Five representatives came to Little Mortal, bowed, and one of them said,
"Sect Master, we talked to the rest, and as the city representatives, we accept to be your followers on behalf of everyone. Please take care of us."
Little Mortal smiled.
"Look, Assistant Rose, this is my first time seeing ten thousand smart people in one place!"
Then he clasped his hands and said,
"Good. Go back to your seats, please, so we can take some samples. After that, everyone can go back to their daily lives."
The five of them went back to the crowd and sat down with the rest.
Little Mortal jumped down from his backpack.
"Research Team, take the blood samples and save the information. No need for names—give everyone a number."
Receiving the order, a thin golden light shot to the sky from the backpack with a whistling sound.
After that, thousands of white papers came out and flew toward the audience, landing on their armchairs.
"Okay, everyone, bring your right hand up... Good. Now point at the sky with your... middle finger."
While he was giggling secretly, the crowd pointed their middle fingers toward the sky.
A certain dying old man in an unknown place felt thousands of people disrespecting him somewhere, but didn't have the power to punish them.
Little Mortal smiled coldly.
"Little Needle, make them bleed!"
The people's hair stood on end. They thought this little demon was finally going to show his true colors.
The moving golden light in the sky, with unbelievable speed, suddenly dove down.
Before anybody could react or know what happened—or if they were going to bleed to death—they heard him give another order:
"Okay, now press your middle finger on the paper."
The crowd looked at the tip of their middle fingers and saw a drop of blood resting there!
'So that's what he meant by "make them bleed"?'
'Can't he talk normally so we understand too?'
'How fast was that golden light?'
'I didn't even feel anything...'
The only reason these people cooperated was because of Rose. She was in the same position as they were, with a bleeding middle finger and paper. So if the Sect Master's daughter was part of the game, it was surely safe.
When the blood was pressed on the paper, a row of information started appearing on it, with a big number at the top.
"Send followers' tokens out according to their numbers."
Red lights started coming out of the backpack and rained down on the crowd. At the same time, all the papers with blood samples began flying back into the backpack.
The "Research Team" was indeed magical, fast, efficient, and precise.
Little Mortal explained the situation to his newly acquired followers:
"From now on, I will contact you through these tokens for gatherings. Remember, you are my followers. If anyone from the sect comes to bother you, send them to me. I will be at our headquarters—the former inn. Manager Luna and Assistant Rose will be there too, so don't worry about anything and focus on what I'm planning for you later on."
Then he whistled, and the golden needle went back to his backpack. A tricycle appeared, and the big screen disappeared.
From the token, his voice sounded once more:
"Thank you, everyone, for coming all the way here. Everyone dismissed."
With that said, he rode his tricycle and, while waving at Lady Butterfly, Rose, and Luna, said,
"Let's race to headquarters!"
Then music started playing while he went farther and farther away... slowly, like a real three-year-old child on his regular tricycle.
Lady Butterfly thought for a moment and flew toward the city with Rose. Luna could come back by herself—in the end, she was an expert.
Luna sighed inwardly and looked at the sky.
'...What about me? I thought we were colleagues!'
But she wasn't alone for long. The citizens gathered around her in no time.
"Expert Luna, please let us accompany you to the city."
"Expert Luna, please take care of us."
"Expert Luna..."
With all the praises, Luna could only cry inside and stay silent. She didn't know how to tell these people she wasn't an expert... And even her silence made them think more highly of her!
Farther Away...
Lady Butterfly reached close to the little boy on his tricycle. But the moment she thought she was going to get ahead of him, the singer in the music said "déjà vu"...
And she finally saw another scene that Rose had described to her—one she couldn't believe...
His speed suddenly became extremely fast, and when he reached the city, he didn't bother changing paths to the road. He just went straight toward the walls and buildings!
But to her surprise, everything in his path—including homes, shops, and even trees—started making way for him!
She had just been going to play with him because of a certain matter, but what was this? You call this a competition?
Rose, who saw this scene for the second time, said with a dissatisfied tone:
"See, Grandmother? I told you trees made way for him, but you didn't believe me. Now look—even buildings are making way!"
