The Emperor looked around the hall and saw dark blue smoke gathering under the ceiling like clouds...
He had felt a second shock wave before and wondered, "What happened?"
Seeing the shoes on the little monster, he knew it was the reason.
Little Mortal saw that the Emperor was back and ran over to him.
"Your people are ready?"
The Emperor looked at the smoke generator and nodded.
"Yes, the army should be ready at the northern gate by the time we get there. Is your speech ready?"
"No, but it will be in a moment."
Then he took out his little notebook and started flipping through its pages.
The couple didn't see anything special about this item of the little unknown kid until now—it looked like a regular notebook.
But now... they saw that it didn't matter how many pages he flipped; it was never-ending!
As though there was an infinite amount of information inside, just written randomly on infinite pages.
Then they heard him muttering to himself:
"I should go to the war section.
Not after the war, not during the war...
Yes, it's here—before the war motivational speech!"
Finding what he was looking for, he looked at the Emperor.
"Are there only soldiers there, or are the citizens there too?"
"I only called for the army soldiers, but I'm sure there will be at least a million citizens to watch what is happening."
Little Mortal flipped another page and marked it.
Being done, he turned his senior mode on and, with one hand behind his back and one hand stroking his mustache, said:
"Alright, time to go. I'll try to memorize it on the way.
You two juniors go first; I'll go directly to the soldiers."
Then he walked to the door, but stopped and said:
"Did you tell them about... my Coach Assistant Technique?"
The Emperor, who saw another name change in the history—from "Harmony of All Beings" to "Coach Assistant Technique"—nodded.
"Do what you want during your speech."
He already experienced being controlled by him and knew his version didn't have any negative effects.
Little Mortal tried to hide his excitement and walked towards the door.
The Empress suddenly thought of something and whispered to the Emperor's ear:
"Let's pick him up and fly there.
I want to confirm something."
The Emperor furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head.
"Don't play with fire."
But the Empress didn't care.
"I'm already friendly with him.
I'll do it myself, then."
Then, while chuckling, she appeared beside Little Mortal.
The Emperor, thinking he couldn't let his wife die alone, appeared on his other side while shaking his head at his wife's recklessness.
Each of them put one hand on his shoulder, and the Empress said:
"Big Brother, let's fly to the gate—it's faster."
She wanted to know if he was really as heavy as he claimed to be.
Then they both tried to pick him up.
But they soon found out they couldn't even lift him a little, as if he was pinned to the ground—let alone fly with him.
Little Mortal at first looked at the couple, puzzled.
Then he laughed and said:
"I already told you I'm too heavy."
But he suddenly stopped laughing and went back to his senior mode.
"Humph! You two are making fun of me like when you were little, because I'm fat?
Then let me punish you like the old days, too."
Hearing the word "punish," the Empress was going to say they didn't mean that, but before the words could leave her mouth, both husband and wife received a spank on the butt.
Before they knew it, they found themselves flying in the sky...
The couple looked at each other in the air, horrified, because they had turned back into mortals at that moment, without any spirit energy!
If they fell to the ground this way, they would die without a doubt!
While they were imagining themselves smashing into the ground in front of random people on a random street, their spirit energy returned.
They didn't even look back and just kept flying towards the gate.
The Emperor said in a trembling voice:
"My dear wife, don't forget—our friendship with this monster is like the friendship between the dragon we saw before and a butterfly. We might burn with any random move of the dragon even if there is friendship involved..."
The Empress, pale, nodded but said in a suspicious tone:
"I'm sure he did it on purpose."
"Even if that's true, I can't take more stress than this today.
Our team did a great job.
Surviving under this unknown monster from God-knows-where is a miracle."
The Empress laughed.
"Together, we are invincible!"
While the couple were complimenting each other, Little Mortal shook his head and, while talking to himself, stepped outside:
"Juniors these days don't know how to show respect to their seniors."
And with a whistle, his warhorse appeared.
He pointed at the shiny items on the ground and said:
"Want those?"
The horse looked at them and then nodded its head.
"Alright."
After a while, he jumped onto the back of his mechanical horse and, while memorizing his speech, rode directly towards the northern gate through the path in the garden that opened up in front of him like a highway.
...
At the Northern Gate
In the main watchtower, the old Empress was waiting with the general.
