Whale Rubber (Please Follow and Vote Monthly)

Whale Rubber?

Gu Yi's eyes lit up. He immediately changed direction and entered the pharmacy beside them.

Xiao Wu looked puzzled, but she still followed Gu Yi.

The pharmacy owner smiled when he saw the middle-aged man approach. "Old Master Ma, you don't trust my work?"

"The whale rubber you wanted just arrived today. Have a look."

As he spoke, the pharmacy owner took two pale yellow crystalline stones, each the size of a fist, from a medicine chest.

"Old Master Ma, these two pieces of whale rubber—one is thirty years old, while the other is over a hundred years old. Which one would you like?"

The middle-aged man glared at the pharmacy owner. "A hundred years old? I'm an ordinary man—I can't handle that. Are you trying to supplement me to death?"

"Just give me the thirty-year one."

"Certainly, Old Master Ma. Please take it. That will be ten Gold Soul Coins."

Having witnessed the entire transaction, Gu Yi confirmed that he had not misheard the name of those pale yellow crystals.

Information about whale rubber swiftly surfaced in Gu Yi's mind.

Whale rubber was a special substance produced in the brains of whale-type soul beasts from the ocean—or rather, a Heavenly Material, Earthly Treasure.

It had excellent nourishing effects for soul masters. It could strengthen the body and improve the endurance of the muscles, bones, and meridians.

After consuming whale rubber, a soul master's physical constitution would improve significantly, as though they had been reborn. This greatly increased the age limit of the soul rings a soul master could absorb, allowing them to exceed their original limits.

However, this use of whale rubber would not be discovered by the world until several thousand, or even ten thousand, years later.

At present, whale rubber was mainly used for something else.

—Whale rubber was an extremely yang and potent tonic. When consumed by ordinary adult men, it had a certain aphrodisiac effect.

Thus, in this era, whale rubber was taken as a little blue pill.

For example, the middle-aged Old Master Ma had bought whale rubber for bedroom matters.

Still, whale rubber was ultimately a Heavenly Material, Earthly Treasure produced by soul beasts. Ordinary people could not consume too much of it, or they would be unable to bear its effects and would instead damage their bodies.

That fist-sized piece of thirty-year whale rubber would be enough for Old Master Ma to use for one or two months. Each time, a piece the size of a fingernail was sufficient.

"It can strengthen the body and increase the strength of the muscles and bones!" Gu Yi murmured inwardly.

The cultivation of the Qi Martial Realm in Nine Heavens Martial Dao happened to involve tempering the physical body!

The whale rubber of Douluo Continent could completely serve as a cultivation resource for Qi Martial Realm martial artists, making Gu Yi's physique, strength, and other attributes even stronger!

Gu Yi had originally thought whale rubber would only appear in coastal cities of Douluo Continent.

Yet he had not expected to find whale rubber in tiny Nuoding City.

This was truly an unexpected delight.

Gu Yi immediately asked, "Boss, how much is this piece of whale rubber?"

A trace of astonishment appeared on the pharmacy owner's face. "Little friend, do you know what this is used for? This isn't something a child like you should be asking about."

Gu Yi pretended to be innocent and clueless. "My family asked me to come ask. They said they wanted to boil it into medicine to drink."

The pharmacy owner immediately understood.

Someone had an unspeakable problem, but was too embarrassed to come to the pharmacy and ask in person, so they had sent a child ahead to inquire about the price.

"This piece of two-hundred-year whale rubber costs fifty Gold Soul Coins," the pharmacy owner said with a smile.

Fifty Gold Soul Coins... Gu Yi's eyes flickered.

Compared with the benefits whale rubber could bring, that amount of Gold Soul Coins was negligible.

If it were sold in the era of the Peerless Tang Sect ten thousand years later, hundred-year whale rubber could fetch at least a thousand Gold Soul Coins.

Unfortunately, Gu Yi currently had only two Silver Soul Coins and a few Copper Soul Coins. He was far from having fifty Gold Soul Coins.

If he collected Gold Soul Coins from Spirit Hall, even a one-ring soul master would need to collect them for more than two years to afford it.

That was obviously not what Gu Yi wanted.

Looks like I need to quickly find a way to make money. Gu Yi pondered inwardly.

The path of cultivation required wealth, companions, methods, and territory.

Without sufficient resources and money, no matter how talented one was, cultivation would not progress quickly and might even stagnate.

There were countless such examples in the cultivation world.

Whether it was to stop old Master Mu Hu from going to the Monster Beast Forest to hunt monster beasts for money, or to purchase whale rubber that could accelerate his Qi Martial Realm cultivation—

Gu Yi needed to quickly find a way to make money fast.

The first thing Gu Yi thought of was becoming a trader between two worlds, selling items back and forth between Douluo Continent and Nine Heavens Continent!

After seeing the streets and alleys of Nuoding City today, Gu Yi had discovered many goods different from those in Qingshan Town.

Gu Yi was confident that if he brought these things to Qingshan Town, he could sell them for several times the price.

Likewise, Nine Heavens Continent had many things that Douluo Continent lacked, such as pills. Bringing them to Douluo Continent would also earn him a large number of Gold Soul Coins.

However, this method consumed a considerable amount of source energy. A round trip required twenty points of source energy, equivalent to Myriad Worlds Gate's accumulation over two days.

After considering it, Gu Yi gave up on the idea.

Source energy was far too precious. It was used to connect to other worlds and activate functions such as enlightenment. It was much more valuable than ordinary resources, so how could he casually waste it on something like this?

He could only do it incidentally when traveling between the two worlds, not use it frequently.

After all, Gu Yi's most important task was cultivation, not becoming a trader.

Sell glass? Gu Yi considered it, then shook his head. The martial souls of Douluo Continent come in all varieties. The people of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect in particular have long since developed glassmaking techniques. I can't treat it like a truly ancient feudal society.

Though the glass industry might have some potential in Nine Heavens Continent.

Gu Yi thought of the ways ancient transmigrators made fortunes—tea, salt, iron, distilled liquor, cane sugar, porcelain, antiques, and so on. But those were either controlled by the empire, inaccessible to ordinary people, and fatal to meddle with—

Or they required a high starting investment that was impossible without initial capital.

And what Gu Yi lacked right now was money.

Those methods would not work for the time being either.

Gu Yi then thought of a defining feature of Douluo Continent: the Great Soul Arena.

With Gu Yi's cultivation, he could be considered invincible among one-ring soul masters. Making money at the Great Soul Arena would be effortless.

However, Nuoding City was a small city and did not have a Great Soul Arena.

To participate in battles at the Great Soul Arena, Gu Yi would need to travel to a nearby major city at the level of a provincial capital. A round trip would take at least four or five days.

Gu Yi rejected this method as well.

It was not worth spending so much time to earn only a few Gold Soul Coins. Besides, registering at the Great Soul Arena required meeting certain conditions, including paying ten Gold Soul Coins.

Hah, finding a way to make money is really difficult. Gu Yi rubbed his temples, feeling somewhat helpless.

Don't tell me I have to become a blacksmith or sell grilled fish? Gu Yi inwardly mocked himself.

Countless thoughts ran through Gu Yi's mind. He came up with one idea after another, only to reject them in succession.