Day 5 after Little Mortal's arrival.
Nighttime.
Outside of the Outer Sect city, the followers were all gathered.
The younger generations were fine, but all of the older people were nervous now.
Surprisingly, everyone under 40 years old, with the source of spiritual energy inside them, could cultivate to the maximum level of their current realm.
They couldn't even feel if the compressed spiritual energy inside was used at all!
However, most of the elderly were stuck at around 70 to 80%, and now they were worried about what their end would be.
That little devil child could turn violent if he were dissatisfied with you!
One moment of anger, and you might soar straight to Heaven or plummet to Hell!
While worried about their future, they saw a source of light approaching them from afar.
All of the elderly gulped down!
The devil himself was here!
And a certain little girl, who had eyesight with a +2% enchantment now, started shouting,
"Breaking news, breaking news!
The evil boss kidnapped an imperial child!
The Emperor's attack is near!
1 Spirit St-"
And her mother, who was enhanced by +2% too, covered her mouth,
"Be quiet, it's not a good time to make the boss angry!"
Rose and Luna walked forward to tell him about the situation and calm him down beforehand.
When Little Mortal arrived, everyone greeted him together,
"Greetings, boss!
Welcome back!"
Little Fred was shocked by the greetings of 10,000 people!
It was like when the army greeted his father!
"Greetings, everyone.
First, let me introduce myself.
This is my nephew, Fred.
He might be the next Emperor when his father retires.
So you'd better leave a good impression."
The crowd all greeted him together,
"Greetings, your royal highness!"
Little Fred became excited.
"Greetings, everyone!"
"Assistant Rose, how are things going?"
"Everyone trained non-stop as you said, and except those who are older than 40, the rest of us have reached our limit."
Little Mortal nodded,
"Alright, gather the 40+ year old people here, please."
The crowd opened a path, and all the middle-aged and elderly people with white hair gathered in front, sweating profusely.
Their judgment day arrived, but not in the afterlife and after death!
Little Mortal looked at them, furrowing his brow.
The crowd felt the cultivation technique they had been using all day start working within their bodies by itself.
The only difference was the speed, which seemed to be 100 times faster!
Then, in three breaths, they all reached the same power level as the rest...
"Alright, go back to your place so we can break through."
An old lady who was a little embarrassed now, because they had a lot of negative views about this little boss and thought he was going to punish them, said, while embarrassed,
"B-boss, how about you forget about us old people.
We don't want to waste your energy and slow you down..."
The rest of them nodded; they were already so old, even in the first realm, they were stuck, what about the higher realms...?
Years and years of being under the oppression of the sect cultivators made them too timid and unmotivated.
They all had the mentality to give up opportunities if it had something to do with a stronger existence, like the little guy in front of them, just to survive...
And you couldn't blame them; so many people around them died just for these reasons.
Seeing them disheartened, Little Mortal looked at them thoughtfully,
"Hmmm, you need motivation, it seems?
Let me think about what kind of motivation works for you?"
Then he started muttering to himself loudly,
"Music? Not bad but not enough...
Drugs? You might explode for real, forget it..
Let them burn to ashes? Hmmm..."
Seeing him stop on 'burn to ashes,' they panicked!
"Boss, we were wrong!"
"Boss, forget about what we said!"
"Boss, I have a son who isn't married yet!
At least let me see him at his wedding!"
Little Mortal was speechless,
"What's wrong with you people!
You doubt my motivational technique?"
The crowd suddenly turned quiet!
Who dares to say 'yes'?
"You know what?
Now I'm going to motivate everyone together!
So neither you nor anyone else doubts me ever again!"
Now everyone panicked,
"Boss-"
But before the first person could say anything, they all lost control of their bodies!
There was indeed no place to hide or run from this little devil child if he used his evil coach assistant technique!
A moment later, the gang members find themselves in a vast plain with short grass all around as far as the eye could see.
It seems motivation has already begun!
In front, a screen appeared.
In it was the back view of a small, old man.
Naturally, they recognized him.
The little old man turned and looked at them.
Sad background music started playing.
In his eyes, which seemed to be filled with knowledge and wisdom, they could only see disappointment...
Disappointed in them...
The old man shook his head and said,
"I know, I know that you are surprised by seeing my true appearance..."
The crowd wanted to say, 'No, we aren't! It's fake!'
But they couldn't talk at this moment.
"I am indeed old... sigh. How much more time is left for me to be in this world?
I don't know..."
Then he sighed again,
"Maybe a year... Maybe less... Who knows..."
Naturally, no one believed him!
The music stopped.
In complete silence, the little old man furrowed his brow and said,
"But, does it matter?"
He moved his gaze over to the group of old people.
Then he asked a random old man who got temporary access to his mouth,
"How many times do we live?"
"O-once."