The Emperor's son was there too, looking outside the window.
The old Empress didn't dare to let him be on his own—she couldn't trust anyone at this critical moment.
By now, they had finished cleaning up the people associated with the Twelve Sects.
The only ones they didn't touch were the disciples of the Sword Sect and Demoness Sect.
The old Emperor had gone after the Sword God, but he wasn't back yet.
While she was lost in thought, she heard the little boy in her arms shout excitedly:
"Mother and Father are coming back alive!"
The old lady came to the window, sighed in relief, and knocked the little boy's head.
"Why are you talking like you were expecting them not to be alive?!"
The couple landed on the tower and entered.
"Greetings, Mother."
"Greetings, Mother-in-Law."
The old Empress went forward and welcomed them.
The excited voice of the little boy sounded again:
"Grandpa is back with a corpse!"
The people inside the tower frowned and looked outside.
The old man was indeed coming back with a corpse.
He landed inside the tower and knocked the little boy's head.
"What do you mean by 'corpse'?
He is just unconscious!"
Then he looked at the couple and sighed in relief, too.
"It's good that you two survived dealing with that little monster."
The Emperor came forward and looked at the unconscious man in shock.
"Father, where did you find him?
Isn't he the Sword God you called for support?"
"Yes, it's him.
I was going to warn him not to come here because I was scared he'd get beaten up too, but a shock wave from an unknown source suddenly attacked him...
I went after him to see if he was okay, but just when I found him, he got hit with the same shock wave attack—this time specifically targeting him!
In the end, I found him in the mountain rubble, unconscious."
The couple pretended not to know anything about this familiar "shock wave" attack.
The one responsible for it would deny it anyway if anyone accused him.
The Emperor, still in character, said:
"It's good that he's fine."
Then he turned to the general:
"Are they ready?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. The last batch just arrived and is waiting for your order."
The Emperor nodded and went to the window.
He looked outside and saw a magnificent sight he had always wanted to see—not just the army of close to a million soldiers, not just the sea of citizens who came to watch, but the sight of a united empire capable of clearing this world and the fear in the eyes of cultivators!
After the downfall of spiritual energy, the old generation of cultivators thought they were the chosen ones.
In the past, there was always the fear that an unknown talent might rise among ordinary people to take revenge, so they had tried to limit their cruelty towards them.
But in this era, the cultivators saw themselves as gods.
They saw these normal people only as tools.
Though today... was different.
The Emperor looked at the capital, and a rare smile appeared on his face.
The rest of the people looked in the same direction and saw a scene that might be engraved in everyone's heart and mind for a long time to come.
At the city wall, the guards were waiting to see the legendary great warrior who had entered the capital—whom they couldn't find after his arrival—until news came that he was on a rampage in the Emperor's garden.
Not long after, the old Empress arrived with the army and began arresting everyone associated with the Twelve Sects.
The citizens gathering at the city gate were all wondering why there had been a sudden move against so many cultivators in the city.
This was a complete and unexpected cleanup.
Only two groups were spared: the disciples of the Sword Sect and the Demoness Sect, which were so scared that they acted obediently.
And there was also a rumor spreading among the citizens:
"A lost member of the imperial family is back!
He cultivated in the demonic path for thousands of years, and now he's back for revenge!"
Revenge from whom? No one knew.
Who was the source of the rumor? The Emperor's son!
What he had initially said, or to whom he had said it? No one knew, but what it had turned into was the current rumor.
The disciples of the two sects were also gathered here.
They wanted to see who had given the imperial family the courage to declare war on the Twelve Sects publicly.
Even now, the normal people wouldn't stay close to them, looking at them with fear.
While the citizens were talking and whispering to one another, a sudden change occurred in the back rows.
The sound of gasps was clearly audible.
Like a wave from the back, everyone turned around to see what was going on.
Far away on the horizon, they saw a blue pillar made of smoke approaching the gathering.
But this pillar wasn't the reason for their shock.
What shocked them were the buildings on its path and the different-colored lights dancing around it.
To everyone's astonishment, the buildings were moving to both sides, as if making way for the source of the smoke and lights—showing their respect...
Just this sight alone left even the imperial members dumbfounded, let alone ordinary people.
Buildings showing respect? Was that even possible?
