"Ah, it's really awkward that I haven't even met Brother Si'er yet, and he's already been blamed for such a big mess. I feel terrible about it!" Du Ke blinked apologetically, while Thirteen snorted loudly, casting a sideways glance at Cat.
Cat, oh Cat, everything about you is fine, except sometimes your shamelessness is just too much.
And in the perception of those who know the roots of the Spirit Cats, the Four Great Mysterious Cats each have their own personalities and principles, as well as their own labels!
Like Moon Shadow Black Eyes Golden Tiger, it's meant for suppressing evil and protecting the area. Chi Yu Xiao Fei Lian, on the other hand, is naturally noble, refusing to mingle with the worldly, untainted by mud, and unpolluted by clear water.
As for the Four-eared Brocade Thief, it's known for its thievery across the land, capable of stealing anything.
Now, the Supervisor found the paw print of a cat in the treasure house, the hole in the ceiling adorned with jewels, and the altar forcibly opened. All these pieces of evidence pointed in his mind to the most cunning of the Four Great Mysterious Cats, the Four-eared Brocade Thief.
"Supervisor, could it be that the Four-eared Brocade Thief came to retaliate because those people took the elixirs?"
A Taoist priest approached the Supervisor, speaking softly, and the Supervisor responded with a tone of hatred, "If it's not the case, then what else could it be?"
"Leaving aside other things, just think about the hole in the dome. Only the Four-eared Brocade Thief could do that."
"The most famous skill of the Four-eared Brocade Thief is its innate ability called 'Heaven and Earth in the Belly,' where it can contain everything within its belly."
"I reckon that cursed cat used this ability to swallow soil and stones, digging its way into our treasure house from above!"
At this point, the old Taoist pounded his chest and stomped his foot.
"Supervisor, if this cat came to retaliate against us, won't those people who took the elixirs be in danger?"
Another Taoist priest spoke up, looking extremely nervous.
However, the Supervisor sneered, "Hmph, even if that cat has god-like abilities, it absolutely cannot take away those elixirs!"
"On the Master Brother's side, there's a pouch given by the Five Great Gods personally, and those elixirs are inside that pouch."
"Even if that thieving cat is extremely skilled, it's impossible for it to steal Master Brother's personal pouch!"
With that, the old Taoist and Thirteen exchanged a glance.
This old Taoist is really honest; he dares to say such things in front of them.
What?
Du Ke and the others are currently invisible, and the Taoist priests can't see them?
Oh, then that's fine!
"Supervisor, what should we do next?"
"You few stay here and patrol the surroundings at all times. Don't let anything else go missing from the treasure house!"
As the Supervisor spoke, he also looked with heartfelt distress at the empty ground not far away.
That's their accumulation from Wutong Temple for a century, all gone now!
Thinking about this made the old Taoist feel like he wanted to vomit blood. With a flick of his sleeve, he turned and left directly.
"I'll go see Master Brother and report the situation here to him!"
"Yes!"
As the Supervisor left, the rest of the Taoist priests remained in the treasure house. Du Ke, seeing this, urged Thirteen to follow the Supervisor.
Supervisor left the treasure vault in haste, heading towards the residence of the Wutong Temple's Master along the corridor outside the vault. Du ke and Thirteen followed leisurely behind.
The underground palace beneath the Wutong Temple was equally luxurious as the one above. The corridor was illuminated by glass lamps paired with night pearls.
Using glass lamps to encircle the night pearls, the soft glow emitted by the night pearls spread through the corridor, creating a gentle ambiance.
In this corridor, night pearls were placed at intervals, each about five steps away.
"It seems like we didn't take enough," Du ke remarked quietly to Thirteen, looking at the night pearls on the walls. Thirteen nodded in agreement.
Indeed, they took too little. Given the nature of the Supervisor, anything left untouched in the treasure vault would be considered a loss, and yet they didn't even take a quarter of it.
"Well, if we had more time, I would have looted everything!" Du ke sighed, and Thirteen, along with Supervisor, continued walking through the underground palace's corridor.
Though the lamps were always lit in the palace, the path was intricate. Following Supervisor, the cat-dog duo had already made seven or eight turns.
As Supervisor hurried forward, his robe sleeves swayed with each step.
Suddenly, amidst one of the corridors, a loud explosion echoed. The unexpected sound startled Thirteen, causing him to jump a meter high, narrowly avoiding hitting the ceiling.
After landing, Thirteen quickly looked at Du ke. "Don't look at me; I haven't detonated any Sun Essence Pills. It's not my doing!"
Du ke shook his head repeatedly, indicating it wasn't him.
If they accidentally set off those Sun Essence Pills and collapsed the palace, they would be buried alive here.
On the other hand, Supervisor, with a face like a black pot, quickened his pace at the sound of the explosion.
"Senior Brother!"
Following Supervisor into an alchemy room, he complained, "Why weren't you at the Wutong Divine Furnace overseeing the Wutong Divine Fire? Instead, you're here practicing alchemy."
The one scolded by Supervisor was a plump old man in a purple-golden Daoist robe, wearing a crown of pearls and jade. At this moment, his complexion was dark, and he coughed up black smoke.
His robe was also blackened, and in front of him was an exploded alchemy furnace, with thick smoke billowing out. Uncongealed medicinal liquid splattered all over the walls.
"I'm just practicing a bit to prepare for the upcoming celestial phenomenon of the celestial dog devouring the moon!" The plump Daoist wiped his face with a wet towel handed by a disciple, who also helped clean his robe.
The strange thing about this robe was that despite being blackened, wiping it with a wet cloth made the black stains disappear instantly.
