"General!"
"General!!"
"General!!!"
The old man pulling the cart suddenly mustered a burst of energy from who knows where, and started shouting with all his might at the cats and dogs passing by him.
"Could it be General right before my eyes?"
"Could it be the Divine Cat General?"
Amidst the shouts full of exhaustion, the donkey spirit with the long face flashing anger and impatience in his eyes, whip held in hand, "You damn old slave, spewing nonsense again?"
The donkey spirit raised his whip up high and lashed down fiercely towards the old man.
But right as the whip was about to land, the donkey spirit realized his whip was somehow unable to come down.
Not only that, an extremely strong pulling force suddenly came rushing at him.
The tremendous pulling force caused the donkey spirit to stumble forward, nearly falling off the cart, and his whip was snatched away.
"Who is it?"
After regaining his footing, the donkey spirit bellowed loudly: "Who dares provoke Master Lu?"
"Don't you know who my master is?"
"Awooo!!!"
Amidst the terrifying low growl, the donkey spirit also saw a half-grown wolf cub, glaring at him with a pair of blue eyes, holding his long whip in its mouth, lips curled back revealing sharp fangs.
The ferocity surfacing in its eyes carried an indescribable imposing aura.
The donkey spirit was startled by this wolf cub. But he quickly stretched out his long face, and berated Du ke accusingly: "You there, wolf demon, why did you snatch my whip?"
Du ke completely ignored the donkey spirit's accusations, just stared fixedly at him. There was not a shred of emotion in his blue eyes, only endless ferocity.
His gentleness, his joy, his loveliness, were all reserved for the Divine Cat General.
Everyone else would only get his coldness, brutality, and ruthlessness.
Seeing Du ke's silence, the donkey spirit also felt somewhat uneasy. This wolf cub's gaze was so intimidating!
While Du ke and the donkey spirit were locked in confrontation, Duke also sauntered over to the front of the old man.
Squatting down directly on the ground, Duke let go of the pipe in his mouth and looked at the old man before him covered in scars and tattered clothes with white hair, a trace of reminiscence in his eyes.
"Long time no see, Dr. Sun."
Upon hearing this, the old man's eyes bulged wide, and tears instantly filled his eye sockets. He fell to his knees with a thud, and wailed loudly: "Your humble servant Sun Xiang pays respect to the General!"
This old man turned out to be none other than Dr. Sun Xiang, who had saved Duke in the past, taught him the Tiger Panther Stake martial arts, and offered him two treasures from the Four Great Martial Arts Realms - the Water-Fire Immortal Robe and the Cinnabar Marrow Silver Pith, premium realm pills.
"Do not cry," Duke gently comforted Dr. Sun, "I am here, Doctor, do not cry!"
"Oh General..."
Dr. Sun groveled on the ground, his heart filled with grief, indignation, despair, all erupting at this moment.
"Seeing you again before I die, little old me couldn't ask for more!"
"There, there, cry no more!"
With a casual flick of his tail, Duke severed the dragging rope on Dr. Sun's shoulders.
After Duke cut off the rope, he glanced over at the donkey spirit. His eyes were devoid of sorrow or joy.
The donkey spirit's heart skipped a beat when the Divine Cat General looked his way. He subconsciously took a step back.
At the moment when Dr. Sun first cried out, all the demons around had stopped what they were doing and looked over in their direction, curiosity, puzzlement, contempt, indifference and more evident in their eyes.
As the demons gathered to spectate, discussions also broke out amongst them.
"What's going on here?"
"Don't know, but looks like there's a scene to watch!"
"Isn't that donkey spirit one of the steward's people?"
"That's right, it's him."
"Then what about the cat and the dogs?"
"Look like unfamiliar faces, probably not locals!"
"So demons from out of town?"
"Most likely!"
"Tsk, that long-faced donkey always throws his weight around outside relying on his position in the steward's place, serves him right this time!"
"Right, precisely the idiom 'even a dragon bows before the local snake'."
"Shhh, quiet, the Dantai Family's frogs are here!"
...
The discussions gradually died down, replaced by the repetitive thudding sounds against the ground.
After a few thumps, the crowd of onlookers parted for three toads to hop into the area near the carts.
The muffled thumps from earlier were the sounds made when these three toads jumped and landed.
The leading toad had a horn protruding from its nose, and its toad skin resembled oxhide, giving off a dusty appearance.
"What's going on, what's going on?"
The horned toad puffed up its cheeks, its voice extremely muffled, as it glanced over at Du ke. Du ke did not respond.
It was also at this time that the ears of a little gray rabbit suddenly stood up. Then, without alerting the other demons, it swiftly headed towards the direction of the street corner.
Seeing the three toads appear, the donkey spirit was overjoyed. He quickly got off the cart and trotted over to the lead toad.
"Brother Xi!"
"Oh, so it's little Lu!"
The horned toad glanced at the donkey spirit, then looked over Du ke, Du ke, Dr. Sun, and said in a muffled voice: "Aren't you busy working at the Master's place? What are you doing here mingling with these demons?"
"Brother Xi, this isn't my fault!"
