In front of a big building with a "mber Admission" board on it, Elder Sun was dozing off on his chair under the sun, while his assistant, the sa girl who was playing with the gatekeeper, was standing beside him awkwardly.
Elder Sun's hair, because of his special fire cultivation technique and fire spirit root, was like waves of fire.
The senior brother and the future disciples of the sect that he had brought with him were waiting quietly at this mont for Elder Sun to wake up while watching his fiery hair in amazent.
For the little ones, it was an eye-opening sight to see this old man with hair on fire.
How could a human's hair be on fire but not turn to ashes?
But what was more shocking was a certain little boy in a black oversized robe, who called himself "Sect Master" and had followed them until here.
At first, this little kid waited like them, but after so ti, as if he was bored with waiting, he took action...
Now, he was standing on his backpack behind Elder Sun, with a frying pan in his left hand and a salt shaker in his right hand, frying eggs atop Elder Sun's head using his hair's fire!
The people on the scene, faces pale, didn’t know if they should run or stay.
One was an Elder, the other one was a Black Robe!
The sa two groups that nobody in the sect dared to ss with!
Who could deal with this fiery-haired old man if he got angry?
After adding so more spices, the little sect master brought his food to the children and said,
"Co, if sect service is so poor as not even to welco us with breakfast, I, your future senior brother, will take care of you."
Then he said to his backpack,
"One table, eight chairs."
A silver table with eight little chairs around it appeared.
The little kids, amazed by this magical sight, looked at the senior brother for permission.
But not surprisingly, the two sect mbers pretended not to see anything.
So they just rembered the lesson on how to deal with the second group: "If you get caught, just listen to them," and sat down around the table obediently.
Little Mortal, seeing them gathered, closed his eyes and said,
"May all be fed. May all be healed. May all be loved."
Then he gestured to his guests, "We can begin now."
All of the children started eating quietly.
Not long after, having finished their food, they stood up and, after saying their thanks, went back to the senior brother's side.
The two sect mbers were shocked!
This little kid was so polite, well-mannered, and normal... Were they wrong about this one?
But the next mont, they took back their thoughts...
The little sect master took out a feather from his backpack and slowly went to Elder Sun again.
But this ti, his target wasn’t his hair—but his nose!
He climbed onto his chair and started stuffing and twisting the feather into Elder Sun's nose while whispering in his ear,
"Old man, wake up. It's ti to work."
Cold sweat covered everyone's faces...
'This crazy kid is going to get us all killed!'
Hearing the whispers and feeling the tickles, Elder Sun's eyelids slightly moved, as if he was about to wake up.
Seeing this, Little Mortal jumped down and stood beside Elder Sun's chair with folded hands, as if he hadn’t done anything.
A mont later, Elder Sun woke up and yawned. Then he looked around and saw a bunch of kids in front of him and thought to himself,
'Oh, they’re the new kids to be accepted. But why are they looking at like this?'
Then, as if he felt sothing, he touched his nose and found a feather inside...
The next mont, Elder Sun's eyes widened, and the temperature started rising!
'When was the last ti anyone dared to ss with like this?' he thought.
But before he could get angry, he heard a giggling sound beside him.
He looked down and saw a little boy with both hands in front of his mouth, trying to hide the sound of his laughter.
Elder Sun looked at him for a mont, and an annoyed smile appeared on his face.
'Black robe with headband and wristbands? This kid is the only survivor of his family...'
Seeing the little culprit, he felt helpless and patted the little boy's head.
"You naughty little brat, what’s your na? This is my first ti seeing you!"
The onlookers were shocked at the sudden change in Elder Sun’s mood!
This old man had been about to burn everything a mont ago, but now he was suddenly kind?
Little Mortal puffed out his chest and said,
"I’m Mortal."
"How old are you?"
"Two days ago, I turned three."
The old man was stunned!
'Who let a three-year-old go around alone?'
"And who are your parents?"
The generation that had sacrificed itself was from more than 300 years ago, and their descendants—whom nobody could offend for a specific reason—were all old now. How could a little boy suddenly be added to them?
Elder Sun suspected that so of those old grandpas and grandmas had suddenly felt like having a child or two and then died afterward—or pretended they didn’t exist.
Little Mortal scratched his head.
"Who are my parents..."
Then his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Give a mont, and I’ll tell you!"
He took out his notebook and started flipping through it in search of sothing.
Elder Sun nodded to himself and thought,
'Yeah, he probably never even saw them, let alone knows their nas. Soone must have just written it for him in his notebook.'
"Oh, found it!"
"Good, tell who they are. I really want to know which bored old couple suddenly beca adventurous at the end of their lives."