Seeing her not answering, she continued:
"By the way, Grandma, why did you suddenly decide to become a follower too? And what did you two talk about behind the backpack?"
Lady Butterfly took a deep breath and, while flying toward the city, said:
"Why? Well... It starts with him asking you to gather everyone here. Don't you feel it's not normal for the city to become completely empty, but nobody from the sect came to see the reason?"
Rose thought for a moment and said:
"Indeed. Why didn't I think of that? I could've just asked you to send a message to Mother before that, but I just asked everyone to go outside the city without thinking..."
Lady Butterfly said:
"After that, while that gate came out from the ground, just the leaked aura from that hand should've alerted the whole sect. But then again, nothing happened. No one came."
Rose was shocked.
"Why?"
Lady Butterfly, with a relaxed tone, said:
"Because of the third party covering up for him."
Rose was confused.
"There's a third party involved in all of this?"
"Yes, and I didn't know who until I tried to contact your mother to warn her about the 'Hell Gate' that might burn the whole sect... It was then that I found out I couldn't contact anyone. It was like we were isolated from the outside. I even saw your mother's disciple—what was her name again?"
"Snow White."
"Yes, her. I even saw her flying by while looking our way, but she just left... And when I was going to flee with you and Luna, some tree roots came out of the ground and wrapped around my feet."
"It was then that I remembered another event that happened in the inn. When those new recruits who joined the sect with this little Sect Master told us about the recommendation letter from your father, I sent him a message and asked if he had given any letter. But after he said 'no,' I didn't tell him there was someone here who claimed to have one. And not only that—even your mother is ignoring the facts in front of her."
"You're right, Grandma! When Mother asked me how I survived the Forbidden Jungle and I told her about my savior, she just said, 'Let's thank him when you meet him again,' and went into seclusion! She didn't go into detail about him or those who kidnapped me and disappeared later at all!"
Lady Butterfly nodded helplessly.
"Indeed. Now, who do you think has the power to manipulate our minds? To let you see an area with a scene that doesn't make sense—like the gathering—but force you to ignore it? To force your mother and father to ignore matters related to you? I even felt the Supreme Elder's spiritual sense scanning our area, but that was it. And the roots that wrapped around my leg warned me to stay."
"Only one existence can do all of these... and that is Heaven itself."
Rose's jaw almost dropped from shock.
"How is that possible? I heard from Father that more than 300 years ago, the connection with Heaven's Will was completely cut off. That's why no one can go to the Immortal World anymore after the era of the previous Sword God! And now you're saying that's the third party?"
"Because of a certain reason, I can feel things that even people at your father's level can't. And I got a direct message from Heaven itself. That's why I asked to be his follower."
Rose asked excitedly:
"What message, Grandma? Tell me!"
Lady Butterfly smiled bitterly.
"'Play along with him.'"
"What does that even mean?"
"It means this 'Sect Master' is either representing Heaven, or Heaven's Will is scared of him and just wants him to be done with whatever he wants before he leaves for wherever he came from."
Rose was shocked.
"You mean he isn't from our world?"
Lady Butterfly shook her head.
"He is too out of place to be from here. Just look at his so-called 'Research and Support Team'... They're all treasures with intelligence. But then again, because Heaven interferes with our thinking, we don't feel anything special while seeing them in action. Maybe amazed at times, but that's all. We don't react to these unbelievable scenes as we should."
"Then why are we having this conversation now without forgetting or ignoring anything?"
Lady Butterfly, while smiling, landed in front of the inn and said:
"That's exactly the reason I joined his team. Because I am one of his Special Force members, and you are his assistant now. We are officially teammates with him. If we don't share this information with others, then everything is fine, and we can 'play along with him.' And naturally, to play with someone, you need to know everything about the 'game.'"
Rose took a deep breath.
"Looks like we are important 'characters' in Heaven's eyes, so we should act wisely!"
Lady Butterfly patted her shoulder.
"Let's go in."
