ROAR!
In the midst of their excitement, the gang members suddenly heard a roar coming from the center of the silver platform!
Elder Iron, with ten plates on each side of the barbell, was trying to stand up, while the two ends of the now-bent barbell were going up and down on his shoulders like wings!
It was like a fallen angel had found his wings and was trying to fly back to heaven!
Seeing him struggle under the weight, the little coach shouted at him,
"SAY IT!"
Elder Iron didn't know why, but the senior's voice triggered something inside him, and he just said the first thing that came to his mind!
"YEAH BUDDYYYY!
LIGHTWEIGHT!
NOTHING BUT A PEANUT!"
And tried to stand up!
The little coach shouted again,
"Peanut or spirit peanut?"
Elder Iron, while roaring toward the sky, stood up completely,
"JUST A PEANUT!"
And then—BOOM!—his muscles suddenly blew up, and his elder robe tore apart!
It was like a hidden amount of muscle mass had suddenly been freed from captivity!
His black skin started shining, his muscles now like black polished spinel!
It was like looking at it could throw you inside!
While people were looking at this mountain of muscle, astonished, speechless, and at a loss for words, dark clouds started appearing above their heads!
They could sense a certain danger from the clouds!
Like the heavens couldn't accept this kind of advanced, dazzling, ripped, and polished muscle to appear on a creature under its rule!
These clouds were certainly tribulation clouds, growing bigger and bigger until even the sun couldn't be seen in the sky anymore, and everything turned dark!
Elder Iron, who couldn't even find happiness for a second, felt nervous as the tribulation clouds gathered in the sky.
Because he could feel it—it wasn't here for a test, but for extermination!
Like he was an illegal creature that didn't belong to this place!
At this moment, the little coach looked at the clouds in the sky coldly.
"What is the meaning of this, old man?
Why did you send this cloud of jealousy here?
Are you going to send it away, or do you want me to send it away with your old bones at the same time?"
Then he looked at Elder Iron, appearing speechless, and said,
"Can you believe him, Ronnie?
Just the sheer audacity of him to turn the lights off when we were enjoying the sight of your muscles…
So immature!"
The crowd gasped in shock!
You're ordering us around, that's fine!
But who gives you the guts to order the tribulation clouds?
Just free us so we can run away!
You can die alone, you evil boss!
Elder Iron, hearing him threaten the heavens and the unknown old man, thought the clouds were going to turn ten times stronger!
But to his—and everyone else's—surprise (except two people, Rose and Luna, who were in the taller row of the women's group), the clouds in the sky disappeared like they were never there in the first place!
The crowd's jaws (except Rose and Luna, who were in the taller row of the women's group) dropped!
He can bully us, bully elders! And now even bully heaven itself?
This evil child is the final bully!
The supreme bully!
High up in the sky, a certain old man jolted awake, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and went back to power-saving mode while mumbling to himself,
"I should turn off this auto-attack system while this psychopath is here…"
Back down where the gang members were, the little coach smiled and, while walking toward the backpack, said,
"Alright, everyone, my job here is done.
A hundred-year journey has finally ended.
Your Fire and Wood roots were already strengthened by the injection you received in Project 'Second Hole in the Butt,' and now, after a hundred years of hard work, you've awakened your main spirit root.
But don't forget—maybe my journey with you has reached its final destination, but your personal journey will begin from here!
So, don't slow down!
Never give up!
And never stop moving toward better goals!"
And then he jumped inside the backpack without giving them a chance to say anything…
All of them felt relieved, and maybe a little sorrowful.
But either way, the torture had finally ended.
A moment later, Little Mortal, clad in his white robe and spinning his chain, emerged.
"Sup, gang."
The whole crowd, together, shouted,
"Sup, boss."
"Good, good. You didn't disappoint me."
Then he turned to Elder Iron, gasped, and ran to him,
"Ronnie, look how huge you are!
My goodness! You're like a 500-pound (227kg) carved statue of muscle!
If you say you have negative 3% body fat, I'd believe it!"
Elder Iron, feeling the unlimited power in his body, cupped his hands and said,
"I don't know how to thank you, boss."