Little Mortal cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Listen carefully!"
Elder Sun smiled with interest.
"I’m listening."
And Little Mortal started reading from the notebook:
**"The one who raised was the sky; the mountains watched over , and the wind taught my na.
Heaven bore my breath, earth cradled my steps, and silence knows the rest.
My father was the storm, my mother the dawn, and I was born where no one waited.
I have no parents—only the moon to mourn and the river to rember .
The stars gave dreams, the dust gave form, and the void gave silence.
And my Daoist na is Sect Master, and soon I will be Sect Master's disciple."**
The curious crowd, who had wanted to know who this child’s parents—who had sacrificed themselves—were, beca speechless...
What kind of poetic answer for "I don’t know" was that?
Elder Sun’s smile froze!
'Just say they were embarrassed to reveal their identity...'
Then he suddenly rembered the last sentence and frowned.
"Who gave you this Daoist na?"
Little Mortal smiled proudly.
"I chose it myself."
Elder Sun was at a loss...
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Nothing about this kid was normal.
He thought for a mont and said,
"That won’t do. If Sect Master finds out you have such a Daoist na, you’ll be punished!"
He didn’t know why the boy had co up with this na, but who could argue with this untouchable Black Robes generation?
Little Mortal snorted.
"Sect Master will be my teacher soon. I even have a recomndation letter—don’t worry about it."
Elder Sun raised an eyebrow with interest.
"Can I see it?"
He wondered who had given him a recomndation letter that the Sect Master—who only had one disciple—would accept him.
"Sure."
Little Mortal went to his backpack, took out the recomndation letter Fourth Brother had given him, and handed it to him.
Elder Sun took the letter and was about to open it, but he felt an extrely dangerous sword aura leaking from it, as if ready to cut him down.
The old man’s hair stood on end, and he stopped imdiately!
Then he coughed awkwardly and gave the letter back to him.
"Who gave you this recomndation letter?"
Little Mortal opened his notebook and found the na of Fourth Brother.
"Sword God gave it to ."
All of the Sect Masters of the Sword Sect had the sa Daoist na.
Everyone was shocked.
'This little troublemaker has a recomndation letter from Sword God?'
On the way here, the little kids who ca with the senior brother had even seen his statue!
Elder Sun, hearing Sword God’s na, nodded.
Who else could have such sword intent except him?
But he was puzzled—why had he given this kid, who was a mber of their own sect, a recomndation letter to co here and beco his wife’s disciple?
It didn’t make sense at all!
But it wasn’t sothing he could ddle in.
'What does it have to do with ?'
"Little Mortal, the Sect Master is in seclusion now. You can wait anywhere you want until the Sect Master is out. Is that fine?"
Little Mortal’s eyes widened.
"What do you an? I need to hurry and gather followers! I was going to ask my teacher to help find so!"
Elder Sun smiled and said,
"You want followers? Then you’ll get them—no need to ask the Sect Master about it. Just do as I say, okay?"
Little Mortal beca excited.
"Elder Sun, you are the righteous light of our sect! With you around, who cares about the Sect Master? Tell what to do, tell what to do!"
Hearing him talk like that, Elder Sun’s eyes twitched.
But he tried to ignore what he said.
"Alright, alright, calm down. Just tell how many followers you want. If you only need one, I’ll take you to the inner sect—you can choose any inner disciple you want. If you want around ten of them, then I’ll take you to the outer sect. And if you want more, go to Outer Sect City with these kids—you can have as many as you want there."
Little Mortal, without hesitation, said,
"I’ll go to Outer Sect City. I want a lot of followers!"
Elder Sun patted his head and said,
"It’s settled then."
Then he turned to the kids and said,
"Co here. Let test your spirit roots."
The process was simple.
The children picked up a stone that Elder Sun took out of his storage ring, and depending on the color it turned into, their spirit roots were identified.
After testing everyone except Little Mortal—who was going to be the Sect Master’s disciple—he shook his head and said,
"This world can’t even give birth to a decent spirit root anymore. All of you, take your sect tokens and go to Outer Sect City. They’ll tell you what to do."
Not finding any good "talent," the female disciple gave each of them a token with a number on it and said,
"If one day you’re accepted as an official mber, your Daoist na will be engraved on it."
But before she could leave, she saw Little Mortal looking at her with anticipation, as if saying,
"Where’s mine?"
Seeing this, Elder Sun said,
"Give him one too."
Little Mortal took it and said,
"I already have a Daoist na. Can I write it on my token?"
Elder Sun laughed and said,
"You can, but only if others haven’t taken the na. So, guess who has the token with the na ‘Sect Master’ on it?"