Entering the inn, they saw Little Mortal standing in front of a whiteboard with a marker in his hand, writing their names.
1st place - Sect Master (Winner) (Tournament Organizer, No Reward)
2nd place - Lady Butterfly (Half-Winner) (One Special Candy)
3rd place - Rose (Half-Loser) (Wash the Dishes)
4th place - Luna (Loser) (Make the Dinner)
"Okay, this is the tournament result. Lady Butterfly, please come forward to receive your reward."
Rose, who had come in after her grandmother to be polite, was surprised to find out there was a prize for second place—and a penalty for losers!
She ran to Little Mortal and said with an aggrieved tone,
"Sect Master, how can you do this to me! Why didn't you say there was a prize for second place?"
Hearing her question, he rolled his eyes at her,
"Assistant Rose, there was a competition held by someone with ten thousand followers, and you're surprised there was a prize for the winner?"
He shook his head in disappointment.
"Big Guy, candy for our second-place winner."
A blue light flashed out of the backpack and landed on Lady Butterfly's hand.
She looked down and saw a blue candy resting on her palm. Seeing that she couldn't feel anything from it, she took out a small box and placed it inside to keep it safe.
She knew any random act from this child might be just joking around—or might have meaning to it.
So it was better to wait and see if this candy was significant or just him mocking her speed...
After distributing the reward, Little Mortal went to his backpack, climbed up, opened the lid, and jumped in.
A moment later, he came out again.
This time, he was without a mustache and the rings on his hands. He wore a white lab coat, his black-framed glasses, and held a little notebook with a pen.
"Study table and chair, please."
Before they knew whether he was talking to them, a silver chair and table matching his size appeared.
He sat on the chair, turned to the ladies, and said,
"I'm going to start planning for my followers. You can rest if you want. And Assistant Rose, when Manager Luna arrives, tell her she was last in the competition, so dinner is on her."
Then, while opening his notebook to start writing, he mumbled to himself,
"I swear, this sect and its poor management... They didn't even give me lunch on my first day here. I even made breakfast myself. I should talk to the Teacher later..."
Rose didn't hear him, but Lady Butterfly, who was going to the side to meditate, heard him and thought to herself,
'Oh, my little daughter-in-law, I hope you're ready. It won't be easy for you to deal with what's coming your way.'
But it didn't even take a minute after she closed her eyes to meditate when she felt something was wrong.
'Why can't I comprehend the Dao anymore?'
Puzzled, she opened her eyes and saw the little boy looking at her with a mocking smile.
"W-what is it, Sect Master?"
"You're wasting your time doing this. It won't work for you anymore."
"Do what?"
"What were you doing?"
"If you mean absorbing spiritual energy, we can't do that anymore."
"I know you can't do that either, but I mean the other thing. What do you cultivators call it? Compromising the taboo?"
Lady Butterfly frowned.
"You mean comprehending the Dao?"
"Yes, yes, that! Do you know how to write it?"
While saying this, he gave her the notebook and the pen.
Lady Butterfly, who didn't know what was going on, wrote it for him.
Around ten minutes later, when Little Mortal finished his homework, he said,
"Divine Technique: Time Reversal—to before I said the wrong word."
Then he went back to where he was before and said,
"I know you can't do that either, but what I mean is the other thing. What do you cultivators call it? Comprehending the Dao?"
Lady Butterfly raised her eyebrows and thought to herself,
'What happened just now? Did he reverse time?'
She glanced at Rose and saw she was still the same—but that was precisely the problem.
'She saw the whole thing, so why didn't she show any reaction?'
The situation was so weird that she decided to ignore it.
"Then how can I improve myself if I don't meditate to comprehend the Dao and cultivate? After my last breakthrough, nothing external works. And there's no spiritual energy left for us either."
Little Mortal was going to say something, but paused and started stroking his chin.
The two stared at each other for a while.
Rose, who was on the side, wondered what had happened to these two.
After a while, Lady Butterfly said,
"You know the reason?"
Little Mortal nodded.
"But you can't tell me now?"
He nodded again.
