Little Mortal's expression changed dramatically.
Everyone saw that this always confident little monster was shocked like never before.
Even his little hands were trembling.
He gulped down and asked nervously,
"M-Mr. Token, I-is my guardian position in danger, or the guardian position itself?"
The Token's mechanical voice sounded again,
[Based on the state of the current world,
This event can delay your progress by 30 to 40 years.
It is expected that the planet will be dead by then due to its distance from the Source Universe.
Conclusion: The position of the Planet Guardian itself is in danger of permanent loss.]
Hearing the answer, Little Mortal turned pale.
"That's impossible! Calculate it again!
Tell me, how did this even happen?
Didn't I take care of that pirate? Who else can mess around here?"
Now, not only he, but even the audience in the inn were panicking.
What was this Token saying?
Their world was going to 'die'?
The Token answered again,
[New calculations in progress.
Calculations completed.
The result is the same.]
Little Mortal was now shaking all over, rooted to the ground, just looking at the Token without saying anything.
It was like he had already lost all of his confidence.
Then, he suddenly started running around, asking everyone if they knew what he should do.
The crowd didn't even know what he was trying to do—how could they give him advice? He had just arrived yesterday and taken them as his followers!
What were they supposed to know?
So, to his disappointment, no one had an answer to this emergency situation.
He even started calling for Luna.
Seeing him panicking like this, Rose took action.
She whispered something to the ear of the person closest to her.
Hearing her, that person went to the next person slowly and whispered to them.
In no time, everyone received the message.
Lady Butterfly, who could hear what they were whispering to each other, was amazed by her granddaughter's line of thought.
Seeing everyone was ready, Rose said,
"Sect Master, I think you can handle this easily."
Little Mortal, who was at the door ready to open it and go outside to ask for help, turned around slowly, staring at Rose.
You could only see one word in those eyes now: 'Hope.'
"Assistant Rose, I-I knew I could count on you.
Tell me, tell me what should I do?"
Rose, with a serious tone, said,
"Sect Master, think carefully.
You can easily deal with this."
"But we don't have enough time!
It's now or never! A 30-to-40-year delay is unacceptable!
There are lots of things that I should do this year!"
"Sect Master, you are not alone. You have your Special Force, followers, Manager Luna, and me, your assistant.
And more importantly, you know so many divine techniques.
Isn't there any technique that can help us now?"
She paused for a moment and continued,
"For example, a divine technique that gives us more 'time'?"
Little Mortal suddenly gasped, his eyes widened, and then he started laughing.
"Hahaha! Yes, you are right!
How could I not think of it myself!"
In just a moment, Little Mortal's confidence reached its highest.
He started doing some clumsy hand seals and said,
"Divine Technique—Time Stop."
Then he said,
"Assistant Rose, you were so helpful. Tell me, what kind of reward do you want?"
But no matter how long he looked at Rose's smiling face, he didn't hear any answer from her.
"Assistant Rose, didn't you hear me?"
He even went beside her and patted her leg.
But still, no answer.
She wasn't even looking at him anymore—just staring at where he previously was.
Little Mortal looked around and saw everyone standing like statues.
Then he suddenly hit his forehead and giggled,
"I was so excited that I forgot time had already stopped."
He then shook his head and said,
"Alright, now with infinite time, loyal followers, and capable comrades, I can surely find a way to take care of this mess."
Then he took out his notebook and started writing in it while mumbling to himself,
"How can a journey be a path without ups and downs?
Not only will I, the Great Sect Master, solve this problem, but I will also use it as an opportunity to bring some parts of my plans forward and take everything under control while accelerating the main questline progress!"
Then he sat down on the ground and started writing something in his notebook.
The crowd around him, who had gotten the message 'Don't move if the Sect Master says Time Stop' from Rose,
Started praying to heaven that this little guy would be done with his plan before they died from hunger…
…
While Little Mortal was in the middle of planning,
Far away, in the middle of the Forbidden Jungle,
A group of people was emerging from the ground with difficulty.
Some time ago, the silver sphere—with Elder Iron on it—had descended from the sky.
It made a hole in the restriction, endured the joint attack of the group, and while they tried to catch it (so it wouldn't destroy their place), they all sank into the ground with it.
While they were sandwiched between the sphere and the restriction under their feet, the little wooden stick—who knew that if anything happened to these weak members of the Special Force, it would be responsible and probably break in half again—took action at the last moment and stopped the silver sphere from crushing the place.
After coming out, they all first looked at the unstoppable silver sphere, then at the recovering hole in the ground that was pushing the sphere out slowly, then at the floating wooden stick and Elder Iron with questioning eyes.
Charm Goddess was the first to question him.
"Muscle-head, what the hell are you doing here?"
Elder Iron, who was shocked by the lineup in front of him, responded immediately in fear,
"Reporting to Senior, Sect Master sent me here with a blueprint to make something.
