"Space mirror, open a passage in front of the immortal manager's house."
Under the curious gaze of the three, a scenery appeared on the mirror.
It was like a picture, with an old lady in a blue robe, similar to the old manager, who was on a chair made of clouds.
The chair, the table in front of her, the ground, and the walls of the big hall that she was in were made out of white clouds.
The rays of sunshine coming in from the cloudy ceiling made the whole scenery look like a picture.
Little mortal knocked on the mirror,
"I said in front of her house, not inside the house like last night!"
The mirror vibrated as if saying something.
"There is no door?
How can I knock then?"
He looked around to see if anyone had any idea.
And saw that the scholar was in a trance just from looking at this lady!
It wasn't the first time for the scholar seeing a passage opening to other places in the cultivation world.
But this one was opened to the immortal world, and not some random place; instead, the place with the will of the immortal world resting inside!
And the other party seems to be completely unaware of the passage not far away from her!
The old manager said,
"Do you want me to just call her over?
She won't mind if she sees it's me."
Little mortal looked at him with disappointment.
Then he shook his head and went to his backpack.
The old manager looked around to see if anyone knew what had disappointed him.
But the scholar was still mesmerized by the old lady, and it needed some time to turn back to normal, while the wise turtle was smiling at him as if she didn't even hear anything.
The old manager thought,
'I didn't say anything bad, right?'
Little mortal patted the backpack,
"Send out a door."
A wooden door came out.
Little mortal kicked the door away before kicking the backpack again,
"A decent door!"
The backpack trembled when it got kicked harder, and sent out a fancy door this time.
It was a door with a silver frame, and a blue sky as a background with some white clouds.
Little mortal picked it up, went to the other side of the passage, put it down silently, and stood behind it.
He even gave a side glance filled with disappointment at the old manager again before knocking on the door.
The old manager only now understood what made him disappointed!
Lack of manners?
If there is no door to knock on, then bring one with you?
This little boy's politeness is at another level...
On the other side of the passage, the old lady who suddenly heard a knocking sound, jolted awake and unconsciously said,
"Who is it?"
And heard a kid's voice that comes from somewhere close to her,
"It's me, Mortal.
I sent you an invitation letter for my guardian ceremony.
But you couldn't come because of technical difficulties.
So I come after you personally."
The immortal manager, who was thoroughly awake now, looked around to see where this sound was coming from, and her eyes widened in shock!
There was a big door beside her that she didn't even know when it appeared, and in front of her on the table was actually an invitation letter, which she never knew about, or who put it there!
She looked around more carefully, to see if it was her own place or if she had suddenly appeared in another place.
And sure enough, it was her own place...
She leaned backward in her chair to see what was behind the door, and when she saw what it was, she didn't know how to react.
First, she saw a little boy, barely one meter tall, standing behind the door, waiting politely while looking at the door to be opened.
Behind him, there was a passage.
On the other side of the passage, three people were present, with one of them in the second round of 'trance', as he had seen the immortal lady with open eyes this time. The other two people, who were fine, were also looking at her.
The good thing was that she at least knew one of the three people.
Her old friend, the will of the Cultivation world.
She tried to send him a spiritual message to ask what's going on, that naturally didn't work because little mortal was standing there.
So she tried to signal him with her eyes.
The old manager, with a bitter smile, wrote a sentence with white clouds in front of him,
[ He is the one I told you about.
Cooperate with him, please.]
The immortal manager understood everything in a moment,
'So, he is the troublemaker who ruined our plan?
And took down my people who went to the cultivation world?'
She took a deep breath, picked up the letter, and opened the door.
She looked at the little boy with doubt.
'He is just a mortal...? And even his name is Mortal?'
Little mortal cupped his hands and bowed a little,
"Hello, Immortal manager.
I'm mortal, nice to meet you."
The immortal manager didn't know why, but her first impression of this little unknown boy was a good one,
"Nice to meet you."
"Immortal Manager, please bring the immortal Planet guardian and his special force team with you; we need them for the second step of my plan."
