Star Gate

In the ancient civilization, Tranquil Star was a sacred land with twelve powerful families in residence—it bore a certain resemblance to the City of Supernaturals. No wonder those who built the city said that they’d imitated Tranquil Star. From there, two of its families ushered in the New Martial era. A supreme titan of the Zhang family, located outside the town, strengthened the budding age. Then it was the Human King who fully raised New Martial to dominant ascendance.

“Supreme Zhang…” Li Hao repeated the name. “Supreme shares the same ‘exalted’ character as the exalted emperor cultivation level. Does that make them the same?”

These people labeled everyone else as exalted emperors, what made this person different?

“His strength might have been different, and his status certainly was,” one of the robot cats answered frankly. “The supreme’s status was exceedingly high. The Human King was the Human King, but Supreme Zhang was once the Human Emperor. Even the Human King said that while he was the king of New Martial, Supreme Zhang was the emperor of New Martial. It was just that the supreme didn’t really care about these titles.

“That’s why my family is stronger than the Zhangs. My family’s other exalted emperor was once ranked higher than Supreme Zhang…”

“……” Li Hao lost the train of conversation again. But he could understand that these two robot cats came with quite the background. They mentioned kings and emperors at the drop of a hat. His own ancestor couldn’t even get a place on the ranking with them present! That was a bit tragic.

“Seniors, you must listen to me in the outside world. There might be a ton of trouble otherwise!” he swiftly said, setting everything aside. The Black Armor would create a lot of trouble for him if anything happened. The young man wasn’t going to send them back after bringing them out. This was a strong addition to his battle forces!

And the key was, these two wouldn’t raise any disturbances so long as they didn’t fight. They lacked core origin, so they were the same as two chunks of metal if cast off to the side. That was good.

Li Hao took out two cloaks. “Please wear these, seniors! It will make our movements more convenient.”

The two robot cats were too conspicuous as they were as big as barrels. With the cape around them, the hood was barely sufficient to cover their heads. However, they presented a less comical appearance when dressed like this. They simply appeared a bit fat.

“Out here, please do not speak carelessly,” Li Hao coughed. “In order to keep your identities a secret, I will not be referring to you as my seniors either. That might invite unwanted action if someone discovered your identities. How about… the Black and White Devils!”

The young man arched a brow. “One of you can be General Black Devil, and the other can be General White Devil!”

What a lousy name! Both robot cats were unwilling. The name was shit!

“No!” Jiang Yingli immediately refused. “I don’t like that name. We had our own duo name back in school!”

“Yeah!” Li Shengzhang interjected.

“What was it?” Li Hao was curious—so there was a name for this duo?

“The Devilish Beauties!”

“……” Li Hao rolled his eyes. What the hell? Was this name to be proud of? “You’ll be the Black and White Devils!” he proclaimed. “Or I’ll send you back immediately! Jiang Yingli is General Black Devil, Li Shengzhang is General White Devil!”

The two were highly put out, but quieted down when they heard the threat of sending them back. They didn’t want to go back yet, the ruin was too small. They’d finally awoken a little and didn’t have to remain trapped in the darkness. Who wanted to stay there forever?

Li Hao didn’t care that much and asked as they traveled, “Can the two of you only physically ram yourselves against enemies? Can you still use your secret arts or techniques?”

“No. We can use martial techniques, but not secret arts. Many of them require a combination of blood qi, mental strength, and core origin. Without that, we can only rely on martial techniques to battle.”

Li Hao inclined his head. That meant to say they didn’t have much strength to call upon.

“What level of strength were you before?”

“Immortal,” Jiang Yingli answered directly. “Part of the students was Immortal, another part Apex. We were naturally the Immortal group!”

“You weren’t that old then, were you?” Li Hao took a sharp breath. From their immature ways, they were probably both very young.

“Of course!”

“We’re geniuses!”

“I am, you’re not. You got to this position thanks to your ancestor and grandfather…”

“You too!”

“……” The two bickered again, exposing every last secret about each other in the process of doing so. Second and third generation descendants were very different from the rest of the population. They were tempered with indestructible matter at a young age and bathed in Water of Life. Born as innate eighth ranks, they easily comprehended core origin and quickly set foot into Apex.

“What a pity that I was born late,” Li Hao sighed emotionally. ‘“I missed out on those times!”

“You wouldn’t have enjoyed this treatment even if you were born during our times,” Jiang Yingli said quietly. “Your Lis… were very poor!”

“……” Now that was a bit too much, wasn’t it? “My ancestor was the Sword Sovereign!”

“The Sword Sovereign is very strong, but he was probably the poorest out of all the exalted emperors,” Jiang Yingli whispered. “He depleted ten to one hundred times the resources of others in each of his battles. If it wasn’t for the Human King supplementing his resources… he would’ve had to sell his sword to get through the days!”