There should be a Mr. Blacksmith here who is responsible for it."
With cold sweat on his forehead, he thought,
'Are these the weaklings I thought Senior sent me to?
If this isn't the gathering place of every single lost big-shot of our world, then where is?'
Charm Goddess asked worriedly,
"No, I mean, aren't you supposed to be in the Demoness Sect?
How did you see the Sect Master in the Sword Sect?
Was he there to demolish the Demoness Sect?"
Elder Iron was puzzled.
"Sword Sect?
I was sent here from the Demoness Sect when the Sect Master kicked the sphere with me on it toward you, Seniors.
It seems he took over the inn there as his headquarters."
The crowd all looked at each other and thought the same thing:
'Demoness Sect?
Headquarters?
Something is really wrong here.'
They looked up at the hole in the restriction, but it was already repaired.
It seemed they couldn't go out.
Well, they wouldn't dare even if they could.
Seeing the conversation getting complicated, Scholar said,
"Fellow Daoist Iron, as you see, we are stuck here for some time. Let's sit and talk.
There are lots of questions that we have.
What do you think? Tell us how the condition of the world is and what happened in the past 300 years."
So, the discussion between the 'imprisoned' big shots and Elder Iron began.
But it turned out this Elder Iron had spent most of his time in the sect mountain, going nowhere and doing nothing except eating and lifting weights…
However, they obtained some vital information.
It looked like there was some misunderstanding happening out there at the moment…
Charm Goddess was the first to panic.
"Oh no! The little monster is at the wrong address!"
…
Back in the inn,
Little Mortal had finished his planning.
It didn't even take 10 minutes.
He stood up, satisfied with his work, did some clumsy hand seals, and said,
"Divine Technique—Time Reversal: To before Guardian Token's warning."
Then he started walking backward in some random places
And ended up back where the Token had jumped out.
Then he did some other random hand seals and said,
"Time, back to normal."
Then he looked around.
Rose was the first to react.
"You are right, Sect Master. It certainly can't get worse than this."
Little Mortal tried to continue the following line,
But he couldn't remember what he had said before…
While looking around awkwardly, the Guardian Token came to the rescue.
It jumped out, and its mechanical voice sounded:
[WARNING! Candidate Mortal,
An event is being held in the Emperor's Garden at this moment that can have an adverse effect on the position of the Planet Guardian.
It is suggested to stop the event as soon as possible.]
Rose, and after her, the other actors in the scene, started panicking.
Rose, with a scared tone, asked,
"Sect Master, what is this message? Is this true? What is happening?"
But this time, Little Mortal, one hand behind his back, one hand stroking his mustache, said confidently,
"Everyone, don't be afraid. With me, Sect Master, at your side... everything will be fine."
Then he slowly turned his head to them, with a smile on the corner of his lips, as if he was mocking destiny itself, and continued,
"You might not believe it. But I already... have a plan. However, we need to act fast, and I need everyone's help."
Rose, seeing the confidence of her savior return, smiled.
"Sect Master is wise! Just tell us what to do."
Little Mortal declared loudly,
"The emergency operation, 'Emperor's Betrayal, Sect Master's Anger,' will begin now!"
Just the operation name alone was enough for the audience to know the Emperor was probably in trouble.
Little Mortal turned to his backpack.
"Little Pot, out. Little Needle, out. Assistant Rose, come forward."
Rose came forward. The needle and pot flew out and hovered in the air beside her.
"Little Pot, is the liquid production for ten thousand followers already done?"
The pot vibrated.
Little Mortal nodded.
"Good, start with the workout powder. I want it to be done by the time I'm back."
"Little Needle, you are responsible for the injection. Wait for Assistant Rose's order to start. Connect to the Guardian Token and find your targets."
The little needle vibrated.
It seemed the way of communication between him and these magical treasures was through their vibrations.
"Assistant Rose, I leave the operation 'Second Hole in the Butt' in your hands."
Rose didn't ask any questions.
"Leave it to me, Sect Master."
She didn't know what it was, but it wasn't the time for disagreement.
"Guardian Token."
The Guardian Token flew in front of him.
"Show me the map of the planet. You should be done with it already."
The next moment, a virtual map appeared.
Most didn't understand it, but Lady Butterfly, someone who could fly, was amazed by the sight of this work of art.
She could clearly recognize many of the places on the map, and there were so many that she was seeing for the first time—especially the Forbidden Jungle area, which covered 70% of the map.
"Big Guy, print three copies of it on paper for me. Mark every bandit's stronghold on it."
Three maps on paper appeared in no time. There were twelve places marked on them.
"Lady Butterfly."
Lady Butterfly came forward.
"At your service, Sect Master."
The little guy gave her one of the maps and, while pointing at one of the twelve marks, said,
"I go to the capital and meet the Emperor. There are two possibilities. First, the Emperor isn't involved in this matter. In that case, we will meet in this spot."
