‘’Damn old geezers!’’

Li Ao left the tall pagoda shouting curses. A few servants cast him weird looks as he walked almost naked towards his room.

Once inside, he activated all formations, sat down on his bed, then cast a look at the blinking notifications.

*Awarded 4x pieces of Memoir Of The Heavenly Son, do you wish to transfer the contents?*

He received them, cast a sweeping look at the new notes, then put them away. He had no mind to read them now, but Li Ao caught a few words that required his inspection.

Then, he glanced at the other.

*One New Mail!*

*Karim Shah/3rd-rank Agent*

*Title: Schedule of Action and Raids*

*Mail: The space anchor will be built in nine days.(This line will change depending on your home-world) After its completion, those who received this mail are requested to attend a meeting to decide our course of action and consolidate new knowledge.

Those eligible to join and received this mail: involved 2nd-rank agents, involved 3rd-rank agents; all agents with adequate mastery of Forging, Formations, Architecture, History, Divination, Memory Reading, or Spirit Communication; all agents who have contributed greatly, and all agents who I am led to believe have participated in Knowledge Acquisition missions.

For the agents who are yet to unlock the Friendship System, it is a good chance to make connections. Be polite, bring good food and drinks, and take care of yourselves.

With respect, Karim Shah, Vice-Protector of O’nuch Solar System.*

Nodding as he moved his eyes down, Li Ao glanced at the last blinking light.

*Total Balance: 190985 Universal Coins*

‘’...’’

Li Ao fainted.

*********

No, Li Ao didn’t faint.

It would take a really solid strike to his chin to make him faint at this point.

Still, the impact of six digits made his spine shiver up and down in excitement.

It felt very weird.

Scrambling around the interface, he unfurled the mission log.

Thousands of blue lines blinked before his eyes, each awarding five or ten or fifteen Universal Coins for contribution.

‘’...holy shit!’’

Was that the way!?

Was that how he needed to truly farm points!?

Kite and wipe!?

‘’Bubbles!’’

Taking out the cute giant blob of dark silver, Li Ao threw her up in the air.

‘’We are rich, Bubbles! We are rich!’’

Bubbles, still sluggish, couldn’t understand his excitement. Her head touched the ceiling twice, then a third time.

She bubbled a little, slapped his head down with an appendage, then vanished back into his spatial ring.

‘’...what!?’’

His head cranked low, neck in pain, Li Ao rubbed where she hit with tears.

‘’Is she in her rebellious phase!?’’

Now that was even more shocking than his wealth.

Probing her with their connection, Li Ao sent an inquiry.

‘Image, too much! Me throw up!’

She didn’t throw up, of course. But through his Divine Sense, Li Ao noticed her sluggish rolling through hills of dark metals. She didn’t seem any more lively.

‘’What image?’’

‘Don’t know! Don’t Know!’

Doubtful, but also helpless, Li Ao sent a few strands of his Qi to ease her mind. Then, turning his attention back to the mail, he read through it another time.

‘’Friendship system...and knowledge?’’

Former, most likely, was how other agents contacted each other. Why it was called friendship, he had no idea.

The person who designed this system probably had some mental issues.

Were they a loner?

‘’Okay.’’

Li Ao swept his Divine Sense through his room and gathered the books and notes laying around about the Divine Castle. He spent an hour organizing and placing them in a separate spatial pouch, then laid on his bed.

A week to rest.

No, not just a week.

Li Ao shot up to his feet.

‘’A flying sword and talismans.’’

Thinking, however, he laid back down. The pillow sank as if trying to swallow him.

‘’Just one week. I should laze around for one week.’’

‘’When I am done with the meeting, I’ll look for a blueprint and talisman papers.’’

Li Ao thought of the scarlet blade still laying in his spatial ring.

‘’I’ll use it as a base.’’

That would be better, right?

With a good enough blueprint from the Universal Store, then perhaps a few special materials, he wanted to make a solid sword that made use of his Spirit and Body Cultivation at the same time.

It needed to be heavy and sharp.

Then, if possible, very cool too!

Then he would buy Talisman Papers. He had used them a few times, though the best example was his very first mission.

He could prepare formations on them as a practice. Better yet, he could inscribe formations that could seal a strike within it.

Talisman papers that could house Foundation Establishment power were sold around twenty to thirty mid-grade stones a piece.