The immortal manager blinked a couple of times and asked,
"I don't have any guardian on my side, and there aren't even many people left...
And what plan are we talking about here?"
When she heard the word 'guardian', she became interested!
She received a message from a 'colleague' with a higher position about this title, but she didn't know who the other party was.
The message, though, was vague.
It was about gathering all the immortals and then taking over the cultivation planet with her 'guardian'.
And the guardian in that letter was a 'temporary guardian', who could only be chosen between the strongest immortals for emergencies,
Like the situation they were in.
The two planets were separated from the source of spiritual energy, and now they were dying.
Especially in the cultivation world that the process was a lot faster because it had too many strong living creatures consuming it's leftover spirit energy.
But their plan failed before it even started.
They couldn't bring the 'immortals' from the other side to her side, and choose a temporary guardian due to a certain little boy's interference, and then see what's next after selecting a temporary guardian.
And now this little boy came directly to her place as if it were his own backyard, and talking about guardian, special force, and the second step of his plan as if he knew everything...
Little mortal raised his eyebrow as if he was surprised,
"So you don't have any guardian?
Hmm, it's fine, I heard some seniors are still around?
You can bring three or four of them over with you; it's fine either way.
You need one of them to represent your side as its guardian, one with the most muscle, one with the highest knowledge, and the rest doesn't matter."
The immortal manager furrowed her brow, looked at her old friend, who wrote another sentence,
[ I'm clueless about everything, do whatever he asks for, or we will be in trouble...]
After a brief moment of contemplation, she nodded.
If her old colleague says, 'We will be in trouble,' it means he is talking about both of them, not just himself.
While wondering what was so dangerous about this little, polite boy, she called the four remaining people of her world to come.
A moment later, the group of four immortals who had been with her in this place the last time emerged from the clouds underneath.
She was going to choose a group of 3 people and send one of them back, but,
The red-haired man was the one to speak first,
"What now?"
The immortal manager felt angry just from hearing this guy's voice!
Little mortal, as if didn't like his attitude either, furrowed his brow and said,
"Where is your manners, young man?
Is this how you speak to your Planet manager?"
The crowd stopped in their tracks!
They looked down and saw that it was a little boy who had just commented.
Behind him, to their shock, there was a passage to another place with three other people, one of whom was a familiar face, who were looking at them with interest!
The familiar face was naturally the Scholar.
But they first needed to figure out what's going on and who the kid is.
A Mortal?
In front of a passage, probably connected to their old hometown?
Nothing made sense from what they were looking at!
The red-haired man, who was shocked to see the people on the other side and found out that it was a passage to his birthplace, the cultivation world, moved towards the passage while throwing a kick to push the kid who spoke to him out of the way.
"I'll go take a look at the other side!"
The crowd was speechless from his action!
The immortal manager was going to kick this guy away, but thought to herself that it was a good opportunity to test this little mortal boy with an unknown origin.
And so, a familiar scene for some people on the other side of the passage played once more.
Little mortal squatted down, performing a sweep kick, then kicked the guy's face, which was now horizontally in front of him the same way he had intended to kick him.
He knocked the guy out just like that, patted his cage, which no one had noticed until now, and the guy disappeared.
The expression on everyone's face on this side of the passage changed to one of shock, while those on the side of the cultivation world changed to one of understanding, as if it were an inevitable outcome.
The smile on the immortal manager's face froze...
Now she understood what her old friend meant by saying, 'We will be in trouble!'
Even she didn't know how this unruly guy was knocked out so easily and disappeared!
Little Mortal looked at the immortal manager and said,
"I took care of the bandit in your group, don't worry."
The immortal manager cleared her throat and used the same way of sending a message as the old manager to tell the newcomers what to do, while at the same time answering,
"Alright, we are ready. Thank you for taking care of the bandit, fellow Daoist mortal."
And at the same time, she wrote a sentence behind her made of clouds,
[We will listen to him for now to see what's going on.]
Then she erased the sentence, turned to the three immortals, and said,
"You can go to the other side for the guardian ceremony."
Little mortal looked at her in confusion,
"You should come too!"
