“I.....I....I've really turned into a cat!!!”
Du ke couldn't believe his eyes as he looked at his reflection in the water. With his eyes completely filled by round pupils, he looked exactly the same as the cat in the water staring back at him wide-eyed and slack-jawed.
“What the hell!!”
Du ke wanted to curse out loud, but he didn't know who to curse at.
He also didn't know where to start!
He had woken up not only in a different place, but also transformed into a different species.
"Why did this happen to me?"
Du ke lay prostrate on the ground, covering his head with his paws as he let out a muffled wail.
"All I did was drink some wine from the heirloom cauldron my dad collected, show off a bit, and acted foolishly once!"
"How did I end up here and become like this?"
Du ke couldn't understand or make sense of the situation.
He had woken up to find everything familiar gone, transported to a strange place and transformed into a strange form.
With everything hitting him all at once, a nameless terror took hold of Du ke's heart.
No matter how strong one's mind and will, being suddenly thrown into an unfamiliar place and changed into an unimaginable form would make anyone terrified at first!
Just imagine, everything you know disappears, you look around bewildered by the unfamiliar surroundings, not knowing where to go or what to do, unclear of where your path lies ahead.
This nameless terror can drown a person like overgrown weeds.
Lying prostrate with his paws over his head, Du ke let out mournful wails, as if to vent the turmoil and unease in his heart, and also grieving over something.
But these instinctive cries provided a clue to the people searching the manor gardens.
Although it was late into the night, countless servants holding lanterns walked along every path in the manor gardens.
Some even crawled into nooks and crannies, all to find a white cat.
A white cat belonging to the young daughter of the manor's master.
When Du ke cried out, several youths holding lanterns happened to walk past the pond where he was hiding. Dressed in gold and silver, they looked like sons of wealthy households, when in fact they were just the lowliest servants carrying out the orders of the manor's master.
"Meow!!!"
After the mournful cat cry, the servants holding lanterns suddenly looked towards the sound and raised their lanterns, illuminating the shimmering water.
"Hey, did you guys hear that just now?"
"You mean that creepy cat cry?"
"I heard it, I heard it, it sounded like a wailing child!"
"Watch your mouth, do you know whose cat that is?
It belongs to the young daughter most loved by the master!"
"That's right, can't talk like that. Getting your tongue cut is the least they'd do. If they really investigate, you'd be flayed and whipped into fertilizer."
"I didn't say anything, you didn't hear anything!"
"Alright, in any case, looks like we've found this esteemed cat. Let's go report back quickly!"
"Okay, you two stay here, I'll go report."
............
"Meow!!!"
The mournful cat cries sounded especially clear in the night sky.
Hiding among the rockery in a lake, Du ke also lifted his head, eyes glistening. He stared at his reflection in the water.
Round head, pointy ears, white fur, three-lobed mouth, eyes filled by pupils.
Looking at his reflection, a nameless irritation suddenly welled up in Du ke.
"What have I become!!"
With a swipe at the water's surface, a loud bell seemed to chime in Du ke's mind.
Becoming dazed by the clangor, Du ke's gaze pierced through everything before him into a starry void.
In this void, a large black cauldron with two ears and three legs sat in the center, a flame dancing inside.
Seeing this two-eared, three-legged cauldron, Du ke instantly understood without being able to express why.
Like knowing to eat when hungry and drink when thirsty, needing to relieve himself - an indescribable instinct stirred in Du ke. Propelled by this instinct, as if possessed, Du ke reached out a paw to touch the reflection.
The soft pads met the clear water, rippling out circles and disturbing his reflection.
At this moment, the cauldron in the void shuddered, and water began flowing from the void into the cauldron, never ceasing.
Only when Du ke's paw left the water's surface did the influx stop.
Clearly, the water entering the cauldron originated from the pond water touching Du ke's paw.
Once inside the cauldron, the water swirled slowly around the flame.
"Refine!"
Blurting out this word, the fire inside the cauldron suddenly surged.
Water and fire, usually incompatible, now blended in a way Du ke couldn't comprehend.
As time passed second by second, the water disappeared without a trace, replaced by a translucent crystal pellet with a watery luster shooting out from the cauldron, hanging in the void like a star.
Seeing this water elixir, Du ke's body began to tremble.
He now understood what this two-eared, three-legged black cauldron was.
It was the prized collectible his father cherished, and also the antique cauldron he had foolishly taken to drink wine from.
Him ending up in this unfamiliar world and wretched form was directly caused by this black cauldron.
Yet this black cauldron had also given him an exceptionally unique ability.
That was...to refine all things into elixir!
Anything Du ke came into contact with, whether tangible or intangible, solid, liquid or gas, could be thrown into the cauldron by Du ke and refined into an elixir.
If Du ke wished, even sunlight and moonlight could be refined into pure elixirs.
"Is this...compensation?"
Du ke looked at the cauldron only he could see, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"Can I decline this compensation and have you take me back instead?"
The black cauldron did not respond at all to Du ke's inner mutterings. Only when Du ke made contact with something external and expressed the desire to refine it would the cauldron react.
"Damn... Damn... Damn!!!"
Du ke cursed inwardly while banging his head on the ground.
"If I had known, why did I have to be so reckless then? Why did I act so foolishly!?"
"Too late for regrets, too late!"
But now, words were useless.
What was done cannot be undone.
He had brought this upon himself and would have to bear the full consequences, kneeling if need be.
For now, he could only accept it!
And the problems he faced were grave indeed. Where should he go from here? What should he do next?
"General, General, General!"
Amidst the urgent cries, Du ke looked up to see the young girl from before.
Seeing Du ke notice her, she waved excitedly.
Seeing the child's elation at seeing him, Du ke's eyes flashed as a thought swiftly formed.
In such circumstances, one's potential could erupt unprecedentedly.
He crouched low, slowly backing away.
His next steps might very well fall upon this little girl.
But before deciding, he wanted to try something!
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."
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.
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
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.