"Don't mind it, don't mind it.
Just take the squat rack anywhere you want.
But you'll need solid ground for it, or it'll sink."
Then he turned to his backpack,
"Little Stick, cut a section big enough for a gym from our platform and give it to Ronnie."
The blade came out of the stick and cut a part from the corner of the silver platform.
"Alright, you can go if you want. I need to deal with my gang."
Elder Iron nodded,
"Then I won't bother you anymore."
And then left with the rolled-up 'silver carpet.'
Little Mortal's gaze moved to the gang members,
"Alright, it's study time.
Assistant Rose, Manager Luna, where are you?
Please come here."
Two voices sounded from different places,
"Coming!"
The two buff, muscular ladies joined at the center.
"Alright, come closer."
The two walked closer to him, and he whispered to them,
"I'm going to use a cultivation technique on everyone.
Each technique is specific to different roots registered in my Guardian Token.
Please let me know if it works for you when I use it on everyone, okay?
The two nodded.
The time to become real cultivators had finally come!
Little Mortal climbed up his backpack and sat there cross-legged.
"Be ready, be quiet, and be focused.
Now you are in Level 1 range and should go up to 9.9."
Then he pointed at the little news reporter, Cherry, who was now muscular,
"What was the name of this realm?"
The little girl gritted her teeth and said,
"M-muscle Refinement…"
"Exactly! Look at all that muscle—it's obvious the name for this realm isn't that 'Qi', whatever.
Now, I will teach you how to cultivate."
The crowd thought he was going to tell them how they should cultivate, but he didn't say a word.
Instead, they felt the new energy start circulating in their bodies by itself!
Different colors of aura appeared around them!
Green for Wood Root, red for Fire Root, and so on.
Little Mortal, who was a little nervous, saw it worked and became excited.
He looked at Rose with an arrogant and proud smile, as if saying,
No need to say if it's working or not anymore!
Rose just smiled back. The aura around her was white—her root was Light.
But when Little Mortal turned to Luna, he gasped,
"So evil!"
Luna could only bite her lips…
A black aura was circling her!
Her root was a rare one—Shadow Root!
Different from Dark Root, it was like an advanced version of that, similar to Shadow Scarlet!
The crowd's eyes widened in shock!
They started whispering to each other,
"As expected of Expert Luna!"
"That is the root of revenge!"
"Indeed, who can even feel safe at night if they have her as an enemy?"
"The devil child is done for!"
Little Mortal gasped again and looked at her in 'shock,'
"So dangerous!"
Luna could only smile bitterly…
After running the cultivation technique in the bodies of the gang members for a couple of minutes, he stopped and said,
"Okay, now I'm going to test you."
Then he pointed at a random old lady,
"You, miss, try to do what I taught you."
The old lady, who was called 'miss,' while embarrassed, did as she was told.
A moment later, a blue aura appeared around her. She was Water Root.
Little Mortal looked shocked,
"So talented?
You just learned it in one try?
What a genius…"
The old lady was now blushing under the compliments!
He pointed at a random old man this time.
"You try it too, old sir."
A brown aura appeared—the sign of Earth Root.
Little Mortal was shocked again,
"Another genius?"
Then he pointed at five more people randomly, and they all succeeded on the first try!
Now he was suspicious!
"Everyone, do it all together!"
Thousands of people suddenly became colorful all at once!
Little Mortal was now looking around in disbelief!
"You're telling me I found ten thousand geniuses,
All together, in one place?"
Then he ran to an old man who seemed to be the oldest person there,
"Old sir, tell me the truth!"
The old man, who saw the little boss staring at him thoughtfully, said with a trembling voice,
"B-boss, w-what truth?"
Little Mortal snorted,
"Humph! So you're still trying to hide it from me?"
Then, as if disappointed, he walked back to the center, sat back on his backpack, and said,
"I already know the truth!
You people better stop pretending!"
The crowd glanced at each other and saw others were as clueless as they were...
"What truth?"