"Indeed, only once."
Then he smiled, puffed his chest, raised his head, and said with a voice full of power, while motivational music started playing,
"But life is not about age!
It's all about consistency and lifestyle!"
Then he suddenly waved his hand, and all the old men's clothes tore apart!
Their upper bodies, full of muscle, were revealed under the perfect sunlight.
"Your bodies are the living proof that the fire within can withstand the test of time!"
The old men puffed their chests without knowing why!
They just suddenly felt younger and more energetic!
The old ladies, who were in good shape too, breathed a sigh of relief when they saw their clothes were still intact...
The little old man continued with a calm and peaceful tone,
"For me, life is not the same anymore as when I was 30 years old, when I could do anything and I wouldn't need to be worried about anything..."
Then he shook his head and said while smiling,
"But am I upset about it?
No, because as I age, and more challenges come in my way, I take them on."
He started walking back and forth, with his hands behind his back, and continued,
"The bottom line is, we are old, that's a fact...
But!
We are full of energy, full of enthusiasm, and we can be as enthusiastic as when we were 30 years old!"
By now, old and young alike were dragged into the non-existent illusion of him being old like them!
Now, even younger people felt they were all old, yet full of energy and enthusiasm!
The little old man then waved his hand and a tall mountain appeared behind him, then started speaking, and with each sentence his voice became louder and louder,
"What we should see in front of us is just mountains to be climbed!
We are old!
So what!
We should keep our enthusiasm, our excitement, that fire in our belly, and keep climbing and climbing any mountains of challenges we face!"
The crowd's blood started boiling!
They wanted to go and climb the mountain behind him right now to prove they are still young!
The little old man's tone turned solemn,
"If you can see it, you can believe it.
If you believe it, you will do it!
Once you start something, finish it, don't quit!"
Then he stopped walking around and, with an encouraging smile, said,
"Don't let your age stop you.
Someday, it's going to be our last day.
So we could do everything we want to do and be totally spent.
Then he said in a serious tone,
"It's your responsibility, your commitment, to focus on your life every day, until you die!
Maybe even beyond that, if there is an afterlife!"
Then he started raising his voice,
"Every day we wake up, we can let the old man be in charge, or channel our inner 30-year-old to be in control!
We fight for our dreams until the day we die!
This is our superpower!
We fight until the end!
Even if we die, we rise from the ashes like a phoenix!"
The whole crowd shouted together,
"Even if we die, we rise from the ashes like a phoenix!"
The little old man shouted after them,
"Then let's try it!"
The whole crowd didn't know what to try, but they just shouted,
"Let's try it!"
Then they started burning; fire started from their legs, moving up!
The grassy land suddenly turned to hell on earth!
Fire was everywhere; the gang started panicking!
Now they knew what they were going to try!
They were going to try 'turning to ashes', literally!
How could they forget about that?
Before they could even panic, they were burning from bottom to top!
People were screaming in their minds!
The children, though, were clueless now, just enjoying the show under the envious gaze of the adults who were screaming inside but looking excited outside!
The little old man, who was on fire too, shouted excitedly,
"Today! Let us rise from the ashes!
Let us become a phoenix!"
Then they saw him suddenly change from a burning old man to a bird on fire with red and orange feathers!
The fiery bird shouted towards the sky,
"Let this be our last day of life!
Let us all burn!"
Then all the gang members turned into fiery birds like him, just smaller and a lot less cool!
They all shouted inside,
'We were wrong, you demon!
Let us live one more day!'
And shouted outside towards the sky,
"Let this be our last day of life!
Let us all burn!"
Then the burning fire around them became more and more violent!
The grassland started burning; even the mountain in the background was on fire!
It was basically hell on earth!
The big phoenix at the front shouted,
"Let us burn to ashes!"
The crowd, unwillingly, while crying inside, while regretting their stupidity for acting timid in front of this little demon who could make a big deal out of any random thing, shouted excitedly,
"Let us burn to ashes!"
And in their horror, in this hell that they already forgot was fake, they all turned to ashes like a phoenix at the end of its life ...
They saw the rest of the people around them literally turn to powder!
Everything suddenly turned deathly silent, and their vision turned dark; a peaceful but horrifying feeling consumed everyone!
Where are we?
Did we die?
Is this the end?
While their minds were in turmoil, they suddenly saw a weak light far away from wherever they were in this absolute darkness, flickering!
They wanted to move towards it, but they couldn't feel their bodies; they wanted to shout for help, but they couldn't talk!
The light disappeared not long after, and so did their only hope!
The feeling of fear came back to them.
After some time, maybe an hour, or perhaps a day, while in despair, they felt the darkness trembling!
It was like a vibration coming from underneath this unknown place!
Then there was a 'BOOM'!