Lady Butterfly suddenly understood what was going on.
"Higher power involved?"
Nod.
"Can you tell me later?"
Nod.
"Well, can I do anything now?"
This time, he answered with one word:
"Candy."
Then he went back to his research table.
Lady Butterfly just sat there and thought about the conversation she'd had with him.
The only new thing about her today was the matter of the guardian team. And when she joined the team, she received the special token.
She took it out and tried to inspect it, but felt nothing.
So she took out the box with the candy, opened it, and after a pause, put the candy in her mouth.
But the moment she ate it, the little boy turned around and looked at her with a naughty smile.
Lady Butterfly was going to swallow the candy, but it went to her right cheek and stuck there.
No matter how hard she tried, it didn't move or melt!
At the side, Little Mortal was secretly laughing—but Lady Butterfly could hear the giggle.
She was speechless!
'Was I just fooled by him after all the trust I put in this little devil?'
So, with the candy stuck in her cheek, she said,
"Sect Master, can you stop joking with this old lady?"
Still giggling, he replied,
"I wasn't joking."
He then pointed at her and said to Rose,
"Assistant Rose, look—your grandma looks funny."
Rose, who had already seen her grandmother with the swollen cheek, did her best not to laugh.
Lady Butterfly, who was getting angry but didn't have the confidence to mess with the little boy, thought of punishing her granddaughter instead. But suddenly, she felt a little bit of the candy melt in her mouth.
A moment later, her body began to improve in all aspects. There were even some changes in her appearance.
Her white hair turned gray, her wrinkles lessened, and a healthy color appeared on her face.
Rose's jaw dropped as she saw the changes happen live.
Little Mortal nodded and turned back, as if expecting this to happen.
He then changed Lady Butterfly's power level to 99.9 in his special force list.
Lady Butterfly felt her power rising until it reached a threshold—the peak of the world she was in!
The candy stopped melting at this point.
Astonished by the outcome, she thought,
'Just a second-place prize from this little monster can do this? What about comprehending the Dao to get stronger? I don't need to do that? Where does this kid come from? No way he's under Heaven's Will's order! This candy definitely wasn't made in our world...'
Then she heard him talking to himself:
"Oh, Little Glasses, you mean if I can learn this, I can train my followers a lot more efficiently?"
Lady Butterfly turned her head toward him and saw an ancient-looking scroll in his hand. When he opened the seal on it, it turned into a book.
Its name was Harmony with All Being.
She felt the name was familiar but couldn't remember where or when she'd heard it.
Little Mortal started reading the book with anticipation.
"Hmm, but I don't have any spirit roots, so how can I learn it? And it was in the storage ring of the human trafficking organization's boss—it might be problematic."
Lady Butterfly's eyes widened.
'He doesn't have any spirit roots?'
Then she heard him say,
"Interesting. I don't need to have spirit roots to learn it. It's just about power. If you're stronger than the other party, you can control their body and move them the way you want. The restriction is that if there's more than one person you're controlling, your power should be greater than all of theirs combined."
When Lady Butterfly heard him reading the description of the technique, she suddenly remembered some of her old memories.
She slowly closed her eyes and started thinking about the origin story of this technique.
Long ago, a cultivator from the demonic path created a technique that allowed him to lure mortals out of their cities without anyone noticing.
It was a simple technique.
He controlled them through the connection between the spiritual energy of his own blood and muscles with his victims, making them walk out of the city.
But later, as he grew stronger, the effect of his technique on mortals deepened—so much that he could make them say what he wanted and even affect their facial expressions.
It wasn't like the start, where he could walk them over to himself.
But one day, he tried it on a random girl to do whatever evil thing he was thinking about. The girl turned out to be a big shot's daughter.
Before he knew what kind of disaster was coming his way, the big shot descended, killed him, took his daughter, and seized the cultivator's belongings.
Ten years after this incident—which nobody cared about—suspicious deaths started happening in different places and sects.
People would lose control and start killing their fellow disciples, lovers, or even family members.
