Star Gate

A buzz of conversation started up in the plaza as soon as the visitors left.

“So the old demon’s disciple is this strong??”

“That discipline is filled with perverts, alright!”

“What a pity that our ranking officer isn’t present. He’d knock the kid down a peg or two! Li Hao was too cocky!” Discussions sprang up throughout the plaza, each of them punctuated with resignation. Golden Spear was their ranking officer, an existence on par with Yuan Shuo back in the day! But Yuan Shuo’s disciple had come to the Guards and nearly wiped the floor with all of them.

Although Mu Lin had salvaged their dignity, the results of their battle was that Mu Lin was injured and Li Hao only breathing a bit heavier than usual. It was a complete rout for the Silver Moon Guards!

......

Discourse rose and fell throughout the outside plaza.

In the hall to the rear.

Nine centurions were gathered together, as was Mu Lin. The ones who were injured wore crestfallen looks on their faces. They weren’t injured too heavily—the worst among them suffered only broken bones and slightly shaken internal organs. Li Hao was far stronger than them, but he’d showed mercy in his bouts of fighting.

“Mu Lin, didn’t you say that he’s just a Sunderer?” Chen Jin, heir of Mountain Ax, demanded with an unpleasant expression. This was a Sunderer?? He was the first to take the field and had been defeated in two punches! What a complete humiliation!

“What are you looking at me for?” Mu Lin laughed. “What can I do about him improving swiftly? Everyone knows his details, I’m not the only one to say that he’s a Sunderer—all the reports say that. How are you blaming me for him being more than that?”

The crowd fell silent. Indeed, their intelligence reports indicated that Li Hao was just a Sunderer. It was such a short period of time since then!

Xie Lan of the Jade Sword Sect coughed—she was truly injured and not imitating Hou Xiaochen’s habit. “It’s no big deal that he defeated us,” she said with a pale face. “But I’m thinking that if he was a half step Dominator when he fought Sun Moxian—no, a late Sunderer—then it’s only been ten days.”

Ten days!

Indeed, just ten days. Was intelligence of ten days ago old news? Absolutely not, at least not when it came to martial masters. Reality was astounding.

“There’s several reasons for his fast rate of improvement.” Mu Lin inclined his head. “One, he’s been to Battle Heaven. Two, the Nova level blood pearl. Three, he seems to have comprehended yet another aura...”

Altogether, it made sense why Li Hao was so strong, but it was still too hard to believe. Did bottlenecks not plague this fellow?? He could immediately grasp an aura after obtaining a treasure, break through, and instantly be stronger?

Everyone here had at least twenty years experience in martial dao!

“Forget it, he has his fortunes and we have ours,” Mu Lin quickly said. “Although our fortunes don’t seem as great as his, we’re in a much better position compared to martial masters in the outside world! He’s willing to join us now, so he will be a colleague in the future.”

“He’s willing?” someone asked.

“Yep.”

“What are we doing with him?”

“Director Hou means to form another one hundred person team for him to lead.”

The group was much more at ease with this explanation. Mmhmm, that was fine! Life would be impossible otherwise. It would be weird whether he was their superior or subordinate. How would anyone give orders to him, and the boy was too young to be their superior. They weren’t able to instantly accept such a young martial master suddenly being put in charge of them.

“Did Director Hou send him to us so we can borrow his knowledge for the expeditions?”

“Maybe, that and he’s truly strong. His presence will make the Guards stronger!”

“That’s hard to say. If we’d all worked together and assembled an army formation, we wouldn’t have lost so badly!”

“......” The group was embroiled in conversation and not as repelled by Li Hao’s joining. Martial masters were a pragmatic sort. It was one thing to be a weak, nameless nobody. But when the newcomer was Yuan Shuo’s disciple, the Guards couldn’t be blamed for rejecting or even bullying him.

Yet, it was a different matter entirely when Li Hao was so strong and Yuan Shuo’s disciple! Such an existence absolutely had the right to join the Silver Moon Guards and a foundation with which to be arrogant.

“The captain of my bodyguards... is gone!” Mu Lin sighed.

The group fell silent and some rolled their eyes. How is this what you’re concerned about at this time?

“Mu Lin, your defense is invincible. Someone like you would be better served as being the bodyguard captain for a swordsman,” Chen Jin snorted.

He wanted Li Hao for his bodyguard captain? The fatty was more suited to be a bodyguard himself!

Mu Lin flicked a glance at him and chuckled, “That’s still better than being laid flat in two punches.”

“You...”

Mu Lin laughed heartily and rose while ignoring the man. “Everyone, dismissed! If the lad really comes to be another centurion... I’m worried that he’ll snag a portion of our people to be part of his team. You guys need to be careful—your people might be tempted after seeing you lose so badly today!”

The various centurions grew nervous, that wouldn’t do! They’d honed their teams for many years; any members shifted elsewhere were quickly replaced. If Li Hao was joining them and forming a new team, he would certainly take a portion of the veterans with him. They couldn’t refuse to give him anyone and force him into his new position all alone.