In the universal store, they were fifteen coins each.

While it seemed like a loss, both the latent quality and their ease of use surpassed Great Wei’s talisman market.

For the beginning, he could buy two hundred of them. Unleashing half of them at the same time could greatly injure any Core Formation cultivator.

If you added his three-fold cultivation base, how powerful would they be?

Again, it might not be enough.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

If it didn’t seem enough, however, he could prepare a thousand.

He had the wealth for it.

‘’A blueprint, some materials, talisman papers...and the infiltration manual.’’

Thinking so, Li Ao closed his eyes and slept for a while.

He spent the next few days checking on Bubbles and reading through the Intermediate Formations book. In the evenings, Li Nan brought him alongside her to the palace. He did see the princess, but avoided her.

She seemed offended by it. However, Li Ao had no mind for anyone. He only thought of the meeting, then his preparations for going back to see his master.

Still, he paid attention to what Li Nan taught him.

They were discussing the investigation about stray demons. The southern kingdoms, or tribes as Great Wei called them, had sent several documents profiling prevalent Demon Emperors in hiding.

There were still around a hundred Demon Emperors.

Most were around Peak-Nascent Soul, only fourteen Soul Formation.

Of those fourteen, three were named.

Demonic Emperor Of Brutal Deaths, one who always resurrects.

One who reigned as the most brutal and violent of them all. He was particularly infamous in the Li Clan—he had killed his grandpa’s, Li Bo’s sister, in front of the entire family in disgusting fashion.

No one talked explicitly about it, but tales of her disfigured corpse within the mausoleum echoed outside in public whenever his name was mentioned.

Demonic Emperor Of Bloody Banners, one who beckons rivers of blood.

One who gathered all demons, a being who had countless avatars, making himself one army with one mind. He was, if not the greatest, one of the greatest disasters in the Four Mountains Realm.

The leading figure of the war, one who commanded the invading realms.

Lastly, the Demonic Emperor of Perception, one who was ancient, one who broke fate, the one who brought countless Soul Formation kings and emperors to their knees.

He had been the bane of Four Mountains Realm for thousands of years.

Even now, he persisted. He made raids, gathered sacrifices, and last month killed the Dragon Queen of East Mountain with thirteen Nascent Soul Demonic Emperors.

Though he was forbidden from interfering or asking, Li Ao noted down everything he heard in a corner of his mind.

Nine days later, Li Ao left the palace and opened up the shop interface. There was a few hours before the meeting.

As such, unable to resist the urge, he began to shuffle through items in the Refining Shop and Talisman Shop.

He had a lot of work to do...

******

After pressing onto the silver portrait, a force bore on him, and Li Ao blinked to see himself in a new space.

‘’Junior sister, over here!’’

Li Ao appeared within a small, square room. Next to him, stuck to each dark wall were simple wooden stools, evidently brought over from another dimension. They stood at most ten meters apart from each other.

Around seven agents sat on them.

Sat wasn’t exactly literal with their weird forms.

He saw Kertl the lizard-man, four-legged goat senior sister, the floating ghost senior with her long wet hair, the giant blue ogre with one ice-blue eye and a thick white beard, and another beastly senior—a lion with silver, flowing mane.

No, it wasn’t a nice way of depiction. It did flow.

The lion’s mane moved up and forth like living waves on the sea. Li Ao felt a little mystified by them.

Then, it took him a little longer to realize there was no junior sister beside him.

‘’Who is your sister, grilled goat!?’’

‘’Gri—grilled?’’

Goat senior sister glared at him.

‘’You dare eat goats!?’’

‘’I don’t dare, I relish!’’

The blue ogre shook his head and scratched his beard. ‘’Lame comeback, human stupid!’’

‘’...’’

‘’Well, take a seat, Li Ao.’’

Hearing the young and familiar address, Li Ao cupped his hands at the seated Karim Shah and the other Soul Formation cultivator. The duo had shed their golden aura and looked like ordinary mine workers with their rough, black and yellow skins.

‘’Yes sir!’’

‘’No need for strong responses. Make yourself comfortable.’’

Nodding, Li Ao stole a glance, walked like a confident businessman, then sat right between goat senior sister and Kertl.

‘’...do you like pissing people off?’’

‘’I think he does.’’

Both arms behind his head, his back resting mid-air, the lizard man looked comfortable beyond measure.