"You people are the product of a secret experiment! You escaped from the experiment facility after killing all the laboratory staff because of what they did to you! Now you're hiding here from the secret organization behind the scenes!"
Everyone's jaw dropped!
Rose just looked blankly at the sky...
She knew, at this moment, it didn't matter what she said to him. He wouldn't accept it, and he would stick to his own ridiculous guess...
Luna, at the side, thought she was now out of his radar and felt at ease. But the little boss suddenly turned to her and shouted while pointing at her,
"It's you! You planned this! You saved them from those dark dungeons to make an army and conquer the world—and turned it against me!"
The crowd now started panicking! They hadn't been part of the fight between the two big shots before! But now, with just one move, they were dragged in!
"Boss, calm down!"
"Boss, we're all untalented! If we were geniuses, why only now can we awaken our roots?"
"Boss, it's you who's a good teacher! We're all useless!"
Seeing them panic like this, Little Mortal seemed a little doubtful now.
He gazed over his gang members, as if thinking about whether they were telling the truth or not.
In the end, he turned to Rose.
"Assistant Rose, what do you think of this conspiracy?"
Rose glanced at the nervous crowd and said,
"Boss, it's not that complicated. You taught us well. So well that even if we wanted not to learn it, we couldn't."
Rose wondered if he knew about his 'Coach Assistant' effect on others.
Little Mortal was taken aback!
He looked at the crowd.
"Is she for real?"
The gang members nodded with all their might!
"Alright, I believe yo— cough—no, I mean, I knew all along! I was joking with you, hahaha! You guys are so silly—how could you fall for it?"
Then he looked at Luna while shaking his head.
"Can you believe this? They're so easy to fool!"
Luna nodded in response.
"Yes, Boss. When it comes to joking around, no one can even come close to your skill."
The gang members, who didn't believe he was joking, wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads.
Luna, whose back was covered in sweat, felt she'd just dodged another calamity.
Little Mortal wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead too and murmured to himself,
"I missed the mark this time completely. But no one found out... That's good!"
Rose, who could hear him loud and clear, thought,
'Why do I feel the more he feels "at home," the more outrageous his jokes become?'
Little Mortal cleared his throat and said,
"Alright, I need to teach you two more techniques. One is the technique that will show the result of the project 'Second Hole in the Butt,' and the other is a technique for you to control the spiritual energy in your body, compress it, and use it little by little in your future advancement."
And he began using a certain technique he'd found in the books he read.
Around ten minutes later, everyone had a compressed ball of the formerly rampaging spiritual energy in their body!
It was like a spirit stone—it could contain spiritual energy for a long time without letting it leak out, but with far denser and far more spiritual energy inside.
They weren't supposed to be able to do such a thing, but because of the help they received from their Boss, it became possible.
Little Mortal, who couldn't feel spirit energy, whispered to Rose,
"Did it work?"
Rose whispered back,
"Yes."
To be sure, he glanced at Luna.
She blinked as confirmation, too.
"Alright, now you can cultivate independently without bothering that old man and absorbing spiritual energy from the world. Now, let's try the technique for absorbing solar energy."
Two peculiar techniques—ones that only those with fire and wood spirit roots were supposed to be able to use—were activated in everyone's body.
And without problems, a mix of red and green aura appeared around everyone.
Compared to their main root (if it wasn't fire or wood), it was a lot less dense and hardly visible.
But it was enough. The crowd all felt they were 'absorbing' something new, and it was happening through their skin!
Some started rolling their sleeves up, and sure enough, they could feel it even more!
This new form of energy had a familiar feeling, like it had always been with them—but only now could they see it, feel it, and use it!
And now, they started absorbing it too.
The moment the process began, their presence changed!
They weren't like cultivators anymore!
If someone with a higher level of cultivation realm were here, they could never guess that these people weren't mortals but cultivators!
It was like walking in a forest—who would pay attention to plants when looking for humans?
These people now, without intending to, were like plants due to their photosynthesis!
While absorbing the sunlight, the world around them assumed they were plants!
But at this moment, no one knew about this overpowered concealment effect!
Little Mortal nodded.