But she shook her head, walked to the passage, and while touching it with her hand said,
"Us world's will can never leave the world we are born in."
And her hand hit the empty space, but didn't go through, like an invisible barrier was there preventing her from passing through the passage!
Little mortal who saw the three immortals walk to the other side and start talking to the people there, scratched his head and knocked on the guardian token hanging on his waist,
"Mr. Token, what's the problem here?"
The mechanical voice of the token sounded,
[ Permission is needed from the solar system manager to allow the Planet managers to meet.]
Little mortal said in an impatient tone,
"Take it then!
Didn't we see him when we got here?
Couldn't you have taken the permission before?"
The token answered,
[ The solar system manager is currently in an unstable condition due to the solar system's incomplete state.
Waking him up in the past would risk the bet between the two planets, and he probably couldn't wake up for a second time today.
It was -]
Little mortal interrupted it,
"Okay, okay, I get it!
Just say his battery is low...
Can you ask him to give the permission now, then?"
The guardian token voice sounded,
[ Connecting to Solar system manager...]
Little mortal smiled apologetically at the immortal manager, who had heard so much interesting information just now, and couldn't wait to ask,
"Guardian mortal, can you explain in detail about what you were talking about just now?"
Little mortal looked at her with eyes wide open,
"What did you just call me?"
The immortal manager said as a matter of fact,
"Guardian mortal.
Isn't your guardian ceremony for you to be a guardian?
Was I wrong?"
Little mortal walked to her, held her hand, and said with a friendly smile,
"You, young lady, are so considerate and wise that I'm speechless!
Come, I'll take you anywhere you want.
Who needs permission from some broken manager if a noble lady like yourself wants to go somewhere?"
Then he pulled her hand towards the passage, that the invisible barrier appeared again when the immortal manager got close to it, but he just kicked the barrier, broke it, and accompanied her to the other side until she arrived at her seat...
The immortal manager, while smiling on the surface, was deeply shocked inside.
That barrier was something like a 'law' for them!
It wasn't something to break it with 'power'!
They could only obey its restrictions...
And more importantly, this little boy seems really easy to please...? And he is extremely strong, even though he looks like a real Mortal!
It was at this moment that the guardian token voice sounded again,
[ The permission is granted.
The solar system manager will be here for the bet when the guardian ceremony has been ended.
Be aware that you only have one chance,
Or he will be out of access again.]
The immortal manager and little mortal were speechless!
He is giving us permission?
Do we even need it?
Little mortal shook his head and walked behind a tribune that was in front of the crowd.
The three immortals had a 'fast' conversation with others and already understood the situation.
Now they knew things were complicated and simple at the same time.
They should cooperate with this little boy who suddenly appeared here and let him become 'guardian' and then see what will happen after.
If not, he might beat them up and make them disappear like the example they just saw.
Of the three immortals,
The lady in white was the 'Ice Queen', the master of Snow Goddess, and the Demoness Sect's former sect master.
The man in the scholarly robe was the previous generation of 'Scholar', who left after he chose the current Scholar as the next-generation successor.
And the last one was a man full of muscle, who was a famous cultivator on the body refinement path.
Little Mortal cleared his throat and said,
"Hello, everyone.
Welcome to my guardian ceremony."
The crowd smiled in a friendly way.
He turned to the Immortal Manager,
"And a special welcome to Immortal Manager,
and her companions for taking the trouble to come to our humble planet for this ceremony."
Immortal Manager nodded while smiling.
This little boy was becoming increasingly likable in her eyes, even though he seemed unpredictable.
Little Mortal took out his notebook and opened it.
After flipping through some pages, he stopped and started reading,
"For today's ceremony, we have three events.
Please pay attention."
The crowd, while it felt weird, listened to him carefully.
They could only see a head behind the tribune...
"For our first event, the Cultivation Manager needs to confirm that I have completed all the conditions for obtaining the guardian position,
and before I become the guardian,
I will explain to our guests from the immortal planet how the 'bet' works.
For our second event, we invite the Solar System Manager to witness the bet between the two planets after the first part of the guardian ceremony.
