Cat-hating

"General, General!"

Qiu Shui called out twice, but was unable to stop Du Ke from going to observe the construction of the pill room arranged by Dan Fang.

The white cat leapt out from its own cat house directly, ignoring Qiu Shui's calls.

"Oh no, if the General gets lost, Steward Yun will skin me alive!"

Qiu Shui stamped his feet anxiously. At the same time, he also noticed Xiao Ha 13 paddling his little legs and following along.

"Aiya, what are you up to, Thirteen?"

Qiu Shui picked up Thirteen and held him in his arms. Thirteen looked towards Du Ke, who had already run far away and out of sight, and cried out anxiously.

Damn woman, Ni Zou Kai, I want to follow in my cat brother's footsteps!

"Thirteen, be good, don't move around. I'll go to the kitchen and get you a big bone later!"

While pacifying Thirteen, Qiu Shui put him back in the doghouse and left the cat house after making sure Thirteen was settled. He rushed to notify Yun Shan so they could look for the troublesome white cat together.

On the other side, Du Ke strode briskly away from Langya Palace where he lived, and started heading in the loudest direction along the corridors on both sides of the main building.

All of the buildings in the Su Residence were constructed on the islands scattered across Yingyue Lake. This was true for Langya Palace, Beast Garden, and the other structures and facilities.

And Langya Palace where Su Qi Luo lived was not just a single tower. There was a whole complex of towers and buildings. There were also structures like the kitchen, stables, washrooms, warehouses, and lodgings for the servants.

With his tail held high, Du Ke walked briskly along the corridor. The newly built pill room was not far from where he lived.

He could find its location just by listening to the clamor.

After turning a corner, Du Ke also saw that a normally vacant warehouse had people going in and out.

A middle-aged daoist dressed in a daoist robe, with a slim face and three wisps of whiskers reminiscent of a rat was yelling at those people incessantly.

"Be careful when you move things, you lot! If you bump or break anything, don't think you can walk away with it!"

"Hey, hey, hey, you over there, be extra careful when moving those medicinal herbs. Don't let them touch the ground, or it'll greatly diminish their potency!"

"And you two, handle that pill furnace carefully for me. If anyone damages it, I'll cut off the tool you use to make a living!"

"You two standing there doing nothing, hurry up and bring my pill manuals inside."

...

As the rat-faced daoist yelled, Du Ke leapt onto a reclining beauty couch next to the warehouse. Squatting on the couch, he watched those laborers moving things into the warehouse with great interest.

When the daoist mentioned pill manuals, Du Ke's eyes lit up as he fixed his gaze on a box being carried in by two people.

The box was made of high-quality pine wood. Judging by the variations in color, it was clear this box had been used for many years.

Even the damaged corner was patched up with sheet metal to continue using it.

This showed just how cherished this box was by its owner.

Of course, it was also possible the owner was just too stingy to replace the box.

Du Ke stared at the pine wood box, his paws alternately extending and retracting, while he licked his lips.

The little girl's study did not contain any books on pill refining.

As for other places, Du Ke did not know where else to find them.

But now that he had chanced upon them, he certainly would not let them slip by.

"Hey, where did this cat come from?!"

A sudden shriek made Du Ke turn. The rat-faced daoist was looking at Du Ke with great disgust. He pointed at Du Ke from afar and yelled, "Someone come drive away this wretched cat!"

"Hurry up, come drive away this cat for me!"

"I can't stand the sight of this wretched cat!"

"Come quickly!"

The daoist kept shouting and pointing at Du Ke. Du Ke frowned, and also caught a faint stench.

As soon as Du Ke smelled this, his eyelids flickered.

It was the smell of rats!

At the same time, two laborers who had just carried things into the warehouse also walked over at the daoist's urging.

They scolded Du Ke as they approached.

"Shoo, shoo, go play somewhere else!"

"Hurry and scram!"

"Don't disturb the master's tranquility, get lost quickly!"

Faced with the laborers' driving away, Du Ke remained unmoved. He even lazily yawned with disinterest.

Just as the two laborers came over, Du Ke leapt down from the reclining beauty couch. He went around the laborers and headed for the daoist.

The daoist had expressed extreme disgust towards him, so Du Ke could guess a thing or two.

"Aiya, how did this cat get over here?"

Seeing that Du Ke had not been driven away and instead approached him, the daoist reacted quite agitatedly.

"You two, what are you still standing there for? Hurry up and drive away this wretched cat!"

"Quickly, quickly!"

Amidst the daoist's yelling, the two previous laborers also rushed at Du Ke.

Both men were burly and strong, but their pouncing actions were quite agile and not clumsy at all.

However, even if they were fast, they were still somewhat lacking compared to Du Ke.

As the charging laborers reached him, Du Ke pushed off the ground with his hind legs and shot up high. His front paws stomped on one laborer's head.

The laborer whose head was stomped on by Du Ke fell straight to the ground. Taking advantage of that force, Du Ke pounced at the daoist.

Seeing Du Ke pounce over, the daoist pulled out a whisk from his sleeve. Gripping the whisk handle, he vigorously lashed out.

As the whisk cut through the air, it emitted a shrill whistling sound.

Du Ke's body twisted sharply and sank down abruptly. The cat's paws had just touched the ground when he shot forward like a cannonball.

"Roar!"

With a loud roar, Du Ke's qi and blood surged as he rammed straight into the daoist's chest and abdomen. His front paws repeatedly lashed out, shredding the daoist's robes. The daoist angrily shouted, "Wretched cat, you actually dare to humiliate me like this. I will skin you alive today!"

The daoist, who had retracted his whisk, imbued it with internal energy. As he brandished it, it made a shrieking sound like the wind. At an even faster speed, it came whipping back.

Du Ke suddenly felt a wicked wind shrieking from behind, and a sense of crisis arose within him.

"Meow!"

With a miserable cat yowl, the white cat's four paws pushed off forcefully from the daoist, using him like a tree to leap upwards along his robes.

No matter what, the daoist did have some skill. The whisk was like a living thing in his hands, quickly rolling towards Du Ke.

The whisk's thousands of silvery strands unfurled and stabbed at Du Ke. If they hit him directly, Du Ke would have become a bloody mess on the spot.

Du Ke's eyes widened, his pupils constricting into vertical lines. His body disappeared without a trace in an instant.

At the moment Du Ke vanished, the daoist's whisk struck empty air with a loud slap.

After turning invisible, Du Ke pulled away from the daoist. He was also somewhat frightened internally.

Just now, even a tree thick enough for three people's embrace would have exploded.

This rat-faced daoist did have some skills after all.

If Du Ke had known earlier, he wouldn't have been so reckless and would have called people to come along.

Du Ke regretfully made a mental note of this.

In the eyes of others unfamiliar with him, he was just a cat after all.

No one cared about a cat's life or death.

At the same time, his rapid recent progress had made him complacently self-satisfied. But the daoist's whisk had shattered that feeling.

He was still too weak. Having just attained a minor accomplishment in the Fleshly Body realm, he was still a nobody in the massive Su Residence.

He needed to become even stronger.

"What are you all doing?"

A delicate shout rang out as everyone looked over.

Yun Shan, with knitted brows and a fierce look, hurried over with Qiu Shui following behind.

"What was that commotion just now?"