and it'll pass."

"I'm just... I'm just so angry..." The boy's eyes were still red.

Xiao Fengzi gently patted the boy's back to comfort him: "By the way, we still don't know how to address him?"

"I, my surname is Zheng, my given name is Zheng Zhang, and I don't have a courtesy name yet."

Although Lu Li was not close, he heard everything Xiao Fengzi and Zheng Zhang said. When Xiao Fengzi returned, he asked, "What did you find out?"

"In our opinion, they should be a collateral branch of the Zheng family of Xingyang," Xiao Fengzi speculated. Seeing that Lu Li was puzzled, he added, "They are a prominent noble family there."

"Even noble families can become eunuchs?" Lu Li was somewhat surprised.

Xiao Fengzi declined to comment.

......

July 1st.

A large group of junior eunuchs were led by Eunuch Chen Ji to the Inner Palace Office. They had been learning the rules for half a year and were about to be assigned tasks after passing the assessment.

The assessment consisted of three tests: discipline, knowledge, and martial arts; the assessment was conducted by the eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonial.

However, as long as you pass the first thing, it doesn't matter if you don't understand half a word of academic or martial arts skills. It won't stop you from sweeping the floor or taking night shifts anyway.

Lu Li, familiar with the routine, kowtowed and bowed.

He skillfully brought his feet together, bent over, hunched his shoulders, tucked his chest, and lowered his head.

Everything about the form of address, tone of voice, pace, posture, and expression was perfect.

Next came the written exam, which required writing from memory with a brush pen. Lu Li was at a disadvantage in this aspect; his handwriting was so good that it was considered good enough that it looked like a human handwriting.

When it was time to test their martial arts skills, everyone stepped forward one by one using their identity tokens and arrived at a long copper water tank.

The water tank is three zhang long and filled with water. At the end, there is a palm print. If you strike the palm print with your true energy, the water tank will be filled with waves. The strength can be judged by the distance of the waves.

Lu Li was a little behind and saw Xiao Jizi, Xiao Chengzi and others splashing water in turn. Among them, Xiao Jizi splashed the farthest, about two zhang away.

When it was Xiao Shunzi's turn, Lu Li saw Xiao Shunzi take a deep breath, concentrate, turn around and gather strength, not with his palm, but by twisting his waist and punching out.

The fist, imbued with true energy, slammed into the water tank, sending up a wave that traveled nearly three zhang (approximately 10 meters) in distance.

Xiao Shunzi's performance was unexpected, and even Xiao Jizi, who was originally confident of victory, turned cold.

He had considered getting rid of Xiao Shunzi, but he couldn't find an opportunity, even though the martial arts school had been targeting and making things difficult for him.

Soon it was Lu Li's turn. He circulated his true energy and wondered to himself how much of the skill among these people was genuine and how much was fake.

Xiao Shunzi will definitely give it his all, so as long as I fall behind Xiao Jizi, I'll be safe.

If it's something like pressing a handprint on a bronze pillar, Lu Li can freely control the depth of the handprint, but when it comes to something like striking a bronze trough to observe the distance of the water splash, he really has a hard time controlling himself.

With the idea of ​​maintaining a mid-range position, Lu Li used about 30% of his true energy, seemingly exerting all his strength, and with his face flushed, he struck out with a palm. With a tremor in the copper trough, the splashing water quickly hit the end of the trough.

The water splashed out of the copper trough, reaching a height of three zhang.

Xiao Jizi's cold gaze immediately fell on Lu Li, but even Lu Li was taken aback.

Could it be that our family are the martial arts geniuses?