After that, a cry of a phoenix, a kind of voice that they had never heard before, sounded from beneath them, and then...
*Woosh*
The big phoenix that the little old man had turned into before turning to ashes rose from the ground!
They could clearly see ashes falling from all over its body!
When the phoenix appeared, the whole world turned bright!
Now, they could see where they were!
It was a world of ashes; all around them, they could see nothing but ashes, and nothing else.
And then, as if this phoenix triggered a chain reaction, another phoenix cry sounded, and another phoenix, but this time smaller and not as cool as the big one, rose from the ashes, shouting,
"Great uncle, wait for me!"
The big phoenix in the sky then said with a loud voice that was like a wake-up call for everyone,
"What are you waiting for?
Rise!"
And so, the rise of thousands of phoenixes began!
They all started rising from the ashes and flying into the dark sky, following the big phoenix who was leading them towards the darkness high up!
Not long after, they heard a crack, and the dark sky broke!
The scene on the other side unfolded before their eyes!
A blue and clear sky...
Excited, they flapped their wings with everything they had until they reached the bright light of the sun, which forced them to close their eyes!
And it was at this moment that they heard a familiar voice, saying,
"Alright, good job, everyone.
Gather here after lunch for the next breakthrough."
While they were still processing what was going on, the familiar voice said,
"Little nephew, let's go, we didn't even have time to eat dinner because of these old-timers!
We should at least have breakfast...
Oh, and you should call your mother; she might be worried about you."
"Yes, great uncle!"
Not long after, the crowd of confused people started opening their eyes.
Looking around, the darkness was gone; they could move and talk too...
Now they started remembering: at night, they were forced to be motivated, and after that...?
What happened after that?
They burned to ashes and rose from the ashes!
What kind of experience was this?
They checked their bodies.
Most of their muscles were gone, maybe 20% remained, which made them look like fitness models...
Why was there a sun in the sky, though?
It was night a moment ago?
At that moment, they discovered that a new cultivation technique had been circulating in their bodies, but it was now of no use...
Why?
After a while, they found the reason.
They had already broken through the 'bottleneck' and reached the peak of the new cultivation realm,
The so-called 'Favorite Station'...
So they lost their muscles?
After a second check, they understood that they hadn't lost anything; now it was all compressed muscles.
While fascinated by the new changes in their bodies, they wondered if there was any better teacher out there in this world who could teach people like this.
Remembering the horrible 'motivating,' they looked at the elderly people with resentment, and the elderly group pretended to be looking at the sky or ground to not make eye contact with others...
Many parents suddenly remembered that their children had experienced the same thing as well and looked for them worriedly.
But when they saw them jumping around happily and heard what they were saying to each other, they became speechless...
"Did you see that?"
"Yes!
We were birds just now!"
"Oh, I missed that part; I was sleeping..."
"Yes, me too; when I woke up, the birds had just disappeared!"
"I saw a big bird taking me to the sky with it!"
"Yes, yes, it was so warm I felt sleepy again when I woke up!"
"I bumped into a black bird!"
"Black bird?"
"Yes, it should have been Expert Luna!"
"No way!"
"I swear I'm not lying!
Because it was dark, you didn't see it!"
The other little kids gasped.
The adults,
"..."
Can't you let us break through like them?
Why is ours so depressing and terrifying, but theirs is like a 'sweet dream'?
And what is the deal with Expert Luna?
Always different from us?
They looked at her, who was gazing up at the sky at that moment.
Like a true expert!
She had indeed been a black phoenix all the time in that dream...
Her boss won't let go of this expert bluff easily, will he?
But, as an enlightened follower, all of this was just part of her daily life.
She was calm, composed, and collected.
Rose patted her shoulder and said,
"Black Phoenix, let's talk to these people.
Looks like they don't understand the fact that they are still in the 7-day followers period and they should act like one."
Luna nodded.
These people indeed didn't understand who they were dealing with.
Complaining about your age?
Would this little boss take any excuse to let you go?
He was on a mission, and they were all in it with him!
They should listen and obey until he is done!
While the two gathered the gang members to explain some facts to them, Little Mortal was already back at the 'headquarters' with Little Fred.
After eating the food made by the 'Imperial Chef,' Little Mortal gave the guardian token to him and said,
"Take this, little nephew; you can speak to your mother with this."
Little Fred took it with both hands respectfully,
"Thank you, great uncle."
Little Mortal nodded, went to his backpack, and started drawing something.
Little Fred sat in a corner and said to the token,
"Royal mother, do you hear me?"
...
Capital, inside the Emperor's mansion.
The couple was having breakfast together.
The Empress was looking depressed because it was the first day after her son had been born that they were separated.
The Emperor was worried about something else.
One of the ingredients that Little Mortal put on the list was extremely rare...
