Langya Palace, in front of the pier.
"Go back and cultivate well, don't get distracted having too much fun."
Su Xiuwu stood at the prow and instructed Su Qiluo, who was holding a kitten, "Practice a bit less martial arts these next few days, just focus on cultivating at your Langya Palace."
"I understand, Third Uncle."
"Alright, head back now."
Su Xiuwu waved his hand, and the boatman at the stern began rowing the oars, slowly pulling the small boat away from the Langya Palace pier.
"Bye Third Uncle!"
Su Qiluo energetically waved at Su Xiuwu, who smiled and nodded in return. As the boat turned, it quickly disappeared from Su Qiluo's sight.
Su Qiluo stroked General Du ke's back, and spoke to him, "General, it looks like I can't talk about your cultivation anymore."
General Du ke nodded, and patted Su Qiluo's arm with his paw, signaling her to hurry back and find brush, ink, paper and inkstone.
"I know, I'll go get them now."
Carrying General Du ke, Su Qiluo swiftly headed back along the pier to the palace towers and corridors. In no time, she was back in her room.
Just after entering her room, Su Qiluo hadn't even prepared the writing materials yet when there was a knock at her door from outside.
"Young miss."
"What is it, Qiu Shui?"
Hearing the voice outside, Su Qiluo felt a guilty conscience and loudly asked.
"It's like this - Zhao Dan, the alchemy master recently transferred to our Langya Palace, has just finished refining a new batch of elixirs that will aid the young miss's martial cultivation. Steward Yun has asked me to inform you to get ready to start cultivating."
"I see, tell Auntie Yun to wait for me in the cultivation hall."
"Yes, young miss."
After answering, Qiu Shui's footsteps faded away. Su Qiluo also breathed a sigh of relief, and patted her petite chest.
"Scared me to death."
But soon after, the girl threw her arms around General Du ke.
"Ah General, everything is just as you said! Not only will Brother Thirteen not bully me anymore, but I got to vent my anger!"
"You really deserve to be the divine general sent from heaven to protect me!"
Faced with Su Qiluo's confession, General Du ke felt both happy and exasperated - happy that his efforts weren't in vain, and exasperated that this girl had forgotten her own strength again.
If General Du ke hadn't cultivated martial arts, he surely would have been strangled by this girl multiple times already.
After embracing for a while, Su Qiluo finally released General Du ke. Having been freed, General Du ke coughed a few times and glared at Su Qiluo resentfully.
Su Qiluo grinned sheepishly a couple times, then spoke, "General, what should I do next?"
Seeing himself and then looking at Su Qiluo, she finally reacted and hurriedly ran out to fetch brush, ink, paper and inkstone.
Sitting alone on Su Qiluo's bed, General Du ke carefully contemplated while also re-evaluating himself.
He had to accelerate his cultivation progress as soon as possible now. Aside from that was figuring out how to conceal his abilities.
As a spirit cat of a different breed, he innately had the special ability to disappear out of sight. Since he could already turn invisible, concealing his aura shouldn't be too hard, right?
Aside from that was the matter of refining the sun's rays.
This needed to be put on the agenda. He should also try refining the sunlight during other times of day to see the effects, not just at dawn's first light.
Just then, Su Qiluo came back carrying brush, ink, paper and inkstone. After setting up everything, the little girl diligently began grinding ink. Watching her grind ink, General Du ke thought that he couldn't keep communicating this way.
Once or twice was fine, but too often would inevitably arouse suspicion.
It wasn't long before Su Qiluo finished preparing the ink. General Du ke picked up the brush and wrote, "First thing first, don't leave Langya Palace these next few days."
"Practice cultivation inside the palace first. After things settle down from this incident, you can go back out."
Seeing the words on the paper, Su Qiluo nodded. "I'll listen to General."
"Also, conceal the fact that I'm cultivating."
General Du ke paused, then continued writing, "Your Third Uncle's attitude was very clear - demons are not allowed to exist in your eyes, even if I am the divine general sent from heaven to protect you, there may come a day when I get mistaken for an evil spirit."
"So you must contain the information."
"Mm mm, I know about this. I'll have Auntie Yun take care of it."
"Additionally, find someone to make a sandbox. We can't keep using brush, ink, paper and inkstone to communicate anymore. I will use the sandbox to talk to you."