Du ke couldn't help but stick out his tongue at just one glance.
This robe, despite being blackened in an instant by the furnace, remained undamaged and the stains wiped away effortlessly. It was because the material of this robe was the same as the current emperor's dragon robe.
Du ke had read in a miscellaneous record that the dragon robe of the Eternal Heavenly Dynasty's emperor was crafted using a special technique. The fabric used for the dragon robe was impervious to water and fire, impervious to swords and spears, and incredibly thin and breathable.
Cleaning it was extremely cumbersome, requiring at least twelve steps and nearly a month to complete just one wash. However, such special fabric was extremely rare and precious, rarely seen outside the imperial palace.
Yet, the robe worn by the Wutong Temple Master was made of the same fabric as the dragon robe.
It seemed that what those Taoist priests had said was indeed true.
Wutong Temple was nothing more than a den of thieves supported by the powerful figures of this world.
Otherwise, this kind of fabric would never have appeared on the body of this fat old Taoist.
"Senior brother, you have no talent in alchemy, this was personally spoken by the Wutong Great God. You shouldn't waste the precious herbs we have left in Wutong Temple!"
Upon hearing the Supervisor's words, the Wutong Temple Master's expression changed, immediately furrowing his brows. "What happened?"
"Earlier, there was an inexplicable tremor inside the temple, so I sent disciples to investigate. But unexpectedly, the Ji Zi Shen Wu Altar had been dug open."
"I found a thief hole there, afraid that the underground palace might be in trouble, I went to the treasury. As a result, our treasury has been severely looted, with initial estimates suggesting a loss of at least a billion gold yuan!"
As the Supervisor spoke, the Wutong Temple Master casually remarked, "Oh, I thought something important had happened, it's just this!"
"Senior brother, is this not a big deal?"
The Supervisor stomped anxiously, shattering the floor tiles into dust.
"Some external belongings are lost, so what? If they're stolen, they're stolen." The Wutong Temple Master waved his hand indifferently, then squatted in front of the exploded alchemy furnace, reaching out to touch the residue of medicinal materials on the furnace wall.
"Junior brother, why do you think my pill furnace exploded?"
The Wutong Temple Master pondered, gathering the remnants of pill residue on his fingertips to sniff, then extending his tongue to taste.
"I clearly followed the steps in the alchemy book, heating the furnace for three-quarters of an hour until the temperature reached the point of dripping water, and then adding the main medicine..."
Before the Wutong Temple Master could finish, the Supervisor kicked the exploded furnace, sending it flying.
The furnace crashed into the wall, embedding itself within, while the entire alchemy room trembled violently.
"Senior brother!!!"
The Supervisor roared lowly, "We have thieves in the house!"
"So what? Any problems will be solved by the Wutong Great God!"
The expression of the Wutong Temple Master remained indifferent, in stark contrast to the distressed Supervisor.
One was consumed by impatience, with a twisted face, while the other remained calm, with a serene expression.
"But..."
"In the treasure vault, no matter how many treasures there are, they all belong to the assets of the Wutong Great Gods. From the Wutong Temple Master to you and me, all the disciples are theirs!"
"The treasure vault has been robbed, and even the main deity is not in a hurry. Why are you in such a hurry?"
The Wutong Temple Master patted the shoulder of the Supervisor and shook his head, saying, "Junior Brother, you're too anxious!"
The Wutong Temple Master walked out of the alchemy room, singing, "Life is just a big dream, why bother about true and false, right and wrong too much."
"Contentment brings happiness, contentment brings happiness!"
Listening to the singing of the Wutong Temple Master, Duke raised an eyebrow. "This old man is quite carefree and broad-minded."
"Huh?"
Thirteen exclaimed, Duke smiled, patted Thirteen, and glanced at the Supervisor. "You'll understand later."
"All right, let's follow that old man!"
"As for the Supervisor, we won't bother with him!"
"For me, this old man is no different from a dead person!"
Duke glanced at the Supervisor, coldly chuckled. Carrying his day essence pill, this old man is really bold!
While Thirteen and Duke walked out of the alchemy room, the Supervisor stomped on the entire floor tiles of the room, roaring, "Wutong Ming!"
Just as the Supervisor roared, the two alchemy apprentices in the room, without any warning, spewed blood and collapsed, lifeless on the ground.
They were unexpectedly killed by the residual force when the Supervisor stomped the ground.
Outside the alchemy room, Duke had already walked a considerable distance with the Wutong Temple Master. Hearing the low roar behind him, Cat laughed, "Thirteen, this is like the emperor not being anxious while the eunuch is anxious!"
"Heh!"
Little Ha chuckled, tail swaying a few times, obviously very much in agreement with what Duke said.
"I don't know what the Wutong Temple Master is up to. I hope he takes the bag containing the child out on his own, so I don't have to steal it again!"
Duke looked at the fat old man strolling ahead and sighed.
Meanwhile, the old man walked out of the corridor and entered an extremely spacious hall.
In this hall, there stood a colossal alchemical furnace, towering over ten meters high, with five-colored flames rolling and burning endlessly.
As Thirteen carried Duke into the underground hall where the colossal alchemical furnace was located, the white cat's body shook.
At the same time, Duke also instinctively looked at the massive alchemical furnace in front of him. While being shocked and unable to contain it, he muttered, "The Black Cauldron actually reacted to external things for the first time!"
"Why is this happening?"
In Duke's other line of sight, the flames inside the Black Cauldron erupted like a volcanic explosion. At the same time, the Black Cauldron itself trembled incessantly.
It seemed to be reminding Duke that something attracting it was nearby.