Well, they were watching it with their own eyes, so it was possible.
The two groups of sect disciples looked at each other and saw the fear in each other's eyes!
Not long after, the last building moved aside, and the crowd finally saw what was coming their way.
A great warrior with a black headband,
A horseshoe mustache dancing in the wind—making him look angry without being angry—
Riding a majestic black warhorse, he was approaching them.
When he got closer, they saw twelve storage rings on his fingers, and his black warhorse had a bunch of shiny jewelry around its hooves—three on each—and a red one on its forehead, making lights of different colors dance around them.
This great warrior, in fancy-looking black clothes and cool-looking shoes with red patterns that matched his black robe, was obviously showing off his wealth!
The crowd was dumbfounded.
The disciples of the Demoness Sect almost fainted!
A voice in their heads was shouting:
"Don't make eye contact!
It's one of them!"
What was one of those spoiled black robes doing here? None of them knew!
The old imperial couple were speechless! The little demonic cultivator hadn't been like this the first time they saw him.
The Emperor nodded in approval.
The entrance was really eye-catching.
He glanced at the army and laughed at them secretly.
"I experienced that evil technique personally. You guys should experience it too."
The guards on the city wall looked at the commander from before and asked:
"What did you mean by 'the height of a three-year-old'?
Look how big he is!
We can see all the details on him and his warhorse, even from this far away!"
The commander shook his head,
"Just wait for it."
The citizens, while amazed by the entrance of this great warrior, looked at the blue smoke emanating from him and were unsure what to think...
What even was that?
Spiritual energy is blue, but this one seems different.
And it was going to the sky without fading away, making a pillar and a long track behind the great warrior...
The crowd became silent just when they saw even the ground under their feet move them to both sides and open a path for him without them needing to move by themselves!
And this path continued from where he was all the way to the city gate.
At this moment, there was only fear and respect in everyone's eyes.
This great warrior, without saying anything, forced everyone to show him respect, making way for him.
Everyone waited to see him up close.
Who knows? Maybe they wouldn't see him ever again after this time.
While the crowd was waiting for him to get closer to them,
The great warrior, who was far away and still too small in their vision, passed by them.
Question marks appeared above everyone's head...
How could this great warrior pass by while his image was still so small, like when he was far away?
It didn't take too long before they understood he wasn't far—but it was his original size...
On the city wall, the guard commander said in a low voice,
"Do you understand now?
And remember this: don't let his size fool you."
The rest of them gulped nervously.
If it had been a big, buff, scary-looking dude with scars all over his face—like what they imagined at the beginning when they saw him—that would've been fine.
But this little guy... Who could even think of danger seeing him for the first time?
In the watchtower, the old couple looked at him in fear.
They still remembered the awful feelings from before, when they turned back to mortals.
The little great warrior suddenly turned his head around and glanced at the couple before nodding at them.
They turned pale just from that glance.
But they forced a smile on their faces and nodded back.
The old Emperor turned to his son and asked,
"Is he a family member or not?
He even called us 'uncle and auntie' before coming to you, and he called your wife 'sister-in-law.'
Is that my nephew or son?"
The Emperor looked at the scared faces of the two and couldn't blame them.
He shook his head and said,
"Neither. But if he says he is, then we pretend that he is and play along.
Heaven's Will directly sent me a message for that."
The Empress snorted, as if she wasn't happy with what he said, and added,
"Don't listen to him, Father-in-law.
He calls me 'sister-in-law,' and I call him 'big brother'!
We are already family—there is no turning back."
Then she turned to her son, whose jaw had dropped at the way the Great Warrior showed up, and said,
"If you saw him somewhere, what would you call him?"
The little boy didn't even think and said,
"Great Uncle!"
The Empress patted his head,
"That's my boy!
So smart!"
Then she said to the Emperor,
"How about you give him an imperial robe and an imperial token the next time you find a chance?
Just make it official and add his name to our family records as a senior from past generations."
The Emperor looked at her and nodded,
"Let's make it real, then."
The old couple, hearing their conversation,
felt these two were walking on a path of no return... and they were dragging them in with them!
Who would want this little monster as family?
....
Outside the city, the Great Warrior, with all of his special effects, arrived in front of the army.