The group quickly dispersed after a bit more conversation. Mu Lin dawdled on the spot for a while and laughed, thinking of his dear younger brother. My adorable younger brother, I hope you return to White Moon City Soon. We need to ‘strengthen’ our bonds of brotherhood!

......

Within the car.

Manager Yu closed her eyes without a word and rested. Li Hao thought back to the sparring matches of earlier—those really were just sparring rounds. Those centurions were quite a bit weaker than him, so he hadn’t used much force.

As for Mu Lin... The fatty specialized in defense. The young man had only smashed him with one sword stroke, it wasn’t a true fight to the death.

What Li Hao was thinking of was their physical bodies! They were all very strong! Even the centurions were incredibly strong, stronger than Liu Long, at the very least.

“Manager Yu, mysterious power stones can strengthen the body. Have the Guards absorbed many of them?” the young man asked directly.

“Yes, the harvests in the ruins are usually mostly of stones,” the woman responded calmly.

“Are the Black Armors of the Battle Heaven Army also here?”

“Yes, the Battle Heaven Army wasn’t the only army of the ancient civilization. All of their armies were uniformly of these suits of armor and there were a lot of Black Armors! The Silver Moon Guards now possess five hundred suits. It’s a pity that others took a lot of the Black Amors at Battle Heaven.”

The three great organizations had received a lot, as did the Sword Sect walk away with a fair few.

Li Hao’s eyes moved around rapidly as his thoughts flew. Five hundred suits of black armor made for impressive defensive capabilities. Even lacking the special energy from the ground, the defenses of the black armor were enough to cause headaches for Sunflares.

All of these martial masters could be regarded as Sunflares if they were equipped with these sets of armor... That was a terrifying notion!

Almost one thousand Sunflares... No wonder the Night Watchers were so darned poor. Hou Xiaochen had sent all items of value to the Guards and created a formidable army. The Silver Moon Guards might be a premier existence even in the central region.

They were the sum of Silver Moon power and probably the province’s greatest trump card. If they were all equipped with suits of armor and assembled into battle formations with Dominators as the vanguard...

Li Hao’s eyes gleamed while he thought. Any team of one hundred would easily take down a Solar. If both Golden Spear and Mu Lin were present, then Novas wouldn’t be too difficult either. That was assuming that Golden Spear couldn’t capture a Nova by himself.

Hou Xiaochen was valuing Li Hao quite highly to be sending the young man to the Silver Moon Guards...

Li Hao thought for a while longer before asking, “Do I recruit my own people?”

“You can, but they must pass our test. You can’t recruit any random martial master wandering around the land,” Manager Yu responded in a level tone. “All of these martial masters passed layers of tests to finally join the Guards. They also sign several nondisclosure agreements noting that they wouldn’t reveal certain secrets. They weren’t even allowed to leave base during their first three years unless it was on a mission. After that, they are allotted one month of vacation every year, but they must take turns with their vacation.”

Being unable to leave for three years was torture for many martial masters, but it made sense upon further thought.

“Will it be the same for me as well?”

“Centurions and above are not subject to these restrictions! They just need to be present when the mission is being conducted.”

Li Hao nodded. That was good. As expected, only officers received special treatment. If he was a bigger soldier, he’d have to stay here for three years without leaving.

He’d thought through quite a lot; there were many, many benefits to the Silver Moon Guards. With his quick glance, Li Hao had noted that they were almost all Sunderers. They would have to be, after absorbing so many mysterious power stones and so much energy. It would be shameful if they weren’t Sunderers!

This was an enormous platform that facilitated martial master improvement. Li Hao thought of the Demon Hunters. But then... what of Silver City? He wanted chief and the others to come over. Liu Long safeguarded a couple of mysterious power stones like they were his life. But here, there would be plenty of opportunities like that for him to quickly catch up.

Liu Yan, Wu Chao, Chen Jian... They were all Sunderers and as such, had the right to join the Guards. Being Night Watchers, there would be no problems with their background checks.

Li Hao suspected there was a treasure here that helped everyone grasp the aura. There wouldn’t be one hundred half step Dominators in a faction of one thousand, otherwise. The aura was not that easy to comprehend.

There were so many opportunities here that Li Hao felt he couldn’t let the chief and others continue to dwell in Silver City. But... the city was very important. The stone door was very important, at the very least. On second thought, if people couldn’t open the stone door...

Liu Long worried about defending Silver City, but once the three great organizations were exterminated from the city, a Sunflare could take over for his duties there.

“Manager Yu, can I recruit supernaturals?”

“You can, but they can only be support and not an official member! You will have to assemble into formations and one fewer member takes away from their completeness. Some areas are not suited for supernaturals, so having fewer members available for formations will be a grave problem!”

“Hmm?” Li Hao blinked. “Does Manager Yu mean that the current formations depend on the number of members in terms of strength?”

“Do they not?” The woman frowned and looked at the young man.

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