Then, while playing with a particular red feather in his hand,
he left before saying,
"Little Mortal, go play in the outer sect city. Don’t ss around here."
But Little Mortal didn’t care about Elder Sun and ran to his backpack, took out a knife, and started engraving his Daoist na on the token.
At first, the tip of the knife stuck to the token, refusing to allow the na to be written on it, but he applied more force, and it started engraving again.
A while later, Little Mortal, with a ‘Sect Master’ token hanging from his waist, joined the group of kids again so they all could go to the outer sect city together.
The two sect mbers kept trying to pretend not to see anything, but they couldn’t hide the fear on their faces...
‘This kid actually made a "Sect Master" token for himself...!’
But they tried their best to forget about anything they saw today.
‘He is the future disciple of the Sect Master, with the Sword God’s letter in hand. Who dares to ss with him?’
...
Outer Sect City
The senior brother responsible for the group of children finally arrived in the city.
This city was the living place for those who joined the sect but couldn’t activate the spirit root in their body.
More than 300 years ago, after ‘The Fall of Spirit Energy’, having a spirit root alone wasn’t enough to beco a cultivator.
It wasn’t like in the past, when people with spirit roots could at least take the first step and beco cultivators—even if they were weak in terms of power, they could still use the spirit energy in the air and take the first step on the path of immortality. But not anymore...
It was as though the world itself was rejecting them.
So, this city was made for those with spirit roots who couldn’t activate them.
After years of effort without any results, so of them even started families and gave up cultivation.
Now, the outer sect city’s population was around.
Ten thousand people, and their jobs were mostly farming or mining for the sect.
After the senior brother brought the seven new mbers to the city, he left them in front of the biggest inn in the city and told them to go inside and ask the innkeeper to guide them on what they should do from now on.
He was only responsible for snatching these kids with spirit roots from mortal cities, and after registration, he was done.
So he left them there and ran away as fast as he could.
The stress of having a ‘black robe’ in his group was unbearable, and he didn’t know if he could keep pretending not to see him for too long.
While the clueless group of children looked around, they heard Little Mortal’s voice coming from behind and rembered that the little boy was still with them.
"Why don’t you go in?"
The group of children rembered the lesson from their senior brother and accepted the order without hesitation!
When they entered the inn, they saw a big space with so people going about their work.
There was a place for people to eat and a place for those who wanted to sit down and talk. And at the far end was the counter, where a middle-aged lady was writing sothing.
As they walked forward, they saw the lifeless eyes of the people inside the inn, and they beca even more nervous.
When they arrived at the counter, the middle-aged lady raised her head to look at them.
She was a little puzzled at this mont.
For so reason, the quiet and depressed environnt beca even quieter suddenly.
She thought to herself, ‘Did soone from the sect co in?’
In this city, their lives were in the hands of sect mbers.
At any mont, a sect mber could co and ask for anything—things they might never imagine—or take them away for unknown reasons.
The nervous children looked at the lady with forced smiles.
She had a regular face, but there was a light in her eyes that made her stand out from the rest of the people they saw on their way, especially with the little mole on the left side of her chin that gave her so charm.
Seeing the nervous children and the ‘big backpack’ beside them (which seed to hold their stuff), the lady smiled kindly.
She knew they were the new disciples joining the sect.
"You all should be our new sect mbers.
Welco to the Outer Sect City. You are going to stay here from now on. I’ll explain what you should do and what you shouldn’t do to survive here.
I hope you can activate your spirit root and save yourselves as soon as possible."
The first part of her sentence was encouraging, but the ‘save yourselves’ part suddenly made it scary...
The seven children didn’t dare to talk. They had been stolen from their cities and now didn’t even know where they were.
The only thing they could do was listen and do as they were told... But at this mont, a child’s voice sounded...
"What in the world are you talking about?
This is a righteous sect! What does ‘save yourselves’ an?
And with around, you need to beco my followers, and that’s it! Your spirit roots will be activated by the end of next week! Humph!"
The seven kids the innkeeper turned their heads to the backpack.
They saw a little dissatisfied face—now barely visible—who was writing sothing on a small notebook.
The innkeeper leaned forward to see who this little kid talking nonsense was.
But the mont she saw him—who was shorter than her counter—she turned pale!
‘Lord have rcy, it’s one of those black robes!’
Only now did she understand why the whole inn had beco so quiet!
Nervously, she looked at the notebook in his hands and saw what he was writing.
It was a complaint note to the Sect Master about the shortcomings of the sect that he had seen so far.
[List of Complaints to Sect Master]
1. No food service for new recruits
2. Impolite door guard
3. Lazy Elder Sun (sleeping at work)
4. Dirty city
5. Innkeeper who scares children.
When she saw the last line, the innkeeper almost fainted and hurriedly said,
"Young Master, Young Master, forgive ! I just told them the truth. Please have rcy!"