"Good, the project was a success."
Now that they'd learned how to cultivate in this realm and how to utilize solar power, Little Mortal began distributing specific packages.
He jumped down from his backpack and said,
"Give them the 'gang package,' Big Guy."
The backpack started throwing some packages at the people.
"As you know by now, we're in a stronghold, and you need to hide your real identities as my followers and pretend to be gang members."
The 'gang' members, who had hidden identities, looked at the packages in their hands, curious about what was inside.
"You can open it. It's a set of clothes, a pair of shoes, sunglasses for men, and a Gardenia hairpin for women."
The crowd started opening their packages.
The men's clothes were all dark blue robes.
The women's clothes were all red robes—it was a set matching the one he'd given Rose.
By his side, Luna looked at her own set of clothes and said,
"Boss, I think you gave me the wrong color."
Little Mortal rolled his eyes at her.
"No, I didn't. How could I ever be wrong?"
Luna could only say in her mind,
'You were wrong just a moment ago...'
Little Mortal turned to the gang members with hidden identities.
"Alright, we're done for today! It was a crazy night, but we survived it, didn't we?"
The crowd stood up all together and shouted,
"We did!"
While thinking,
'Wasn't it 100 years?'
"Today, you can rest, cultivate, absorb solar energy, or whatever else you like. You can try your new robes too, but only in your home! Don't come out with them for now—not until I tell you when the right time is!"
Then, with one hand in his pocket and the other spinning his little chain around his finger, he walked away while saying,
"I'll go patrol our stronghold to see if everything's in place. You guys are dismissed."
Seeing him leave, Rose shouted,
"Boss, what about breakfast?"
"I'll find something in the stronghold."
"What about my grandmother?"
"I just saw her this morning. She's fine."
Then, with a whistle, his tricycle appeared. After a brief pause, he said,
"Turn into a 'Harley Davidson' for better disguise."
The tricycle changed immediately into a black mini Harley Davidson.
But it wasn't enough.
"Little Glasses, where are you?"
The glasses flew over.
"Look at me, and look at my bike. Match with us."
The glasses analyzed what he said for a moment, then changed into sunglasses.
Little Mortal nodded in satisfaction, put them on, sat on his bike, and rode away.
"VROOOOOOOM!"
Seeing him gone, the crowd finally could breathe a sigh of relief...
'We're muscular now, but at least alive...'
Luna, who was looking at the set of black robes with a blank look, felt someone patting her shoulder.
Rose, while laughing, said,
"Expert Luna, how can you be like the rest of us weaklings? You should be different to stand out!"
The gang members added fuel to the fire unintentionally, as always.
"Lady Rose is right!"
"Expert Luna should be different from us random people!"
"Even our evil boss doesn't dare disrespect an expert on this level!"
"I know. That little unruly monster even badmouths Tribulation Clouds! But when it comes to Expert Luna, he can only show respect!"
Luna, hearing their compliments, held her chin high, hands behind her back like an expert, turned around while flicking her sleeve, and said,
"Sister Rose, let's go. Everyone, nice job. See you around."
Rose:
"..."
'Now you think you really are an expert?'
The gang members respectfully saw her off with another round of compliments!
They all thought,
'Expert Luna is the last line of defense for us. If there's a day that little monster suddenly loses his mind, then she's our only hope!'
But while scared and not completely trusting him—because he seemed a little unstable—they were amazed by his ability to awaken the spirit root that many said was impossible to awaken in this era!
And not in seven days, as he'd promised, but on the second day!
Something he didn't even boast about after it was done—like he didn't care, or he was so sure of it that it was just a fact to him!
In the end, what had they done in this whole process?
They'd spent most of the time under his control and only did the last set of squats...
They wondered if he'd let them do the last set by themselves so they'd feel it was their own effort and accomplishment too—or if he'd just had fun with them, and it was part of the fun for him...
And hadn't he said, 'Those who survive can awaken their roots'? How was it that all of them had survived?
The gang members, while secretly cursing the little psychopath, started walking back toward the outer sect city.
The crazy journey was finally over... At least for now.