Even the backpack and the other treasures, which fled to the end of the inn—far from the little boy and seemingly on the run—stopped in their tracks.
Lady Butterfly thought to herself:
'What time stop? It's clearly another technique, probably called "Move if You Dare!"'
But whether it was time stop or "Move if You Dare," it didn't matter.
At this moment, the atmosphere was like when a little child hits his leg on something or falls to the ground, and the adults on the scene wait for his reaction—to see if he's going to cry, get back to playing, or start a tantrum. They react depending on the situation.
But the little boy was sitting there, looking depressed, staring at the book in his hand.
A deadly silence took over the place.
After a while, he sighed in sadness and slowly stood up. Then he raised his hand, opened his headband, and placed it on the ground.
"I trusted you guys because you were my birthday gifts."
You could hear the disappointment in his tone.
While opening his left wristband, he continued:
"I went through all the trouble to take you away from those parasites."
And then the right ones:
"All for you to try to kill me?"
A cold light flashed in his eyes.
Lady Butterfly gulped and became extremely nervous.
'These treasures are just birthday gifts? And this little devil is mad at them? Why is he taking off his wristband? And how are we supposed to calm him down if time is stopped?'
While her thoughts spiraled in chaos, she saw him start rolling his sleeves up... Well, they were already up because his clothes were oversized.
Little Angry Mortal continued:
"You don't know, but I knew all along about your little tricks from the moment you gave me the book."
He shook his head in disappointment.
"But I thought to myself, 'Let me give them a chance to prove their loyalty to me.'"
Sigh.
"But you guys... failed the test."
As he said that, the inn trembled a little.
Then there was a crack sound.
Lady Butterfly and Rose, who were watching from the side without moving, didn't see anything happen. Cold sweat dripped from their foreheads.
A moment later, they saw the stick on the backpack break in half. Half of a wooden sheath and half a blade dropped to the ground, while the other half still hung on the backpack... motionless.
At the same time, all the treasures in the backpack began shaking—as if trying to communicate with him in a special way, begging for forgiveness! But none dared to flee, even though there was already a causality between them.
Lady Butterfly was sure it was the "Move if You Dare" technique. Otherwise, how could the broken part of the stick drop to the ground?
"So, accept your punishment."
The two ladies gulped and thought to themselves:
'Whose turn is it now? It's not us, right? We were being controlled...'
Only now did they figure out what had happened. They had been used for a "loyalty test"—this little monster testing his "birthday gifts"!
Then the inn trembled once more. Another cracking sound followed.
This time, half of the black-framed glasses deformed completely, the left frame and its lens crushed together. It now looked like a magnifier with an extra handle.
Lady Butterfly and Rose wondered why the magical glasses were punished—they hadn't done anything!
But it turned out it had, as Little Mortal's following sentence revealed:
"Do you think I don't know you were the mastermind, little glasses?"
None of the treasures dared to react or move. They just vibrated, as if trying to send a message.
Lady Butterfly was a little scared at this point. She didn't know how these treasures were being beaten up—she couldn't see him move at all. The only sign was the inn's vibration before each punishment.
And who was he punishing? All those who attacked him, or just the ones who betrayed him? Did he know their bodies had been controlled?
While lost in thought, the inn vibrated again. The sound of bending iron followed.
The little cage hanging on the backpack was the target this time. The square cage turned into a round cage!
"You sneaky little cage, you thought I was unconscious, so you tried to suck me in, didn't you? Heh heh. Laughable."
Lady Butterfly finally understood why this little monster knocked people unconscious first—then they disappeared! It turned out this was the condition for the cage to capture its target!
The inn vibrated again. A tearing sound came.
This time, it was the backpack's turn. The two big straps connected to it tore apart, leaving only the two small ones.
Lady Butterfly saw the straps disappear after the tearing sound. She glanced at Little Mortal's hand—and saw them there!
'So the inn's vibration is from him making a move on them? He's just too fast for us to see? But why are there no footprints on the ground?'
She gulped and slowly closed her eyes. It was better to pretend she was stopped in time. She couldn't risk seeing things she shouldn't.