"Okay, got it."
Speaking to here, Su Qiluo also blinked and asked, "General, how much of your memory has recovered?"
Hearing this, General Du ke immediately bopped Su Qiluo's little head.
"I just talked to you yesterday. It hasn't even been a day, how could I have remembered anything?"
"Hehe!" Su Qiluo touched her head and chuckled foolishly.
"I'm just concerned about the General!"
"Oh right, have Auntie Yue also prepare to help that puppy cultivate its inner breathing!"
General Du ke brought up the little pup. Su Qiluo blinked and said, "That little dog?"
"Yes!"
"But why?"
"I have my plans for it."
Writing this, General Du ke couldn't help but chuckle. He continued, "When the time comes, you'll know."
"Oh oh!" Su Qiluo nodded.
At the same time, General Du ke also recalled something, and hastily picked the brush back up to write again. "There's another thing. Qiu Shui just said there's a new batch of freshly refined elixirs. Those elixirs should be meant to help establish you at The Peak of the Fourth Realm."
"What is The Peak of the Fourth Realm?"
Little Su Qiluo's head was filled with question marks. Seeing this, General Du ke immediately wrote, "If those elixirs really are what I think they are, you'll find out in the future what The Peak of the Fourth Realm is."
"Save me a serving of those elixirs too, best if you can get the pill formula."
Writing to here, Su Qiluo tilted her head. "I can ask Auntie Yun for the formula."
"Then that solves it."
Writing up to here, General Du ke also pondered if he had left anything out.
After a bit, he wrote again, "Oh right, try to find me some martial arts related books."
"Martial arts books?"
Su Qiluo tilted her head and thought for a moment. She then turned around and walked over to the nearby vanity dresser. Opening a wooden chest there, she took out a thick oversized tome and brought it over in front of General Du ke.
"General, will this work?"
Glancing up, General Du ke saw three dramatically sweeping characters on the book cover - Immortal Martial Strategy.
Wasn't this the martial arts legacy manual passed down in this girl's family?
He wanted large quantities of martial arts manuals in order to accumulate martial knowledge to figure out a way to independently create his own cultivation method.
However, since this copy of Immortal Martial Strategy was the secret manual of the Su family, it naturally had its special characteristics. Being able to use it for alchemy would be best.
However, he still had to add some additional instructions.
General Du ke contemplated for a bit, then picked up the brush to write, "Are you really okay with giving me this copy of Immortal Martial Strategy?"
"It's no problem! What's mine is the General's!" Su Qiluo patted her chest proudly and confidently. General Du ke immediately felt utterly moved on the spot. Being financially provided for felt so nice.
But he also couldn't completely rely on the girl. He had to figure out a way to expand his revenue stream.
"Then what if this book gets damaged?"
General Du ke asked Su Qiluo. Su Qiluo nonchalantly said, "If it gets ruined then it gets ruined. I can just ask Dad for another one."
"Actually, aside from not letting anyone outside the family see it, this book can be handled however."
"Brother Six even used his copy of Immortal Martial Strategy to wipe his mouth!"
When Su Qiluo said this, General Du ke recalled Su Xinkuan, that chubby guy. Based on that guy's lousy character, it was indeed possible.
"If that's the case, then I'll take this Immortal Martial Strategy."
"Don't stand on ceremony with me, General."
"Also, go ask where your Su family keeps its martial arts secret manuals. I'll go pick more myself later - if you take too many books yourself, it would inevitably raise suspicion."
"Okay, got it."
"Young miss!"
There was a voice outside the door. Qiu Shui knocked and urged, "It's time for cultivation."
Hearing Qiu Shui knocking outside, General Du ke also wrote one final sentence.
"Let's stop here today. Cultivate well. Until I fully restore my abilities, I still have to rely on you to protect me!"
"Don't worry General, I will protect you!" Su Qiluo clenched her little fist very earnestly and nodded.
General Du ke looked on proudly and soon after watched Su Qiluo leave the room.
After Su Qiluo left, Du ke immediately put the Immortal Martial Strategy into his own Black Cauldron space, just as he had done earlier with the rice paper used for writing.
"All arrangements have been properly made, next comes the time for slowly developing."
While Du ke was refining the Immortal Martial Strategy into pills, he blankly lost himself in thought.
"I must tread a path that belongs solely to me!"