The donkey spirit cried and pointed at the cats and dogs, "Today I was supposed to go prepare firewood for the Master's lunch banquet."
"As you know, the Master loves the aroma of aged lychee wood for cooking."
"So I went and chopped down some thirty-year-old lychee wood for the Master."
The donkey spirit pointed to the flatbed cart next to him, loaded with lychee wood.
"But who could've expected, when I was bringing my human slave back to the residence, he suddenly went mad and brought these out-of-town demons over!"
"I don't mind the indignities to myself, but if it delays the Master's lunch banquet, that would be unforgivable!"
Speaking to this point, the donkey spirit even squeezed out two drops of tears, his whole face the picture of grief.
"What a loyal servant!"
Duke scoffed from the side, provoking the wrathful glare of the horned toad.
"Hey you cat, who the hell do you think you are opening your mouth when the Master is asking questions!"
Before Duke could respond, Du ke had already tossed away the whip and returned to the Divine Cat General's side.
The dog with drooping tail stood in front of the cat, eyes icy cold, fangs bared, looking every bit a fiendish beast.
Seeing Du ke like this, the Dantai toad Dan Taixi also bulged his eyes. "How dare you openly defy the Cangzhou Demon Market law enforcement team?"
"Eager to die?"
As these words came out, the other two toads also puffed up their cheeks, emitting loud drum-like rumbles from their bellies.
"What seems to be the issue here!"
A mischievous laugh suddenly rang out, as the old madam walked into the open area surrounded by onlooking demons, led by a little gray rabbit.
Upon seeing the old madam appear, the previously ox-sized swollen Dan Taixi immediately deflated back to his original size.
"Oh, it's Aunt Bu from Hongque Building!"
Dan Taixi, who originally had a dull and expressionless ugly face, also revealed a smile, "What are you doing here instead of your Hongque Building?"
"Don't let outsider demons crash into you!"
"Oh, demons under heaven are one family, where is the distinction between outsider and native!"
The old procuress stepped forward and came to Du ke's side, also lowering her head to greet, "Young master, we meet again."
"I just came out from your place, now this blind man has to trouble you again."
Du ke slightly nodded towards the old procuress, but she gently laughed, "You make it sound like an inconvenience."
Hearing the conversation between Du ke and the old procuress, Dan Taixi also frowned and asked aloud, "What, Aunt Bu knows this cat?"
"This is an esteemed guest of our Hongque Building's top-grade room, I heard something happened to him at the market so I hurried over to take a look, to avoid any conflicts."
"Since he is an esteemed guest of Hongque Building," Dan Taixi glanced at the white cat, "then let's just let this go."
"Brother Xi, I....."
The donkey demon was about to speak, but Dan Taixi glared at him, "Don't you need to send firewood to the big boss? What else do you want?"
"But my human slave...."
The donkey demon looked at Sun Xiang, his eyes unwilling. Although the human slave was a bit old, he had spent a lot of money to buy him back.
Just giving him away like this, he really felt aggrieved.
While the donkey demon was thinking this, a spirit stone fell in front of him.
Seeing the spirit stone on the ground, the donkey demon hurriedly crawled over to pick it up and even stuffed it into his mouth to bite and check if it was real.
"Hey, this is real!"
The donkey demon suddenly grinned from ear to ear, but in a flash he heard the white cat coldly say, "Of course it's real, after all it's money to buy you a coffin. How could I fool you!"
"Buy a coffin?"
The donkey demon's heart skipped a beat. He saw the white cat took out a porcelain bottle and handed it to the Hongque Building's old procuress.
"Please spread the word," Du ke handed the porcelain bottle containing a Moon Blossom Pill to the old procuress, while casting a sidelong glance at the donkey demon, "I want his meat to be cooked and chopped up tonight, stuffed into flatbread and delivered to my table."
Upon hearing this, the donkey demon shuddered in fear, and the spirit stone also fell to the ground.
"Mas...Sir, surely you jest!"
"Do you think I'm still joking with you?"
Du ke looked at the donkey demon with a half-smile, "This person is an old acquaintance of mine who did me a great favor."
"Since you mistreated him so badly, I'll treat him to a meal with donkey meat hot pot cooked using you, there shouldn't be a problem with that right!"
When he said this, the donkey demon collapsed limply on the spot.
Dan Taixi also couldn't help looking sympathetically at the donkey demon. The donkey demon probably wouldn't live past today.
"I'll leave the rest to you then."
Du ke didn't bother with the donkey demon anymore, instead he nodded at the old procuress. Clutching her porcelain bottle, she smiled and said, "You can trust me to handle things."
"Mm!"
Du ke whistled, "Let's go, Thirteen."
Thirteen coldly glanced at the donkey demon who had been scared limp on the ground, snorted disdainfully, then followed alongside the cat.
"Dr. Sun, let's go eat something hot first."
Du ke looked at Sun Xiang with a smile, "It's rare to run into an old friend out here, we should take the time to catch up."
"Thank you, General."
Sun Xiang cupped his fist and bowed deeply to Du ke. Seeing his gesture, Du ke couldn't help but shake his head with a sigh.
"Let's go, let's go."
"After all, it was you who taught me my initial skills."