She had pieced together much while hearing him speak to his treasures, but now, her focus was on staying alive.
With the torn straps in hand, the little boy looked at the trembling crystal and said:
"You... I didn't even take you as a birthday gift like the rest. I just borrowed you. But even you betrayed me, little crystal... my old friend..."
He seemed heartbroken at the betrayal of the recording magical crystal.
"If you didn't belong to my big sister, I would've already turned you from a normal model into a folding one."
He snorted coldly but did nothing about it.
The crystal on the backpack slid into one of its pockets, trembling in confusion as it hid. It seemed it didn't even know who this "old friend" was!
With another vibration, the sound of something hitting iron rang out.
"And the last traitor. I always wondered why you look like this. Now you're the way you should be."
The iron pot that had tried to smash his head and knock him out transformed into a frying pan.
Having delivered the necessary lesson to his "birthday gifts," Little Mortal returned to his place, sat back down, and began putting on his headband and wristbands.
Lady Butterfly felt relieved. From the sound, she knew he was done with his punishment.
'It seems those wristbands and headband weren't just for looks. Are they treasures to restrain his power? Or is he using them to train himself?'
Meanwhile, the inn's door slowly opened, and a head peeked inside.
It was Luna who had gathered her courage to check the situation.
Was she seeing things, or was this all real?
To her surprise, everything looked normal. There was no blood, no dead bodies. The younger version of Lady Butterfly meditated peacefully, and Rose stood there, watching their boss as he put on his wristband.
So she slowly walked in, closed the door behind her, and quietly approached Rose.
The first thing she saw was her name on a whiteboard—in last place.
'So there was a competition, and I lost? Now I'm supposed to make dinner as the loser?'
Wondering what she had lost and what to cook, she looked at Rose, who was signaling her with her eyes.
But since she didn't understand, she kept walking closer to ask.
At that moment, Little Mortal performed some random hand seals and said:
"Divine Technique: Time Back to Normal."
But when he looked around to see if everything was in place, he saw Luna standing beside Rose, looking puzzled.
Little Mortal was shocked.
"What the—"
But he thought fast and took action.
He did some other random hand seals immediately and said,
"Divine Technique, Time Stop!"
Then he ran to the confused Luna, put his hands around her legs, picked her up, and ran to the door.
He then put her down, opened the door, picked her up again, and placed her outside.
Dumbfounded, Luna didn't even have time to say anything and just saw the door shut in her face!
Little Mortal then ran back to his original place, but on the way, he suddenly put one hand on his head and slowed down.
After two more steps, he became so "weak" that he knelt on the ground on one knee and said in exhaustion,
"Stopping time is too much of a burden for my body. I should be careful using it next time, or the consequences will be unimaginable..."
Then he coughed a mouthful of "blood" into his hand and stood up with "difficulty" to go back to his place.
The ladies in the inn now understood one important thing:
This little boy was ready to start a show at any time.
For what reason?
Well... he probably liked to joke around?
Outside the inn, Luna, who was eavesdropping, heard the Little Sect Master's voice coming from inside:
"Divine Technique, Time Back to Normal."
And finally understood what was happening!
'So they were playing a game? He stopped time, and I just walked in while time was stopped? Then he started time again, but saw me appear while time was stopped?'
Luna gulped nervously.
She didn't know if she should go in now or not.
What if he were angry at her for ruining the game and reported her to the Sect Master?
While stressed, the door opened.
Little Mortal was the one who opened it.
"Oh, if it isn't Manager Luna! When did you get here?"
Luna smiled helplessly.
'Would I dare to say I was inside just now?'
So she said,
"Sect Master, you are as fast as lightning! How can I get here as fast as you? I just arrived now..."
Little Mortal sighed in relief.
Then he wiped the imaginary sweat from his forehead and muttered to himself,
"Everything is fine. With my Divine Technique, Time Reversal, I am unstoppable."
Then he looked at Luna.
"You are the last one to reach the finish line, so you should make dinner."
Luna sighed in relief.
It seemed he wasn't going to think too much about what happened.
