Inn, corridor.
Little Black Fatty's crying attracted many guests to poke their heads out to see what's going on. Even the innkeeper sent an errand boy over to check out the situation.
Crying so miserably, not to mention what had happened, just disturbing other guests, later when asked to take responsibility, it would still be them.
After all, the other person is already so miserable, how could those disturbed feel okay to ask them to take responsibility?
It would still be finding the people from the inn!
The errand boy went upstairs and saw Yue Yun hugging Qiu Shui while crying uncontrollably. He was immediately in a dilemma.
What was the innkeeper thinking, sending him to do this job? Isn't this deliberately putting him in a difficult position?
The other person is already crying so sadly, if he goes to inquire at this time, wouldn't that be like stabbing a knife into their heart?
The embarrassed errand boy glanced at Yue Yun twice, then unintentionally saw Yun Shan beckoning him from across the corridor.
The errand boy hurried over, sticking close to the wall. Yun Shan handed him a money bag.
"I'll cover all expenses in the inn today."
The errand boy weighed the money bag in his hand, and understood Yun Shan's meaning, while also marveling at this guest's generosity and magnanimity.
His companion had affected other guests at the inn, yet he directly chose to cover the expenses for a whole day.
It looked like the innkeeper would earn a huge sum this time.
"Eh," the errand boy bowed, also asking puzzledly: "May I ask which guest is..."
"His master has passed away."
Yun Shan briefly explained, and the errand boy did not speak further. Bowing again, he then quickly went downstairs, to the inn's lobby.
Seeing the errand boy come down, the innkeeper quickly beckoned him over.
"What exactly happened?"
"Boss, a relative of the guest upstairs has passed away, so..."
"Oh you tell me!"
The inn sighed, then swiftly asked: "Did you ask, when will he stop crying?"
"If he cries for too long, other guests may complain."
"The guest upstairs gave money, saying she would cover today's expenses for all guests."
"Wow, what a big spender!"
The innkeeper took the money bag from the errand boy. With just one glance after opening it, his smile reached his ears.
"Boss, should we notify the other guests?"
"Notify about what?" The innkeeper put away the money bag in his sleeve, glaring at the errand boy. "Wait until the noise disturbs them, then go notify."
"Say that guest upstairs felt extremely remorseful for disturbing them, so she paid for their room fees today."
"Just say she paid for the room fees, got it?"
Hearing the innkeeper's words, the errand boy naturally knew what he was thinking. He immediately nodded: "Oh, I got it."
"Alright, go busy yourself."
"Yes sir!"
............
In the guest room,
Duke sat on the table, holding a smoking pot in his left paw, frowning as he sucked on the smoking pipe.
When Yun Shan booked the rooms, she got one room for Su Qiluo alone, one room each for Yue Yun and Qiu Shui, and one room for himself and the dog.
Now Qiu Shui was comforting Little Black Fatty, Shi San was supervising the maid, and Yun Shan was also standing guard in the corridor. Duke finally got some free time.
The white cat releasing clouds of smoke bit on the smoking pipe, and took out the 12 Earthly Branches Mnemonics that Sun Xiang had given him from his Black Cauldron space.
The mnemonics for Yan recorded the inner cultivation methods behind the Tiger Panther Stake, which was urgently needed for his Organs Realm cultivation.
Apart from that were the prescriptions for Five Temples Divine Hidden and Zhou Tian Tu Na at the Extremes Realm.
These two Extremes Realm pill formulas were extremely important to Duke. As for the maid, it was still early for her to use them.
After all, she had just generated inner power and entered the Organs Realm.
Reaching grand completeness in the Organs Realm still required spending quite a long time.
But Duke could refine Extremes Realm pills in advance.
As for the essence cultivation methods for Spirit Cats, Duke was not worried either.
Anyway, the spiritual objects Si Er had given him were so plentiful that even a muddled fool would be enticed to cry. They could sustain Duke's cultivation for quite a long period.
Lastly was the Demon Sealing Meditation. Although the Demon Sealing Meditation could not provide substantive battle prowess improvements for Duke, it could allow him with a cultivation level at the Organs Realm to possess demonic energy as pure as that of a Superior Grade Demon that had entered the Dao.
Although Duke currently had no clue about how to utilize demonic energy, he felt there should not be an issue starting the cultivation first.
Moreover, when he had previously encountered the Spirit Stone, his Demon Sealing Meditation had throbbed.
He still had to carefully analyze why that was.
After organizing the key points and direction for his current cultivation path, Duke also started reading the mnemonics for Yan.
First, he had to get a basic grasp of the inner cultivation methods in the mnemonics for Yan, to strengthen his own inner cultivation level.
Duke read for a while. His eyes also showed slight surprise.
"I didn't expect the relationship between this inner cultivation method and the Tiger Panther Lei Yin from the Tiger Panther Stake to be so huge. And the existence of Tiger Panther Lei Yin also happened to fulfill the requirements to temper the internal organs at the Organs Realm."
"It seems my Organs Realm can reach grand completeness faster this way."
Speaking till here, Duke also put down the smoking pot, silently comprehending the key points of the incantations in the mnemonics for Yan.
The mnemonics for Yan were established targeting all feline species. Whether it was the ferocious tiger, hunting leopard, raging lion, or common house cat, all could cultivate it.