Where was he supposed to find enough of it to make that drug for everyone?
While the two were in their own thoughts, the guardian token suddenly jumped out of the Emperor's storage ring.
The couple's hearts skipped a beat; so did the non-excited heart of the staff in the corner!
A familiar voice came from the token.
"Royal mother, do you hear me?"
The couple raised their eyebrows!
Why was he on the call?
The Empress said hurriedly,
"Fred, my son!
I can hear you; how are you?
Did you arrive at the headquarters with your uncle?
Tell me how things are there!"
Little Fred answered excitedly,
"Mother, let me tell you!
After the old manager blessed me,
Great uncle showed me his teacher, the Snow Goddess!
But she didn't see us; we were hiding in the bushes!
She was so scary!
Let me tell you, when she arrived, a disciple hit his head on the ground to greet her!
Can you believe it?
Even the Royal Father doesn't get this kind of greeting!
She is so dangerous!
After that, my great-uncle took me to meet his followers.
10 thousand people greeted me together!
Like when army soldiers greet the Royal father!
And then, we all burned to ashes!
Then we rose from the ashes like phoenixes!
Do you know what a phoenix is?
It's a bird, always on fire, like the sun!
When it dies, it turns to ashes and comes back to life again from the ashes!
Oh, I forgot to tell you, I will be the next Emperor after Father retires!
Great uncle already told his followers to leave a good impression on me, so I remember them by then!"
The couple's jaws dropped.
The Empress whispered,
"What happened to our child?"
The Emperor shook his head,
"I don't know, but he seems a lot more mature in the way he talks..."
The Empress said,
"Fred, was it your uncle who let you use his guardian token?"
Little Fred answered,
"Yes!
I can call you once a day!"
The Empress sighed in relief,
"That's good to hear; thank your uncle on my behalf."
"Yes, royal mother."
Then the Emperor thought it was a good time to talk about his problem,
"Fred, it's me; is your uncle there? I have something to ask."
Then, before Fred could say anything, a voice that sounded farther away sounded,
"Sup, little brother, say whatever you want; I can hear you."
Hearing his voice, the Emperor said,
"Big brother, I have control over all the ingredients you listed, but one of them is too rare; any suggestion?"
"Which one?"
"Power grass."
"How much do you need?"
"Well... The population of humans is around 1 billion in total, but I should think about the next generation too..."
"Oh, I forgot to tell you; if you inject someone with it, their future children will be like them, so one round for everyone is enough.
And don't worry about Power Grass; I will send it to you.
Little pot, start working.
Power grass for 1 billion humans."
The Emperor was speechless...
He thought to himself,
'Should I just tell him any problem I have in my empire?
I'm already calling him big brother anyway, so...'
After clearing his throat, he said,
"Big brother, how can you travel so fast between places?
Is there a way we can use?"
The distance between the Demoness Sect and the Capital was far away, but he was traveling between the two places so fast.
The Emperor wanted to know if it was possible for public use.
Little Mortal, who was the 'big brother' now, said,
"My unstoppable ride can open and then close a straight path to anywhere.
If you want, when my followers are in the process of advancing to 'Return to Home,' I will open a path and won't close it.
This way, you have a straight path to every city."
The Emperor, who didn't understand what the realm
'Return to Home' was, and why it was related to his problem, said,
"Big brother, I thank you on behalf of all the citizens."
"Anything for my little brother."
And he laughed, as if he was enjoying his 'big brother' role.
The Emperor was about to discuss other problems, but the Empress pinched him while glaring at him.
So he could only give up.
It was indeed dangerous to ask this 'big brother' for too many things because the way he fixed problems was too extreme sometimes.
Then the two started talking to Little Fred about the ashes and phoenix he mentioned at the start.
It took them half an hour to understand what Little Mortal did to their child and his followers for just a breakthrough, and the old manager, who seemed to be an unimportant character, turned out to be Heaven's Will who blessed their son!
After the call was over, the Empress turned to the staff and said,
"Do you know why it seems my child is smarter now?"
The staff, who would talk only when it felt like it, said,
"That little monster is a high-level being.
How high, I don't know, but just being around higher-level creatures always affects lower-level creatures."
The Empress asked worriedly,
"Bad effects or good?"
"Depends on the other party.
If they are evil, then you will become evil over time.
If good, which I never see one, then you will become good.
But nothing changed about you two even though you had a close interaction with him, so it means he either doesn't want to affect you, or his 'nature' is just like that, neutral, and only minimal effects like improved intelligence or getting cured from different diseases or body disorders randomly might happen at most."
The couple felt at ease and shocked at the same time!
What kind of creature was he that only his existence alone had such an effect?
The Empress tried to ask the staff more questions, but they no longer answered.
Anyway, they thought the little guy was neutral, so it should be fine, right?