(MC POV)

I looked down at the Dong's capital city, or at least what I believed to be the Dong's capital city.

Last I remembered, the city wasn't this ruined when I left it.

There were collapsed buildings all around and a few were still left burning with no signs of being put out.

The dead and injured littered the streets, some people tried to help while others were blatantly looting them. There were scattered fights all around with the few guards left trying desperately to maintain order.

The palace itself had multiple holes in the roofs and a part of it looked to be burnt down from an uncontrolled fire, the entire section charred black.

I also noticed a giant crater in the centre of the city that looked like the aftermath of a giant explosion. I wonder what could have caused that?

Deciding to try and figure out what happened here, I flew around the area for a while, just to see what else I could find. But other than seeing the city in a really sorry state, there did not seem to be anything else that is of significance.

Is the king dead though?

I activated my invisibility Technique and floated down into one of the holes in the palace roof. When I came here, the air was thick with all the gold and splendor, obviously to impress their visitors and cower them into submission.

Now the only thing that is prominent is the smell of death and despair.

I flew into the throne room where I remembered doing my best to piss off the king with great success.

From my experience with that runaway prince of Dong, I actually thought the new king would be just as much of an ass as he was or maybe he even returned here to get the crown back.

The king turned out to be some middle aged man that I don't even remember the name of, but I knew he was only a figurehead for someone else by how he kept consulting the cloaked man beside the throne during our meeting.

I did not like how the cloaked guy was eyeing me either but it didn't seem like anyone knew who I actually was.

In this case, I'm not sure if the frog in the well applies to us, them, or both.

Anyway, not like the king will be an issue now. What, with the giant pillar that fell right on top of the throne and the blood all around it, he probably has other things to worry about at the moment.

The main issue is the cloaked guy though, not sure if he died under that pillar too but something tells me he didn't.

I flew through the palace, ignoring the soldiers who are busy with trying to restore order around the place with limited success since their king is now out of commission.

My main target was the cloaked guy, which I had a pretty good guess on where he actually was.

I remembered hearing strange sounds during my stay in the guest rooms of the castle, like someone was trying to listen or peek on me from another room.

Making my way to the guest rooms, I found all of the doors opened save for one particular room. Upon closer inspection, an eerie green light was emanating from underneath the door.

The room that was beside mine when I stayed here.

Bingo.

I crept closer to it, activating an inscription that would allow me to listen in on what was going on behind the door.

"I assure you, my lord, everything I said is true… No… Yes, I am sure… It will take time…"

Yep, definitely the cloaked guy alright.

I released my invisibility Technique and braced myself on a foot, kicking the door down with a loud bang.

"Room service!" I joked, barging into the room.

The cloaked man was so surprised he actually tripped over the chair he had been sitting on to tumble onto the floor comically.

There was a small portal in the room that was giving out the eerie green light, the portal itself showing another cloaked man that this one was no doubt speaking to.

"Oh sorry, was I interrupting something? My bad," I apologised insincerely.

"The Beiyang envoy!" The cloaked man on the ground screeched. "How did you get here?! You're supposed to be locked in the Prison Fortress!"

"How? I walked out of there of course," I answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Bastard!" He roared, pointing his palm at me.

A black bolt of lightning shot out from his palm directly towards my chest.

The lightning fizzled out of existence before it could even reach half the distance, which was odd because it did not even reach my shield.

"Damned Dongs and their stupid barrier!" He cursed, reaching into his sleeve to pull out a knife.

I raised my hands, "Woah, no need to get violent right, buddy? I'm your room service!"

"You damned bastard! You tricked me!"

"Woah, you still angry about that? Hey, not my fault the head maid wasn't into you and the butler was gay."

"You embarrassed me in front of the whole court!"

"Technically, you did that to yourself."

"Bastard!!"

Mmhmm, this guy was too easy. When I knew the person controlling the strings was this guy, I made an ass out of him and he basically told the king to throw me in jail. I didn't even need to do much for that to happen too.

He lunged at me but I sidestepped his slow attack easily to peer at the portal.

"Hey! This your boss? What's up? Dong looks to be in a mess here, just to let you know. Whole city is ruined."

The figure in the portal growled, "Master Lin… I should have known."

I smiled, "Oh, you know me?"

The cloaked man tried to stab me from behind but I tripped him, letting him fall onto the ground.

The figure ignored his subordinate, "You've obstructed our summoning of the great Mother. We have yet to pay you back for that."

I waved my hand at him, "You Dark Sect people just don't know when to quit. I literally beat back your person of worship and you still think it's a good idea to antagonise me?"

"A stroke of luck, nothing more."

Hmm… I have to admit that if it weren't for those busybodies showing up, I may have been in trouble, but there's no way they'll know that.

The cloaked guy tried to stab me again but this time I grabbed him by the wrist, stopping his overhead stab.

I pulled his hand downwards and stabbed his own knife in his abdomen, the man gasping out in shock.

I twisted the knife and pulled it out, shoving him away to leave him bleeding out on the ground.

"That's the problem with you Dark Sect people, sticking your nose into all sorts of unnecessary places," I sighed, tossing the bloodied knife away.

He growled at me, "No, Master Lin, it is you who keeps sticking your nose where it does not belong. Everything would have been fine if you didn't show up. Mark my words, the Dark Sect would always find--"

"Sorry? What was that? You're breaking up… I can't…"

I slashed my hand through the portal, severing its connection and destroying it.

These people really do talk too much.

Oh well, that should sever the stupid Dark Sect's connection with the Dong's hierachy, maybe it'll allow them to stand up for themselves or something, I don't know.

I've got more important things to deal with like checking up on my cute disciples.

"Hurry up! We need to get medicine to the King before he passes out again!" A voice shouted from the corridor.

Hmmm? So that guy's still alive huh? Well, none of my business anyway.

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