The citizens could only see the back view of a small man on a miniature horse.
The confused army soldiers could only see a little mustached boy on a toy horse.
Little Mortal waited for everyone to calm down.
The crowd fell silent after a while.
Small or big, it didn't matter—if buildings and people are forced to make way for you, it shows that you are a big boss.
Little Mortal took out a small microphone from his pocket and put it on the collar of his clothes.
Then he cleared his throat, which was like a signal for the crystal.
Suddenly, a big screen appeared in the sky.
The little Great Warrior, who seemed angry without being angry, appeared on the screen.
The blue smoke and all kinds of lights with different colors made the big screen so bright that some people felt their eyes grow blurry.
But the screen adjusted itself, and the problem was fixed in no time.
The crowd was dumbfounded once more.
The big boss was showcasing his wealth and treasures in various ways!
Little Mortal took a deep breath and began his speech.
"Life is not fair... is it, my little friends?"
The silent crowd heard him start, and while amazed by the big screen and the voice, they didn't know how they could hear so clearly, they listened carefully.
What was he going to say?
"While some are born to feast, others spend their lives in the dark, begging for scraps."
The people nodded in their minds.
It was their feeling toward this world.
But hearing it from a little kid... made it hard to accept.
"For you people, the world is dark, selfish, and cruel.
If it finds even the slightest ray of sunshine... it destroys it."
Some army generals clenched their fists.
While it felt weird to hear it from a kid, it was true.
How many times had they experienced this?
"In this world we are living in, with these savage terrorists who call themselves cultivators and immortals—who never put themselves in your shoes, and none of them think what it's like to be you—
It's enough to make anyone give up on their lives."
Then he furrowed his brow and, with a hint of anger in his voice, continued,
"And all these embarrassments for the 'human' race... already know this. But do they care?"
The crowd shook their heads. Indeed, how could they understand their suffering?
But their hearts suddenly skipped a beat.
'Wait, what?
He called immortals "savage terrorists"?
"Embarrassment for the human race"?'
The army soldiers, hearing him insulting all the cultivators so bluntly, knew one thing for sure...
With the Emperor's move against the sect-related people in the capital and this unknown person's speech, they were going to start a war right here and right now!
And not a normal war—but a war where only one side would be the winner...
The disciples of the two sects turned pale!
What was this little guy talking about?
Aren't they, the Black Robes, worse than everybody else?
The speech continued,
"Indeed, they don't care about your hardships in life.
But today, I, Sect Master, am back...
I know you're suffering. I see the suffering of this world.
And..."
He looked around, and his imposing gaze finally stopped on the army. He continued with a heroic tone,
"I can assure you, at least today, in this place, we all have the will to act on it."
The soldiers felt their blood begin to boil.
Was he going to say what they were all waiting for?
Then he shouted,
"They say there is no good and evil—that there is only power!
Then let's show them what real power looks like!"
Then he turned to the watchtower, jumped down from his horse, and knelt on one knee.
Just his landing on the ground made the whole city tremble, alongside the hearts of the citizens!
At the same time, the whole army, without their own will, did the same and knelt!
The citizens, who didn't know if they should kneel or not,
lost control and kneeled too!
Then they all heard the voice of the Great Warrior booming toward the capital.
"THIS SUBJECT ASKS FOR THE EMPEROR'S PERMISSION TO CLEAN THIS WORLD FROM ITS FILTH!"
Then all the army soldiers followed after,
"THIS SUBJECT ASKS FOR THE EMPEROR'S PERMISSION TO CLEAN THIS WORLD FROM ITS FILTH!"
Then all the citizens followed by saying,
"The army has the courage; the Emperor has the will!
We beg His Majesty, the Emperor, to permit them to clean this world from its filth!"
In the watchtower, the Emperor's eyes shone like never before!
His blood was boiling, his fists clenched hard, his spirit at its highest.
He took a deep breath and, with never-before-heard excitement in his voice, said,
"Permission granted!
Rise and shine on the battlefield, my loyal soldiers!"
Hearing the Emperor's permission, the whole crowd stood up at the same time.
Everyone's blood, like the Emperor's, wasn't boiling...
They were scared out of their wits!
Their thoughts were in chaos.
'What permission?
What world-cleansing?'
'What in the world is happening?'