And in the third event, I invite my close friends here, and we all sit down to watch the records of my journey of becoming the guardian alongside the other living beings of the planet."
Then he raised his head,
"If there are any questions, please raise your hand."
The audience had many questions about this vague speech, but they thought it was better to be quiet when there were two big shots in the scene.
So, Immortal Manager raised her hand to represent the group,
"Guardian Mortal, can you explain a little more about the bet with my side?
And why don't we know anything about the guardian position you mentioned?
By the way, some time ago, I received a message to gather the immortals from both worlds and choose a guardian; do you know anything about that?"
Little Mortal nodded,
"For our friends who are new here, first, let me explain the expanse of the universe we are in."
Then he explained what a planet, solar system, galaxy, and universe are.
The crowd nodded in understanding; it was fascinating and shocking to them if it was true, and easy to understand, but hard to imagine how big the universe really was.
It wasn't something to be described by words alone.
When they ascended to the immortal world, it was already shocking to find out it was ten times larger than the cultivation world.
Let alone what this little boy was describing to them.
Little Mortal continued,
"Each planet can have a guardian, but it's not necessary.
However, there is always a manager who is born with the planets that are supposed to contain life in the future, and one manager with the solar system of that planet.
The reason you managers don't know about the guardian position is because the information is hidden from you.
But when I become a guardian, you will naturally remember everything about it.
And about the message, it was probably from the Solar System Manager, that you will meet with him soon.
But the guardian law is under influence, and the information the Solar System Manager sent to you is basically nonsense without him knowing it.
Anything else?"
Immortal Manager asked,
"What is the purpose of the bet?"
"There is something called a Solar System Guardian.
To become one, the planet guardian of a planet from the same solar system should challenge the strongest planet of that solar system and win, in order to become the Solar System Guardian."
"So, Immortal Planet is the strongest planet of our solar system?"
"Correct."
"Then, couldn't you have become the immortal world guardian instead of here from the start?
That way, you could have become the guardian of the strongest planet instead."
Little Mortal shook his head,
"I was going to do that, but that sneaky guy had already taken away all the fighting forces from your side before this solar system was separated from its main universe!
And one of the conditions to become a guardian is to have a bunch of strong followers."
The immortal lady asked in shock,
"Who is the sneaky guy?
And you actually know about the missing creatures on my side?"
Little Mortal said with some resentment in his voice,
"The sneaky guy is this universe parasite.
And I can only guess where your people were taken.
Let's talk about that after my ceremony."
The crowd didn't understand what he meant by 'universe parasite', but he seemed to be dissatisfied with the other party, who took everyone away!
But the name 'universe parasite' that somehow includes everything in existence was scary.
They didn't know if that was just a name or if the scale this so-called parasite could affect was as big as the whole universe they were in.
The Old Manager raised his hand,
"Fellow Daoist Mortal, why do I feel we will all die if I accept you as a guardian?"
They all turned to him!
What kind of question is that all of a sudden?
Little Mortal furrowed his brow and started muttering to himself,
"This old man is the planet manager, so if he 'feels' something, it's either because of the influence of that sneaky guy, or it's really true..."
Then he knocked his token,
"At this distance from the main universe, is he able to influence him to this extent?"
[Negative.]
"Can he activate anything on the planet as a backup plan to stop me?"
[Negative.]
"Is there anything on the planet that is dangerous for us? Something that can be activated automatically?"
[On the surface, nothing.
For a deep scan, I need to be an 'active' guardian token. That requires you, as the owner, to be this planet's guardian.]
Little Mortal tapped the crystal,
"Call Big Sister."
A moment later.
"Little Mortal!
You just hung up on me!
No wait, it was just now for me, but for you it's different, isn't it?"
Little Mortal gasped,
"You are so sharp, Big Sister!
I should be more careful from now on when it comes to you!"
"Hahaha,
Alright, what is it this time?"
"Big Sister,
Sorry to bother you, I have a question."
"Shoot it!"
"As you know, I am recording a movie currently, the one that you wrote the script for.