He paused for a moment, then looked at her while a cold light flashed through his eyes.
Lady Butterfly's heart sank. The real monster was in action now.
"In that case, you and I will go on a mission."
The crowd gulped down and thought,
'The first possibility = destruction of at least one sect. What is the second possibility?'
Little Mortal's eyes suddenly became sad.
"And the second possibility is... the Emperor's betrayal."
He paused here, as if it was hard for him to say the following sentence.
He dropped his head, clenched his fist, and bit his lip.
Then he started mumbling to himself—but loud enough so everyone could hear him.
"Your Majesty... this subject watched you grow... We fought alongside each other in so many battles... You were someone I trusted with my life..."
At that moment, the people around felt that the closest person to the Emperor was standing before them, speaking of the past...
But he suddenly shouted,
"Cut! Let me see where the capital is. I forgot to look at its direction before delivering this line."
The people who felt his pain a second ago now felt stupid for believing this little monster's empathy toward anyone.
How did they even believe this little kid 'watched the Emperor grow'?
Rose did her best to stay in character and not break into laughter.
Lady Butterfly looked at the ceiling and thought, Who should I complain to for all the feelings I just wasted?
After finding the direction of the capital from the map, Little Mortal got back into character and said,
"Take two, action."
The sadness returned, and the crowd could feel it again. They wanted to resist, but they couldn't.
"Your Majesty... this subject watched you grow... We fought alongside each other in so many battlefields... You were someone I trusted with my life... I even found a good girl for you to marry..."
The audience was speechless.
'You even found the Empress for him? Who are you? At the age of three, doing so many things—it was hard on you, fellow Daoist!'
Then he slowly raised his head, his eyes determined, and looked outside toward the capital.
"For the sake of our old friendship, I give you one more chance."
Then, while walking toward the inn door, he shook his head and said with a sigh,
"I hope I'm wrong... I hope I'm wrong."
Then he suddenly stopped, turned around, ran to Rose, and said in a low voice,
"Do you know what the Emperor looks like?"
The crowd was at a loss for words!
Didn't you say you saw him grow up?
Rose answered in a low voice, too.
"I never saw him, but it's easy to recognize the descendants of the imperial family. They all have silver hair and silver eyes. The Emperor has a silver crown; the Empress and the Emperor's mother both have silver hairpins with a red gem on them. The rest of them, even the previous Emperor, all wear normal imperial clothes, so it's easy to find which one is the Emperor."
Little Mortal was amazed.
"Assistant Rose, you are so knowledgeable. As expected of my personal assistant with two Sect Masters as her parents!"
Then he turned around and walked outside.
Outside the inn, a tricycle appeared with a whistle. He turned toward the inn and said,
"Little Prison, Little Crystal, accompany me on this journey to the capital."
Putting one copy of the map behind his tricycle, while riding away, he waved his hand to everyone and said,
"I'm off to the capital. Everyone, let's meet again if fate allows it."
With his departure, the citizens of the Outer Sect City witnessed one of the most unbelievable scenes of their lives.
Because the little Sect Master was in a hurry, he didn't use the roads.
He just moved straight toward the direction of the capital, while people's shops, homes, and whatever was in his way made way for him...
It was as if the city split apart to let him pass!
The citizens only heard epic music, alongside the little monster singing from a paper in his hand, as he passed through the city and went farther and farther away...
"The empire's dream now lies in dust,
Broken by betrayal, greed, and lust,
Yet in the ruins of the capital,
Sect Master will rise!
Your Majesty, trust in shadows, and you'll get burned,
Trust in Sect Master, and you'll see the light.
Shadows of the throne, where loyalty dies,
In the heart of power, deception lies,
A crown of thorns for the ruler betrayed,
In the Emperor's fall, Sect Master will rise!
So heed this tale of power's plight,
In the darkest hour, truth takes flight,
For in the shadows, betrayal's throne,
No Emperor stands, no king alone,
Beware of the Sect Master's rise!"
The citizens thought,
"The capital is in trouble, the Emperor is in trouble... Only Sect Master's rise!"
From the shadows, a certain little girl jumped out.
"Breaking news, breaking news! The Sect Master is after the Emperor's head! The destruction of the capital is inevitable! One spirit stone for the killer's name! Two spirit stones for the date of the massacre in the capital, if you want to watch! Breaking news..."
The crowd was speechless...
Didn't you just say the name of the killer?
The followers could only mourn for the Emperor.
"I heard he is actually a good and fair Emperor."
"He indeed is, but the sects are in power now, especially after the disappearance of the Scholar from the capital."
"Good or bad, the Emperor is a goner for sure. The question is, who will be the next Emperor?"
"Sect Master himself, I guess?"
"Yeah, I bet he'll come back in an imperial robe..."
"..."