'Who is controlling me?'
'Emperor, it's not us!'
'Why can't I talk?'
'Did we just call cultivators filth?'
But the panicked crowd could only watch their bodies perform without their own will...
Little Mortal accepted the order and jumped on the back of his horse.
On the big screen, everyone saw his horse stand up on two legs, and a loud neigh followed.
The little Great Warrior, who called himself Sect Master,
rode his horse toward a direction and shouted,
"TO THE BATTLEFIELD!"
The whole army, together, roared toward the sky,
"TO THE BATTLEFIELD!"
And followed after him in an orderly manner.
The whole capital was shaking from the 'excitement' in the soldiers roaring 'to the battlefield'!
The citizens, all together, were crying like rivers.
From the outside, they all looked like people who had a loved one in the army who might never come back.
But from the inside, they were all horrified that even their feelings were being controlled!
Were they going to be puppets from now on?
Had the empire already fallen?
Was the Emperor even himself?
Was all of this just a show? A trap?
And among them, there was another group of people who were ten times more scared than they were.
The cultivators from the Sword Sect and Demoness Sect.
Even they were forced to kneel as citizens and, after that, started crying for non-existent loved ones...
'What's going on in this capital?'
'What kind of demonic technique is this?'
In the watchtower, the Empress, while watching the crying citizens, said,
"I don't know about the guardian ceremony,
But this scene is a work of art that everyone will enjoy watching.
The old Empress said in amazement,
"Son, when did you become so popular?
And how are these people so in sync?
I've never seen our citizens so emotional in my whole life!
Let alone kneeling with such love..."
The Emperor didn't know what to answer.
He thought to himself,
'I thought he could only control some soldiers, but...'
He looked at the number of people under the little monster's control, and cold sweat covered his forehead.
And it wasn't just him.
It was the same for everyone under his command.
What would happen if someone with this kind of power went down the wrong path?
It would literally be the end of the world.
The Emperor wiped the sweat off his forehead and said,
"I leave the capital to you guys.
Dear, please explain to them what just happened."
Then he turned to the frozen and clueless general beside him—who didn't know why the army listened to this little Sect Master without knowing him at all—and said,
"Let's go. I'll explain it to you on the way."
And the two flew in the direction of the army.
At the same time, cries of surprise and fear could be heard in the crowd.
Some were scared of what had just happened, while others were relieved to have regained control over their own bodies again.
The old couple were confused by the 'new' crowd.
What was wrong with them?
The cultivators in the city, seeing the departure of the Emperor and the army, all ran away like their lives depended on it.
The people on the watchtower, seeing them running like stray dogs, couldn't help but laugh at them.
The old Emperor said,
"Today is the first time the capital has been empty of any sect cultivators.
Remember to tell our historians to record it."
The Empress, who knew they had lots of work to do to calm the citizens down, started explaining what his 'big brother' had just done to the old couple.
Hearing the reason, the old man fell silent.
He didn't know anymore whether this day should be recorded in history or if it was better to use it as a cautionary tale to make naughty children sleep at night...
...
Far away from the capital, the Emperor finally reached the army.
They were standing in the middle of nowhere, puzzled about what they should do now.
The little Sect Master had controlled them until here and left after saying,
"Wait here for His Majesty.
Bye."
But they could see a blue line in the sky showing where he had gone.
The Emperor landed near them.
"All of the generals, gather."
Then he saw how scared they were and added,
"Don't worry. The other party is a family member.
What he did was at my order, because there was no time to waste.
Now listen carefully—our job today is a lot easier than you think.
We need to surround every one of those twelve sects so no one can run.
Leave the fighting to the Sect Master and his companion."
Then he opened the map that Little Mortal had given him and started sending the generals with their soldiers to surround the twelve marked places on the map.
...
When Little Mortal finally met with Lady Butterfly, it was in the evening.
Seeing the little guy with a new kind of blue smoke coming out of him,
fingers full of new rings, and his ride looking like a horse now with lots of decorations,
Lady Butterfly knew lots of things had happened in the capital.
If it wasn't in complete chaos by now, they were lucky.
The little boy rode to her side and then jumped down,
saying with excitement,
"Lady Butterfly, I'm finally done with my job in the capital.
You wouldn't believe what happened there!"