Now I am in the final scene with the main character becoming the guardian that you already know about!
But I don't want it to be too uneventful and straightforward, you know?
I thought of adding a scene where the planet manager suddenly has an ill omen at the end, and feels that everyone's going to die.
What could be the reason for that?
Nothing realistic comes to my mind."
Big Sister, after a brief moment, said,
"You want it to be close to reality, right?"
Little Mortal said without hesitation,
"Yes, yes!"
"Well, we are talking about that sneaky guy, and your story takes place in his territory.
So I say you can add an 'anti-matter' bomb to the center of the planet, which probably really exists.
That thing can also charge itself easily with solar power and become more destructive over time.
I remember him buying a bunch of them in the past."
Little Mortal's eyes shone excitedly,
"Big Sister, your idea is the best!
Bye!"
And before she could say anything, he hung up!
From the conversation, the crowd could only hear him talking.
But they couldn't hear the voice of this so-called
'Big Sister'.
There was only some 'murmur' with a weird feeling of being entertained for no reason!
They thought to themselves,
'Who was he talking to?'
'Is the other party even a real person?
Or does he have some mental problems?'
'And if there is really a 'Big Sister, who is he lying to about this guardian position?'
Us, or his 'Big Sister'?
He pretended he was recording a movie!'
'If it's us that he fools, then it's fine, but if he is even lying to his own family...'
Little Mortal, who had acted excitedly a moment ago, turned serious,
"Old Manager, do you see anything out of place in the planet's core?"
The Old Manager closed his eyes as if he were concentrating.
A while later, he furrowed his brow,
"Nothing except a small place that I can't see what's in there in the planet's core."
"How small?"
"It can fit in your fist."
"My fist, or your fist?"
"Yours."
Little Mortal gasped,
"That's it!
Guardian Token, be ready to lock onto the anti-matter bomb after I become the planet guardian."
The crowd's hearts skipped a beat,
'Bomb!'
The token's voice sounded,
[It is suggested to deal with the danger now.]
But Little Mortal snorted stubbornly.
"Don't want to.
I have business there later; I'll go there and take care of both at the same time."
Then he looked at the crowd, some of whom were gazing at the passage, as if they were considering running away...
"Okay, everyone, let's begin the first event.
And don't worry about the anti-matter bomb,
I will take care of it."
The Immortal Manager raised her hand,
"Guardian Mortal, can you at least explain what an anti-matter bomb is?
Just so we can enjoy your vast knowledge."
Little Mortal smiled,
"You, long lady, are so polite that I wonder if you are from around here or my old hometown...
Alright, let me explain."
Immortal Manager smiled and thought these people are scared of him for no reason.
Look how reasonable he is!
"First, what is 'matter'?"
He pointed at the new Scholar, the immortal version.
He answered,
"Everything around us?"
Little Mortal nodded,
"Exactly.
Now, what is anti-matter?
It's the opposite of matter, with a reverse charge.
How is it made?
It is made in places like the sun after each explosion on its surface.
But the amount of it is too little.
To have a fist-sized amount of anti-matter, you should gather it for billions of years, and not with normal means, but with specific devices, like the one at the center of the planet, which was already filled by it and is even charging itself using the sun of this solar system.
Now, what is dangerous about it?
Well,
A collision between anti-matter and the same amount of matter leads to their mutual annihilation.
Anti-matter bombs are made for this purpose.
They contain an equal amount of matter and anti-matter to be ready and explode in times of 'need'.
The one placed in the planet's core, with its fist size,
should be enough to destroy everything."
The Old Manager, already covered in cold sweat, asked with a trembling voice,
"B-by everything, y-you mean the whole planet?"
The crowd gulped and looked at the passage again.
If it were the whole planet, it was better to take their leave.
But Little Mortal shook his head,
and they sighed in relief;
It seemed it's not that strong.
But his answer made them turn pale the next moment and lose all hope.
"By everything, I mean the whole solar system.
Our planet, the immortal planet, the sun, and those couple of big rocks floating in outer space."
The crowd,
"-_-"
Why are things escalating so fast with everything related to this little monster?