"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?"
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
or! A blessing for those who struggle with love, a guidebook for dating novices. Quickly match with your dream goddess! Complete walkthroughs earn rewards, and perfect walkthroughs unlock limited achievements!】 Shen Yi, an ordinary office worker, accidentally downloads a mini-game called Dating Simulator. The mini-game is simple: randomly search for dating targets, simulate dates, and receive rewards upon successful confession. Rewards include but are not limited to money, attributes, and skills. The higher the evaluation, the better the rewards, with perfect ratings unlocking mysterious achievements. Shen Yi plans to use this mysterious mini-game to continuously pursue targets and improve himself, making his life better and better. ...... However, after several successful walkthroughs, Shen Yi suddenly notices something strange - the targets he previously simulated dating seem to be searching for him in real life?
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
