"Hahaha, my old bones wouldn't be able to keep up," Erioh Kure laughed, waving his hand dismissively. "It's getting late. Our young friend has traveled a long way, and our clan cannot be accused of neglecting our guests. How about you rest and join us for dinner tonight? Tomorrow, I will personally arrange for some of our top fighters to spar with you."
"Then I won't politely decline. Though I should warn you in advance, I have quite an appetite," Lu Li replied with a smile.
He knew perfectly well that building a relationship required patience. He hadn't come here to wipe out the Kure Clan; he came here to steal their secret techniques. Giving the Patriarch some face was necessary.
Furthermore, despite being a family of ruthless assassins, the Kure Clan strictly adhered to a strong code of conduct and deeply respected true power. Having openly defeated Raian in a fair duel, it was practically impossible for them to resort to underhanded, dishonorable tactics against him.
He highly doubted they would try to poison his food. However, they might still try to "test" him with an assassination attempt just for fun.
"There's still some time before dinner, and I have clan matters to attend to. I won't be able to accompany you just yet..." Erioh's gaze swept over the remaining crowd before settling on Fusui. "Fusui. Show our young friend around the compound. Remember, he is an esteemed guest of the Kure Clan. Ensure he is not bothered by anyone."
Fusui immediately nodded, her heart still pounding wildly. Just a minute ago, she had genuinely thought her bastard brother was going to be beaten to death.
With the battle over and the Patriarch having issued his orders, the gathered Kure members rapidly dispersed. Soon, only Lu Li and Fusui remained in the Dojo.
"Please follow me, Mr. Lu. I'll show you around. The clan estate is quite expansive," Fusui said, taking the lead.
"It truly is massive. Assassination really is a highly lucrative business..." Lu Li mused.
Not only did the Kure Clan secretly govern an entire city, but their core family estate was absolutely gigantic. It was constructed entirely in traditional Japanese architecture, utilizing premium, luxury materials. Aside from the massive indoor Dojo they had just left, there were numerous outdoor training grounds. Even with the sun currently setting, dozens of Kure members were still sparring intensely outside.
"Well, it's not entirely from assassinations. We also have many highly legitimate corporate partnerships..." Fusui hesitated for a moment before continuing softly, "Um... thank you."
Lu Li looked slightly confused before realizing what she meant. "Oh, no need to thank me. I told you, I didn't come here to kill anyone. Even if you hadn't yelled, I wouldn't have struck his throat."
Honestly, even if he had killed Raian during the duel, given the Kure Clan's culture, they likely wouldn't have retaliated too heavily. It was a fair, consensual duel, and Lu Li had visibly pulled his punches several times before the final exchange.
However, his primary goal was to acquire the Removal technique. If he butchered the clan's undisputed prodigy right in front of them, his chances of smoothly "exchanging martial arts" would drop to zero.
As Lu Li was pondering exactly how to bring up his proposed "exchange" during dinner, his combat instincts suddenly flared. Well, that was fast. They're already testing their assassination arts on me? Interesting.
He violently pivoted sideways, flawlessly dodging a strike aimed at his back. In the exact same motion, his hand shot out like a viper, perfectly seizing the attacker by the throat before they could retreat into the shadows.
As his fingers clamped down, Lu Li instinctively applied pressure. But the soft, delicate sensation against his palm wasn't what he expected. He froze for a microsecond.
In that single microsecond of hesitation, a pair of long, bandage-wrapped legs wrapped tightly around his waist and hooked securely over his shoulders. Simultaneously, the attacker reached forward, gripping the collar of his shirt and violently pulling herself intimately close to him.
Bathed in the faint, crimson light of the setting sun, Lu Li finally saw his attacker.
It was a teenage girl, roughly sixteen or seventeen years old. She was wearing a standard sailor-style high school uniform. She had long, deep purple hair, and on her pretty face, a pair of pitch-black eyes with stark white pupils practically glowed with unadulterated excitement.
"I want to have your babies!" the girl declared passionately.
Lu Li: ???
Operating entirely on pure combat instinct, his grip tightened slightly, causing the girl's face to immediately flush red from the lack of oxygen.
"Mr. Lu, wait! Don't!" Fusui screamed in absolute panic. "That's the Patriarch's great-granddaughter!"
Thud—
Lu Li didn't apply the lethal force necessary to snap the girl's fragile neck. Instead, he simply tossed her aside, casually throwing her into the wooden wall of the corridor.
Karla Kure didn't exhibit a single ounce of fear despite having just dangled over the precipice of death. Coughing twice, she immediately hopped back to her feet, completely ignoring Fusui's attempt to help her up. Her eyes burned with even brighter excitement as she stared at Lu Li.
"Grandpa always said it was the absolute duty of the main family to produce the strongest possible offspring!" Her intense gaze swept up and down Lu Li's muscular frame. "Lu Li! You're incredibly strong! I'm Karla Kure! Please become my husband!"