“……” Li Hao knew a bit of what she spoke of since he’d watched the Exalted Blood Emperor persuade his ancestor to absorb the world first. His consumption rate was too high. But… had he been so poor to the point of needing to sell his sword?

Was that necessary?

“Our principal also secretly supported him,” mumbled Li Shengzhang. “Otherwise, apparently the Sword Sovereign was having trouble buying food.”

This was curiouser and curiouser! It sounded like the ancient Li city had been filled with his starving family! But the Human King and his younger sister had helped his ancestor a great deal? Then it would seem that they were on good terms with each other.

“All families supported him, didn’t they?” Jiang Yingli muttered. “After all, he protected everyone back in the day…”

Li Hao’s ears perked up. Although this was ancient gossip, it was nice to listen to it. So his ancestor had been well liked?

Jiang Yingli didn’t mind that Li Hao was eavesdropping and said casually, “When the heavenly war occurred in New Martial, the Human King said that we needed to leave some people behind as seeds for vengeance and to ensure the heritage of our civilization. Hence, the Sword Sovereign did not participate in the battles.

“He evacuated the elites of various families to another locale, but they met with a lot of danger there. He protected everyone then, which is why everyone treats the Sword Sovereign with a great deal of respect…”

“Evacuated?” Li Hao blinked.

“Yes.”

The young man frowned. Evacuated? Why wouldn’t a sword cultivator participate in a war?

“The Human King wanted the Sword Sovereign to lead the evacuation as he trusted the Sword Sovereign the most…”

I see. Li Hao didn’t say anything. This was just gossip and he couldn’t be bothered to investigate ancient matters that deeply. They were too far removed in the past. With that, he brought two chatterboxes back to the Skystar Commander Office, surprising the group waiting for him.

Who… were these two? Li Hao’s return with two fatties in cloaks was quite perplexing. However, they quickly realized who these two might be.

“Puppets from school?” Sky Sword asked curiously.

“You’re the puppet!” Jiang Yingli retorted.

Li Hao could begin to tell them apart now. Jiang Yingli’s voice boomed and she had a fiery spirit, whereas Li Shengzhang was a tiny bit quieter and a hint more gentle. It took careful discernment to tell the difference between the two.

The biting response stopped Sky Sword in his tracks and he nearly choked on his own spit. The group was very surprised that Li Hao had managed to coax some puppets out of Evenround. The young man really had a few tricks up his sleeves!

Sky Sword and the rest were ready to go; Panther suddenly appeared as well. As for why the dog came back so coincidentally—it was apparent from the black armor hanging around his neck.

Where did it get that from? I don’t think I gave it a set, did he steal it? wondered Li Hao.

“Should we notify your master?” Sky Sword was the more responsible sort among the group.

“No, he’s in closed door cultivation lately and we’re only up against the City of Supernaturals. We can grab him for the Wind and Cloud Pavilion.”

Up to you. Sky Sword dropped the matter.

The task force consisted of Li Hao, Sky Sword, Hou Xiaochen, Chen Zhongtian, Deputy Zhou, Hong Yitang, Panther, and two puppets. Six humans, one dog, and two puppets. Li Hao felt that they could go anywhere in the world.

After some thought, he took out the sets of silver armor. “Take one each. It’d be good to conceal your identities a little.”

This left only four sets in his storage ring. While the others were just startled, Chen Zhongtian took a sharp breath. He knew the situation with silver armor. That made one a troop leader! Could Li Hao assign these at will now?

Over on the royal family side, although the old Skystar King wore golden armor, they didn’t hand out silver armor like this. Each recipient had to fight for the honor. The royal family had troop leaders, but they’d won that distinction through struggles of life and death. No one haphazardly received their rank like Li Hao was handing them out.

The puppets weren’t interested in the armor. Jiang Yingli took one look before shifting her attention to Panther. She suddenly plucked up its ear with curiosity. “Is this dog the descendant of the Monster Spirit Envoy?”

“Probably!” Li Shengzhang nodded.

“So cute!” Jiang Yingli caressed its head. “I wanted to pet it last time, but didn’t dare to. What a pity it’s not a cat.”

“Are you thinking of using your family’s fur-brushing heritage?”

“……” Li Hao had no idea what they were talking about. How was there such a heritage? The heck?

The group was also at a loss and looked at the two puppets, then at Panther. The dog grinned foolishly back at them and didn’t dare resist the puppet’s petting. It seemed to sense something.

This picture of docility irritated Li Hao and he kicked Panther.

“Arf arf arf!” Panth immediately bayed with a fury, fully demonstrating the idiom of threatening others based on its master’s strength.

Jiang Yingli didn’t mind. She casually scratched Panther’s neck, putting it so at ease that it wanted to yawn. The dog quickly realized something was wrong and barked again, “Arf arf arf!!”

etvolare’s Thoughts

Lol I wonder what that brushing technique will do.