Later, when more and more people with higher cultivation realms started dying, the powerhouses of the cultivation world couldn't sit still anymore. They teamed up to find the reason.
They were scared that they—or those close to them—might end up the same way.
So, under the leadership of the Scholar from that era, they began their investigation.
In the process, they found out who was behind it all...
It was the same big shot who killed the creator of the technique that could control people, but not him at the same time.
When he saw the description of this technique, he discovered it could be combined with other secret techniques in the same category of controlling an opponent.
But to work perfectly, it needed to be used by physical power alone, not spiritual energy.
After 10 years of research, for the first time, he tried it on a cultivator from the demonic path to see the result.
And it was a complete success.
Only in the process of using it, he felt like he was losing something, but at the same time, he gained something else in return that filled its place.
So he just wrote the result in his textbook and continued the creation of his new secret technique, which he named Harmony with All Beings.
What he didn't know was what he lost and what he gained every time he used the technique.
Until the day he was caught, and in desperation, he tried to use it on the other big shots who came for his head. Only then did he finally find out what he was losing.
But it was too late for him to learn the truth.
When he used the Harmony technique on one of them, he and the opponent suddenly froze on the spot, then began laughing and cursing at each other.
At some point, it was like they were changing bodies with each other, and they even started exposing secrets the other party wasn't supposed to know.
While the other big shots were deciding what to do about this mess, both crazed big shots suddenly used the Harmony technique on two others.
Now, two became four, and the four people kept talking about insane things.
Seeing the situation spiraling out of control, the scholar of that time sealed them in an array formation with the others' help, and they all fled as far as they could.
After a day of observation, they finally pieced together what had happened.
From the nonsense the four crazed men were spouting, they uncovered the truth about this evil technique—Harmony with All Beings—and the catastrophe it brought upon the user and the victim.
When used, depending on the user's strength, they would lose part of their soul and, in return, gain the same amount of the opponent's soul.
If the user were far stronger than the opponent, the soul loss would be negligible.
That's why the creator never realized what he was losing each time.
But for people of equal power, they would lose half of their souls.
All of this was deduced from the mad ramblings of the four and the textbook later found in the big shot's storage ring by the survivors.
And it turned out he wasn't the evil cultivator they'd assumed. Through repeated use of Harmony on demonic disciples, he'd slowly abandoned his old principles, unknowingly blending his soul with his victims' and being corrupted by them.
In the end, the four went completely insane and killed each other.
Back then, when this happened, Lady Butterfly was a junior. She'd read about it in the sect library as a cautionary tale for the younger generation—a lesson on paths that lead only to ruin.
Remembering the story, cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
She didn't know what kind of disaster the world would face if this little monster learned it.
The first time it happened, it was stopped only because the scholar rallied a strong team in time.
But he succeeded because he had allies, and their power levels were comparable.
Who could stop this little monster now if things went wrong?
So she hurriedly tried to stop the boy from reading the book—she didn't even know how it had ended up in the hands of that old trash from the Law Enforcement Hall, nor what evil scheme he'd intended.
But when she looked over, she saw the little monster staring at her like she was a dire enemy.
In his hand was a stick—and he was slowly pulling a sword out of it!
The "normal" stick had a hidden blade inside…?
Lady Butterfly opened her mouth to demand an explanation, to calm this unstable creature—
But to her horror, she found herself already on her feet, smirking at the boy, two sharp needle-like objects in her hands, poised to attack.
None of this was her doing!
'Oh no… Has he already learned it?'
Her heart sank.
She glanced aside and saw an even stranger sight:
Rose was performing a 180-degree split between two chairs, arms folded, radiating confidence for no reason.
'What is going on?!'
Though her mind was in turmoil, her body was eerily relaxed—as if her thoughts were hers, but her movements belonged to the little monster.
Rose was just as bewildered as her grandmother.
A moment ago, she'd been minding her own business when suddenly, she lost control of her body.
Then she'd started punching and kicking like a seasoned martial artist!
She only realized what was happening when she saw her boss watching her, smiling and nodding.
So he's messing with me?