Lu Li's brain was currently suffering a catastrophic logic error. It took him two full seconds to reboot from the sheer absurdity of the situation.
He knew who Karla Kure was. She was Erioh's great-granddaughter, and a peerless genius in her own right. At such a young age, she could already sustain an 85% Removal rate.
But this high school girl had a deeply bizarre psychological obsession with breeding with powerful men. In the original storyline, she had fallen violently in love with Ohma Tokita at first sight and relentlessly stalked him throughout the tournament.
I severely miscalculated...
Lu Li had completely forgotten it was currently summer vacation in Japan. It was entirely logical for Karla, who normally attended high school in Tokyo, to be back home in the Kure Village. And he had just publicly demonstrated absolute, overwhelming dominance over Raian right in front of her...
Lu Li rubbed his temples with his left hand. He extended his right arm straight out, palm facing forward like a traffic cop. "Hold on. Stop right there. Do not jump at me."
He had absolutely zero interest in getting intimately involved with an underage girl in a Mission World. That was highly problematic on so many levels.
Women will only slow down the speed at which I draw my blade!
Lu Li dropped his hand. He completely released his suffocating aura and killing intent, letting it crash over the girl. "Do not come any closer. If you jump at me again, you won't just hit the wall."
He figured physically intimidating the little girl would surely make her back off.
But Karla's ambush suddenly made him realize a severe flaw in his plan. If he successfully negotiated an exchange with the Kure Clan... would they try to attach some utterly deranged, unhinged breeding clause to the contract?
The Kure Clan actively sought out the strongest martial artists in the world to "borrow their seed" and optimize their bloodline. That was how they maintained their dominance.
Thinking about it deeply, an incredibly powerful, young, handsome martial artist strolling into their village was basically a walking sperm bank. My virginity might actually be in severe, imminent danger!
"Lu Li! Let's go make babies right now!"
While Lu Li was lost in his paranoid thoughts, Karla cheered happily. She violently shrugged off her sailor uniform, tossing the clothing into the air and revealing her youthful but highly athletic body underneath, dressed only in a sports bra and spandex shorts. She crouched down, preparing to launch herself directly at Lu Li again.
Thud—
In the next microsecond, Karla's entire world violently spun upside down. She found herself pinned to the wall, suspended by her ankles.
Lu Li massaged his temples, a massive migraine building behind his eyes. He looked over at Fusui. "Exactly how is your clan educating its children?"
Fusui's expression was utterly mortified. She hurried over and pulled Karla down from the wall. "Karla! The Patriarch strictly forbade anyone from bothering Mr. Lu! Calm down!"
"Bothering him? I'm not bothering him! I just want to have his babies!" Karla looked completely innocent and genuinely confused, making the situation even harder for Fusui to handle.
The Kure Clan did indeed possess this bizarre tradition. Frankly, Fusui could perfectly guess the Patriarch's hidden intentions. A monstrous powerhouse like Lu Li had voluntarily walked into their territory; they naturally had to "entertain" him thoroughly.
A man capable of effortlessly crushing Raian had arrived. If the clan couldn't secure his DNA before he left, it would be an unimaginable, tragic loss.
Fusui had even briefly wondered if, since she was currently acting as his guide, the "entertainment" duties tonight would eventually fall to her.
But she definitely hadn't expected Karla to launch such a ridiculously blunt, physical mating assault right in the middle of the hallway.
The current situation was highly volatile. First, Lu Li was visibly deeply repulsed by Karla's aggressive sexual harassment. Second, if news of this reached the Patriarch's ears, it would trigger a massive earthquake within the clan.
Patriarch Erioh Kure was a legendary, absolute, psychotic doting great-grandfather. Everyone in the Kure Clan knew it. If he found out his precious darling Karla was aggressively offering herself to Lu Li, the old man would explode with apocalyptic fury.
"Miss Fusui... I'm feeling a bit hungry. Can we proceed to the dining hall now?" Lu Li abruptly changed the subject.
He didn't practice any ancient "Iron Body Virginity" techniques. However, he had spent his entire life obsessively immersed in martial arts and subsequently driven by a single-minded desire to avenge his master and senior sister. Because of this, he maintained incredibly strict discipline over his personal life.
His master had constantly warned him: in the era ruled by the Megacorporations, interpersonal relationships outside the martial world were a chaotic, morally bankrupt mess. It was the direct result of human nature devolving into animalistic instinct under corporate oppression. A true martial artist must possess absolute control over their desires, otherwise, they were nothing more than a beast.
It wasn't that martial artists couldn't enjoy romance or sex. But it had to be treated seriously, not treated as a chaotic, animalistic urge.
Therefore, Lu Li had always remained highly disciplined. The long, lonely path of martial arts was companionship enough for him. At least, that was what he firmly believed right now.
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