‘’Why do you antagonize me? You know, I was the first one to come to your aid.’’

Li Ao cast her an amused glance. ‘’And what did you do?’’

‘’Excuse me for not being a god!’’

‘’You are excused.’’

‘’...’’

‘’Be nice to your seniors!’’

Blue ogre senior’s nascent soul aura bore on him like a soft blanket. His body a little heavy, but not entirely uncomfortable, Li Ao showed a wry smile.

‘’I apologize. Thank you.’’’

‘’Human has good virtue!’’

Nodding, scratching his beard, the blue ogre took back his aura. He was also on a wooden stool.

Only, the stool was the same one that Li Ao sat, around thirty-centimeters high, just enough to fit a normal man’s butt.

The ogre sat on it like he weighed nothing, and even crossed his legs in the air.

The same fault had happened with the ghost senior. She phased through the stool and floated around it, grinning and typing away at an invisible panel in front of her face.

Feeling creeped out, Li Ao turned to look at the lion senior. His mane kept pulsing, and for a while Li Ao watched it, then found the room too silent to his liking.

Only ghost senior’s giggles echoed within the small, dim-orange lit room. Apart from him, Kertl, and blue ogre, all of them were focused on the invisible system panel before their eyes.

Li Ao found goat senior sister’s claw swiping figure quite...unique.

‘’...hey, goat senior, what’s your name?’’

She cast a petty, arrogant look at him. Her weird dual pupils made it even more scary. ‘’You aren’t worthy enough!’’

Li Ao cast an innocent look at Blue Ogre senior, then at the hissing Kertl.

‘’She is Polly,’’ Kertl said, then pointed at the tan-clothed Blue Ogre senior. ‘’Senior Bluestorm.’’

Bluestorm nodded, then plucked out a small dried persimmon from his beard and put it in his mouth.

‘He was searching for snacks!?’

‘’Senior Jade Terror. Jady, for short.’’

Ghost senior lifted her wet hair, showed a beautiful red-lipped smile at Li Ao, then returned to grinning.

Her name was also unique in a way.

‘’Senior Silverflood. Silvy, Silvia, anything goes with him.’’

The two-meter tall lion man cast an uninterested glance, then returned to swiping at air.

‘’Karim Shah, as you know, head of the operation.’’

Karim nodded at them. ‘’You can call me Sir Shah, if that is more comfortable.’’

‘’Oozenhgaribou. They aren’t exactly gendered, so just call them Oozenhgaribou.’’

‘’Oozengarbhiou?’’

‘’Oozenhgaribou.’’

‘’Ouzengharibou?’’

The yellow-skinned human blinked, then his head separated into seven petal-like shapes to show a giant fleshly maw.

Li Ao’s mouth opened agape.

‘’...’’

Oozenhgaribou, sighing, retracted his fleshly maw back and reformed into a rough sort of man’s face.

‘’...’’

‘’...and I am Kertl, that you should remember.’’

‘’Yes...I do.’’

‘’That’s it.’’

‘’...’’

After a long while, Li Ao regained his freedom and poked Polly.

‘’What are we waiting for, senior sister?’’

‘’Others to arrive—why are you bothering me?’’

‘’You are my senior sister.’’

‘’When did I agree to it?’’

‘’Right when I arrived.’’

‘’As my junior sister. Are you a junior sister?’’

‘’I am your junior, not your sister!’’

‘’...’’

‘’When will others arrive?’’

‘’Are you a child? Can’t you think for yourself?’’

‘’Senior sister, you should be a good role model to your junior brother. Right, Senior Blue?’’

‘’Little human is right!’’

When he nodded, the tip of Bluestorm’s head touched the ceiling.

Indeed, this room was eerily narrow and thin when compared to the rest of the palace.

‘’Just bother the stupid lizard—don’t you see how eager he is?’’

Turning around to take a look, Li Ao caught Kertl sneaking constant glances at them. When Li Ao narrowed his eyes, the lizard hissed a hum and glanced at the ceiling.

‘’...senior Kertl, do you...?’’

The lizard shot forward with a beaming smile. ‘’Oh, you mean when will they arrive? Haha, my good junior, of course I can tell you!’’

‘’Really?’’

‘’No.’’ Kertl shook his head and laid back. ‘’I don’t know.’’

‘’...’’