Mid-thought, still executing flawless moves, she saw her grandmother stand, eyes closed, drawing out thin steel cables tipped with sharp nails and whirling them around.
Then the Little Sect Master, as if sensing something, turned.
When he saw Lady Butterfly, he gasped, slowly drew the wooden stick from his backpack, and tensed like a cornered beast.
And at that exact moment, Rose leaped between the chairs, folding her arms in that perfect split.
Now, no one understood what was happening.
The Little Sect Master spoke first:
"Lady Butterfly, what are you doing? We're on the same team now!"
Lady Butterfly smiled coldly.
"Do you think you're the only one who can return from death? The only one who grows stronger?"
The boy's eyes widened in genuine terror. His face paled.
Trembling, he drew the hidden sword entirely, voice shaking:
"I-Impossible! T-That wasn't real! Y-You're lying!"
Lady Butterfly's grin turned predatory.
"Oh? You don't believe me, Little Wolf? Then let me recreate your worst nightmare."
With that, she leaped, landing on what seemed like empty air—but a faint glint revealed a steel cable beneath her feet.
Then she hurled two needles at the boy. He deflected both with his sword and looked up, bracing for her next move—
But what he saw froze him solid.
Beneath the ceiling, a swirling mass of multicolored butterflies had gathered, motionless, awaiting orders.
And worse—Lady Butterfly was no longer alone.
Nine identical copies of her now stood scattered across the inn.
The Little Sect Master's voice cracked:
"Something doesn't add up! How is this illusion so real?!"
Suddenly, he whirled toward his backpack and screamed:
"YOU TRAITOR!"
At that instant, all ten Lady Butterflies attacked, and the butterflies rained down like a storm.
The boy's fury erupted:
"When I'm done with her, I'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget—"
But before he could defend himself, the backpack straps twisted, binding him.
Simultaneously, the "simple" iron pot smashed his skull with brutal force, and his sword jerked from his grip, burying itself in the floor—refusing to obey.
Lady Butterfly, still a prisoner in her own body, watched helplessly as her butterfly techniques struck the boy from all angles. Then her illusions merged, and her actual body blurred past him at blinding speed.
Rose, still spectating in confusion, saw nothing happen at first.
The two stood back-to-back after the final strike, frozen.
Then—
The Little Sect Master shakily raised a hand to his neck.
His fingers came away dripping red.
He stared at his palm, then at his backpack, then at Lady Butterfly.
Finally, his gaze locked onto Rose.
All she saw in his eyes was sadness.
Her vision blurred.
Tears fell without her consent.
But it wasn't over.
Lady Butterfly struck again.
The boy didn't resist this time. The kick launched him into the air, blood arcing behind him—
Then, mid-flight, his hands formed a clumsy seal.
He hit the ground, rolled, and with one final, desperate reach—as if grasping for something—went still.
Silence.
Rose couldn't process it. Neither could Lady Butterfly.
Then, the inn door creaked open.
Luna stepped inside, took one look at the scene, and immediately backed out, shutting the door behind her.
She stood outside, trembling.
'What did I just see? Did they kill my boss? No way… He wouldn't die without taking half the sect down with him. And why does Rose's grandmother look younger? Am I dreaming?'
Inside, Rose and Lady Butterfly, still reeling, noticed something odd:
The blood splattered across the floor wasn't random.
It formed words.
Their eyes widened as they read:
[Divine Technique: Time Reversal—To Before I Opened the Book.]
Then—
The "dead" boy stood up.
Wiped his uninjured neck with a napkin.
Strolled to the blood and began cleaning it.
At the same time, Lady Butterfly and Rose rewound—retreating to their original positions without control.
Rose stood at the back. Lady Butterfly sat cross-legged, weapons neatly gathered, eyes closed.
The boy finished cleaning, walked backward to his spot, picked up the book, and shut it.
He scanned the room, nodded, performed another series of hand seals, and declared:
"Divine Technique: Time Stop."
Only then did Rose and Lady Butterfly regain control of their bodies.
One thought screamed through their minds:
'What in heaven's name just happened?!'