"Okay, Sect Master. Just tell me what you want me to make."
"Spirit rice with spirit desserts! I've never eaten anything with spirit energy in it!"
Luna said nervously,
"But... Sect Master, we don't have much spirit rice, and only one spirit fruit that I'm allowed to use..."
Little Mortal was speechless...
Lady Butterfly was going to say she could bring anything he wanted, but she heard him saying,
"That's enough. I'll make more, don't worry."
Luna was going to ask how, but she thought it was better to make the food.
This kid, with his "support team," could do all kinds of impossible things.
If he said he could make more, then he could.
So she walked toward the inn's kitchen.
Little Mortal turned to his backpack.
"Okay, get back to work, you numbnuts."
The backpack and the treasures on it came back to "life," and the research project started again.
Lady Butterfly looked at him to see what he was going to do with that evil book.
She had just seen a glimpse of the influence that this book could bring to this world in this boy's hands and was terrified.
Even she, someone at the top, couldn't show the slightest resistance toward it when this little monster casually used it to test the loyalty of his "birthday gifts"...
She even wondered if anything had happened to her soul.
Little Mortal picked up the book with disdain and started scratching his head.
After some time, he used an eraser to erase the original name of the book and wrote a new one:
"Coach Assistant Technique."
Then he opened the book and started tearing out some random pages until only four or five were left.
"Alright, it's done. Big guy, clear this mess."
All of the leftover papers on the ground were sucked into the backpack.
But after a pause, he just tore the book and threw it into the backpack to get rid of it.
Shaking his head, he muttered to himself in a trembling voice,
"What in the world was that boss from the human trafficking organization going to do with this book? You can even peek at people's memories with this evil technique!"
He then ran to Lady Butterfly and said,
"Lady Butterfly! Lady Butterfly!"
Lady Butterfly, who was pretending to be in a meditative state, opened her eyes and said,
"Oh, Sect Master, what is it?"
Little Mortal said excitedly,
"You won't believe what I found in that human trafficker boss's storage ring!"
Lady Butterfly asked worriedly,
"What good thing could be in that guy's ring? I'm sure it was something evil! Are you okay, Sect Master? Did you get hurt?"
"Don't worry, Lady Butterfly. While undercover, I am the strongest!"
Lady Butterfly wasn't shocked by him claiming to be the strongest, but she didn't understand what he meant by "undercover."
'He would stop being the strongest if his "cover" blows up?'
He continued,
"What I found was an evil book about a technique called 'Harmony with All Beings' that could control people's bodies—and other things that I didn't try to learn."
Lady Butterfly gasped!
"Oh no! It's that technique! I heard about this name a long time ago..."
Then she told him the origin story of the technique and how it was created.
Little Mortal suddenly changed into a real little boy, listening to his grandmother's story with interest.
He would gasp, clap for the scholar, scold the guy who made the technique, and show fear when the souls of big shots were combined half and half.
Lady Butterfly wondered if she should think of him as a three-year-old child or not.
'Just look at yourself now—aren't you supposed to be a middle-aged man?'
It seemed he forgot about his mustache version...
Anyway, after she was done, Little Mortal said with a smug smile at the corner of his mouth,
"I already took care of it—don't worry. Only I know the technique, and I won't use it without getting permission from others. You might not know, but this technique is excellent for my plans to help my followers grow."
"How can it help them, Sect Master? As I said, this technique has a big flaw, and souls could be combined while using it."
Little Mortal nodded.
"You're right, but not completely. It can only combine the souls of people from the same world, so it won't be a problem if I use it."
Lady Butterfly sighed in relief.
"That's good then, but you should be careful using it on people from your hometown."
She thought by "world," he meant the cultivation world they lived in, and he was naturally from another unknown world.
But Little Mortal suddenly turned silent.
After a moment, he turned around and left without saying anything, as if he had become upset.
Lady Butterfly wondered if she had said something that made him recall sad memories.
'In the end, with so many birthday gifts, he should have lots of powerhouses as elders in his family, right?'
She looked at the boy, but he had already rejoined his "research team" and was back to work with a serious look.
It seemed he was fine again...