Seeing her over-the-top reaction, Little Mortal was speechless.
"Calm down, lady! Why are you panicking?
First of all, I’m not so Young Master. My Daoist na is written here—look."
He pointed at his sect token on his waist.
The innkeeper lady looked at his sect token, and when she saw the na on it, she couldn’t stand it anymore and fell onto her chair, thinking to herself,
‘Why is the Sect Master’s token with him?
Is he the Sect Master’s child? Or disciple? I’m done for... He already wrote my na in his notebook.’
Then she heard him speak to her again,
"Where did you go? I can’t see you...
Ah, never mind. Wait for ."
To fix the height problem, Little Mortal climbed onto his backpack and sat there.
"As I was saying, no need to panic. At most, you’ll get a warning letter from the Sect Master, right?"
The innkeeper just stayed silent.
She didn’t know what to say. What does he an by ‘only a warning letter’?
The best outco was a quick death...
Then she saw the little boy was about to say sothing else, but the inn door was suddenly kicked open, and his attention was diverted to the entrance.
A young man in a black robe with red patterns entered the inn after kicking the door open aggressively.
When people saw who the newcor was, they all turned pale as ice statues—especially the young girls!
The black-robed young man looked around and, as if he had found his target, moved toward one of the inn maids. Then he grabbed her wrist and tried to leave with her without saying anything.
No one said anything. Even the maid herself, with tears in her eyes, followed him silently without resisting.
But when the young man reached the door, he suddenly stopped.
A little boy was blocking his path,
looking at him with curiosity.
The young man said impatiently,
"Get out of the way, kid. I’m busy."
For black robes, another black robe wasn’t anything scary.
The little boy asked curiously,
"Where are you taking her?"
The young man snorted,
"None of your business."
Then he tried to drag the girl with him.
But the little boy shouted angrily!
"What do you an, ‘none of your business’?
She’s my potential follower in the future!
And what’s wrong with you, savage cultivators?
You just co in, take soone away, and that’s it?
Where’s the city law enforcent?
There’s a human trafficker here—co and catch him!"
But no one answered his call for justice...
Everyone’s head was lowered at the mont, as if they hadn’t seen anything.
Today, two black robes had crossed paths here!
An unheard-of situation.
There was an unwritten rule between these black-robed sect mbers:
Do not ddle in each other’s business.
But today was different!
A disaster was on the way.
The young man beca angry.
"Who are you to call savage, you little brat?
And who said I’m a human trafficker?
Don’t make send you to where your parents are!"
Hearing his last sentence, everyone gasped.
Now the fight was on, and they couldn’t wait to see what the little kid had to say!
But to everyone’s surprise, the little boy fell silent.
He directed his gaze to the girl, and the girl looked back at him.
After so ti, the little boy whispered,
"If you’ve been kidnapped, blink once."
Everyone heard him, though, because the inn was so quiet at this mont.
The young man just snorted and waited. He knew the girl wouldn’t dare to blink while he was here.
But as ti passed, the little boy didn’t give up.
He stared at her without blinking.
Then he suddenly made a clumsy hand seal and said,
"Secret Technique—Maringun!"
And he opened his eyes as wide as he could, staring at the girl as if trying to look into the deepest part of her soul.
Everyone’s heart stopped for a second.
‘What secret technique did he just use?’
Even the young man, who couldn’t feel any spirit energy from this little kid, was taken aback for a mont!
‘We were just talking—why are you using a secret technique?’
But as they waited, nothing happened...
The girl, at this point, was biting her lips.
Her eyes were getting dry, and she couldn’t keep up with the staring contest!
In the end, she couldn’t withstand it anymore and finally... blinked.
The mont she blinked, the little boy took action.
While he threw a kick at the young man’s knee, he yelled,
"I knew it! This is a hostage situation!"
Then there was a ‘crack’ sound, and the young man—who didn’t expect an attack—for whatever reason, felt his left leg suddenly couldn’t bear his body weight, and his upper body leaned to the left...
As he was falling, he heard the little boy’s excited voice shouting,
"MORYUKEN!"
Then he felt a little fist hit his chin, and the world turned dark after that.
The little boy, after the uppercut (with an extra 360-degree rotation), landed on the ground, his small fist still raised.
The onlookers’ mouths hung open, staring at the unconscious young man...
Nobody could comprehend what had just happened!
Then they saw sothing even more unbelievable.
The little boy, seeming tired of his pose,
patted the little cage on his waist, and the young man—with a ‘whoosh’ sound effect—disappeared...
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