Its outer cultivation methods were targeted at the Flesh and Bones stage and Meridians stage, specializing in training the physical body. It could also extend the talent ability Tiger Panther Lei Yin.
And the Tiger Panther Lei Yin cultivated externally could then participate in the inner cultivation.
By operating the inner cultivation incantations of the mnemonics for Yan, one could move the complete Great Zhou Tian internally.
Instead of how Duke had done it previously, simply relying on the internal force flow to slowly cultivate inner force.
Moving the Great Zhou Tian according to the incantations of the mnemonics for Yan could quickly strengthen inner force.
At the same time, moving the Great Zhou Tian would also trigger the Tiger Panther Lei Yin to shake the internal organs, tempering the five viscera.
It had the dual effects of strengthening inner force and tempering the organs.
Previously when Duke read military manuals, they also clearly stated that for those who took the martial path to enter the Dao, they had to prioritize nurturing the five viscera.
Ordinary martial cultivators would prioritize strengthening inner force.
The former considered the future path of the Dao, while the latter focused on quickly increasing battle prowess to seize more resources and swiftly advance to the next cultivation stage.
However, the mnemonics for Yan allowed the cultivating beasts to have both effects, allowing them to possess formidable battle prowess in a short term, while also taking care of tempering the five viscera in preparation for future cultivation stages.
Moreover, not only the mnemonics for Yan. The 12 Earthly Branches Mnemonics all had this effect.
The more Duke researched the 12 Earthly Branches Mnemonics, the more he could appreciate the extraordinary talents of the person who had created this cultivation method.
Anyone capable of devising such a method was simply a devilish existence among humans and beasts.
It only took Duke one tea time to comprehend the key points. His mouth let out a low roar, and rings akin to thunder rumbled inside his body.
Clearly, he had gained an initial grasp of the inner cultivation method in the mnemonics for Yan.
"Having entered the realm of XuanHuan inner cultivation with the Yan Zi Genuine Formula,” Du ke exhaled a murky breath after opening his eyes, “next up is refining the Extreme Dan and Sword Dan!"
"It just so happens that I can also take this opportunity to experiment with the three refinings of the Black Cauldron!"
Thinking of this, Du ke instinctively picked up his opium pipe again, stuffed in a new opium pellet, and nibbled on the pipe mouthpiece while exhaling clouds of smoke.
"Hmm, I'll refine a few Sword Dans first. During the breaks between refining the Sword Dans, I can pick out the ingredients for the Extreme Dan."
Speaking to himself, Du ke's mind completely sank into the space within the Black Cauldron.
As Du ke's mind drifted within the Black Cauldron space he had stuffed full, he singled out the treasured swords containing sword intent from the divine weapons and hung them above the Black Cauldron.
After Du ke had singled out all the treasured swords, nearly thirty swords were hanging over the Black Cauldron.
Among them were majestic longswords, exquisite short swords, eccentric and sinister odd swords. The variety of swords was abundant.
Glancing at these treasured swords, Du ke decisively chose one and cast it into the Black Cauldron. As the flames of the Black Cauldron enveloped the longsword, Du ke also picked out ingredients needed for the Extreme Dan.
In this manner, Du ke spent nearly an hour and a half refining Sword Dans while picking herbs at the same time.
He had also categorised all the ingredients for the Extreme Dan.
"It's finally done!"
Du ke looked at the nearly thirty Grade 2 Sword Dans embedded in the void within the Black Cauldron's space, and also glanced at the ingredients needed to concoct the Extreme Dan required for achieving the pinnacle of martial arts contained in the Five Shrines Divine Treasury and Heavenly Exhalation Inner Breathing techniques.
If it wasn't for him completely raiding the treasury within the Five Gate Temple for all of its medicinal ingredients earlier, as well as the large amount of medicinal ingredients included in the funds given to him by Si Er, gathering all the ingredients required for the Extreme Dan formula would have been very difficult.
Especially now that the young lady was not in the Su family and could not draw upon their vast resources.
Therefore, Du ke had to make use of the resources currently in his hands to continuously gain bigger benefits for himself.
"The auction in Yunzhou is just around the corner," Du ke nibbled on the pipe mouthpiece, recalling the intel he had gotten about Spirit Fire at the Hong Que Building.
An auction was going to be held in Yunzhou, and a type of Spirit Fire would be auctioned off at this auction.
"I must obtain that Spirit Fire. To strengthen the Black Cauldron, I need to continuously feed it all kinds of Spirit Fires."
"Luckily, I have abundant funds now. Even if I'm lacking, I can just concoct and sell some elixirs to get more money to spend."
"The feeling of being able to print money myself really is exhilarating!"
Speaking to himself, Du ke also chuckled at this point.
"Oh well, I'll put off thinking about all that for now. I should test out the third refining first."
Looking at the nearly thirty Grade 2 Sword Dans above the Black Cauldron, Du ke directly chose one and cast it into the cauldron, embarking on the first third refining in his cat life.
"Let me see exactly what is so special about the third refining!"
Du ke stared at the Grade 2 Sword Dan that was completely enveloped by the wildly soaring flames within the Black Cauldron, murmuring to himself.