Chapter 15
The entire Dong family manor remained awake throughout the night.
Torches burned brightly.
Guards patrolled everywhere.
Servants walked nervously with pale faces.
And inside the main hall—
the atmosphere was so heavy.
Dong Jihao stood silently with his hands behind his back.
His expression was dark.
Terrifyingly dark.
Finally, he spoke.
"…Report the casualties."
A butler-like servant stepped forward nervously and bowed deeply.
"Sir…"
"Seven guards and three servants suffered light injuries."
"Three guards were heavily injured."
The servant hesitated slightly before continuing.
"And…"
"…four young masters died during the attack."
The hall instantly became colder.
"But…"
The servant swallowed nervously.
"Young Master Dong Ji died the worst painful death."
Dong Jihao's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"The others died instantly."
"Either their hearts were pierced…"
"…or their heads were cut off."
"But Young Master Dong Ji…"
The servant's voice trembled slightly.
"…his throat was stabbed from behind."
"He died slowly from blood loss and suffocation."
Complete silence.
Then murderous rage erupted throughout the hall.
"This is too much!"
"How dare they attack our Dong family!"
"This is not just murder!"
"It's humiliation!"
"They're stepping on the Dong family's face!"
Several elders smashed tables angrily.
Others shouted furiously.
The younger generation looked ready to kill immediately.
Dong Jihao slowly raised his hand.
Instantly the hall quieted.
"From today onward…"
His cold voice echoed throughout the hall.
"…nobody leaves the manor alone."
"Take at least ten to twelve guards at all times."
His eyes became icy.
"And tomorrow… I will force that emperor to give us justice."
The hall members immediately agreed loudly.
Meanwhile inside the Imperial Palace.
In the resting area for eunuchs.
A eunuch leisurely walked beneath the moonlight.
The atmosphere was peaceful.
Quiet.
Then—
a leaf slowly fell from a nearby tree.
And the moment the leaf touched the ground, the eunuch disappeared.
Several minutes later.
Deep within a dark wilderness nearly five hundred meters away from the palace—
a masked man casually threw down a large sack.
"Ugh!"
A person crawled out desperately.
It was the same eunuch who was leisurely walking in palace. He is also highly resembling someone.
Or more accurately—
someone whose face looked almost identical to the assassin captured by the Dong family.
His name was— Iron Balls.
The eunuch crawled backward in fear before finally noticing someone sitting calmly on a large stone nearby.
A refined-looking scholar.
Elegant.
Calm.
Dangerous.
Completely out of place in this wilderness.
Iron Balls felt chills run down his spine.
Still he forced himself to ask:
"Who are you?!"
"Why did you bring me here?!"
He looked around wildly.
"I don't see anyone else!"
"Did you personally carry me here?!"
"How did you even do that?!"
Ryo calmly looked at him.
"You ask too many questions."
Then he smiled slightly.
"But…"
"As i am a magnanimous person…"
"…I'll answer your questions."
The system: "…Host, you kidnapped him."
Ryo ignored the comment.
"Yes. I'm the one who kidnapped you."
"And yes I carried your one hundred and ten kilogram body all the way here."
Iron Balls froze in disbelief.
Ryo continued calmly:
"As for why…"
"My friend told me something interesting about you."
"You come from a family of blacksmiths."
"A family that worked iron for generations."
Ryo's eyes narrowed slightly.
"And you are a genius among them."
Iron Balls' pupils contracted.
"But when you were twelve you were sold to the Dugu family as a slave boy."
The eunuch's face instantly became ugly.
That was a secret almost nobody knew.
"After years of struggle in Dugu family then in palace you finally rose to prominence within the palace."
Ryo smiled lightly.
"But even now you still treat blacksmithing as your greatest hobby."
The system quietly watched.
At this point, it genuinely wondered whether Ryo secretly enjoyed terrifying people psychologically.
Ryo casually continued:
"I only want two things."
"Your blacksmithing knowledge and to make my plan foolproof."
Iron Balls suddenly felt extreme danger.
"You see…"
Ryo rested his chin on one hand calmly.
"…I already used your face to perform assassinations tonight."
Silence.
"And then that fake 'you' died."
Iron Balls' body trembled violently.
"So naturally…"
Ryo smiled gently.
"…the real you must also die."
Horror completely filled Iron Balls' face.
He instantly turned and started running.
"Even if you kill me I won't teach you anything!"
He shouted while running desperately.
"My blacksmithing knowledge is more important than my life!"
Ryo quietly watched him run.
Then his eyes slowly turned blood red.
One tomoe.
Two tomoe.
Three tomoe.
Then—
beautiful six-petaled patterns bloomed within both eyes.
Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Ryo calmly locked onto Iron Balls.
"Plunder."
A mark invisible to normal eyes instantly attached itself to Iron Balls.
Then Ryo casually picked up a sharp stone from the ground.
And threw it.
Puchi!
The stone pierced directly through Iron Balls' skull.
The eunuch collapsed instantly.
Dead.
The moment he died massive amounts of knowledge flooded into Ryo's mind.
Metal forging.
Temperature control.
Weapon crafting.
Alloy balancing.
Imperial furnace designs.
Secret techniques.
Blacksmithing experiences.
Ryo closed his eyes briefly.
Nearly five seconds later—
he finally stabilized himself.
"Fuuuuu…"
Ryo exhaled deeply.
"He really was a genius blacksmith."
Ryo casually muttered:
"If this had been my first time using Plunder, absorbing this much knowledge would've taken over forty minutes."
He stretched slightly.
"But after adapting my body and mind repeatedly even this weak body can tolerate it now."
The system silently admired how casually Ryo discussed stealing an entire lifetime of knowledge from a dead person.
Ryo then looked around calmly.
"Now time to clean the battlefield."
He formed hand seals.
Wood Style.
Trees instantly burst from the earth.
Roots spread rapidly.
Branches twisted around the corpse and bloodstains.
Within moments—
everything disappeared beneath thick vegetation.
The system stared blankly.
Every time it remembered this was supposedly a "low-level world" mission, it wanted to cry for the locals.
Ryo looked at the buried corpse thoughtfully.
Then smiled.
"Iron Balls…Even if you lost your balls, I'd still say you had big balls."
The system: "….."
Ryo looked at the trees seriously.
"So now become nourishment."
"And help these trees grow large round balls ahm i mean fruits."
The system immediately decided not to continue this conversation.
Ryo soon left the area.
And by morning—
only several extra trees remained in the wilderness.
Nothing else.
The next day—
the Dong family assassination became the hottest topic throughout the Imperial City.
Everyone discussed it.
Everyone feared it.
And everyone suspected someone different.
Meanwhile—
inside the Imperial Hall—
the Dong and Dugu families openly argued before all officials.
The atmosphere was explosive.
And during that exact time—
Ryo made his move again.
A Wood Clone silently infiltrated the Dugu residence.
Then—
it killed Dugu Moli.
And Dugu Han.
The clone was quickly discovered afterward.
Unable to escape—
it locked the room from inside.
Then used Fire Style.
The entire building burned fiercely.
From outside—
people only understood one thing:
The assassin killed Dugu Moli and Dugu Han…
then burned himself alive after failing to escape.
But after the fire was extinguished—
the investigators found something strange.
Inside the room were only two burned corpses.
And—
a vaguely human-shaped piece of burning wood.
The moment the Dong and Dugu families heard this news—
the entire Imperial Court exploded into chaos.
With this incident the Dong and Dugu families become enemies of life and death.
Chapter End