Qi Martial Realm, Second Level (Please Follow and Vote)

After the Whale Rubber entered his mouth, it carried a strong fishy stench, but it soon turned into a stream of heat that flowed into Gu Yi's abdomen.

Gu Yi hurriedly circulated the Iron Blood Malice Art, absorbing the energy contained within the Whale Rubber with all his strength. He guided the heat through his limbs and bones, beginning to temper every part of his body.

Gu Yi's body gradually turned red, but it quickly returned to normal.

Before the Whale Rubber's aphrodisiac effect could take hold, it was forcibly suppressed.

Half an hour later, Gu Yi slowly opened his eyes, feeling incomparably refreshed.

"Though this Whale Rubber is only a hundred years old, its effects aren't bad."

"I'm one step closer to the second level of the Qi Martial Realm."

Gu Yi clenched his fist and estimated that his physical constitution had improved somewhat. His strength had reached 1,400 jin, increasing by more than 200 jin.

One had to know that Gu Yi cultivated the methods of the Nine Heavens Martial Dao, not the meditation techniques of Douluo Continent.

As a result, he absorbed the Whale Rubber's medicinal effects almost to the utmost limit. Not a trace was wasted; all of it became nourishment for his body.

That was why Gu Yi's strength had increased by 200 jin.

However, this also meant that his Soul Power cultivation had not changed much. It remained at level twelve.

If other soul masters of Douluo Continent used meditation techniques to absorb the Whale Rubber's medicinal effects, gaining fifty jin of strength would already be considered good.

And this was only hundred-year Whale Rubber.

Gu Yi was now looking forward to thousand-year and ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber.

Perhaps it could allow him to break through a minor realm in a short time.

"In the days ahead, I need to cultivate while studying the soul master knowledge in Yu Xiaogang's study and choosing a soul beast suitable for my first soul ring." Gu Yi's gaze flickered as he considered his future cultivation plans.

"Besides, I need to return to the Nine Heavens Continent. By my calculations, Grandpa Mu Hu should be returning from the Monster Beast Forest to Qingshan Town in a few days."

Time passed bit by bit, and more than ten days went by in the blink of an eye.

Because he had won the wager battle against Tang San, Gu Yi was free to enter and leave Yu Xiaogang's study, where he learned about martial souls and soul beasts.

With the aid of enlightenment, Gu Yi spent only a few days reading through every book and committing them firmly to memory.

As expected of knowledge Yu Xiaogang had copied from Spirit Hall and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect.

Gu Yi learned of many rare and powerful soul beasts that few people in the outside world knew about.

Such as the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, the Thunderclap Hell Vine, and so on.

Ordinary soul masters might not encounter even one of these soul beasts in their entire lives, yet more than ten kinds were recorded here, along with information on their appearances, habits, and more.

This clearly could not have been recorded by a single person. It could only have been gathered by a powerful faction through the exploration of countless people over countless years.

During this time, Gu Yi also found several soul beasts suitable to serve as soul rings for his Blood Martial Soul.

However, Gu Yi did not immediately set out to hunt soul beasts.

The reason was that events on the Nine Heavens Continent had diverted part of his attention.

Not long ago, Mu Hu had returned from the Monster Beast Forest!

To keep Mu Hu from risking his life hunting monster beasts in the Monster Beast Forest again, and to earn more gold and silver to buy more Whale Rubber on Douluo Continent,

Gu Yi gave Mu Hu several ways to make money, such as making glass and brewing distilled liquor.

Everyone on the Nine Heavens Continent revered martial arts and pursued the peak of the Martial Dao.

Martial artists fought endlessly among themselves, and the people were fierce and valiant. No one knew when they might die an unnatural death.

Thus, the liquor business on the Nine Heavens Continent was exceptionally prosperous. Countless people drank as if their lives depended on it, seeking the sensation of drowning themselves in drunken dreams.

The truly high-grade liquor of the Nine Heavens Continent was brewed from various spirit herbs and spirit water. It greatly benefited martial artists' cultivation and was no less effective than some medicinal pills.

But ordinary Qi Martial Realm and Spirit Martial Realm martial artists could not afford spirit liquor. At most, they could sample ordinary liquor brewed from fruit and grain.

Such liquor was much like the liquor of ancient China in Gu Yi's previous life, with a low alcohol content.

Gu Yi believed that once distilled liquor appeared, it would bring in a constant stream of wealth.

Mu Hu was greatly shocked that Gu Yi had come up with such clever methods of making money, but he did not investigate too deeply.

After all, over the previous three months, Gu Yi had already displayed signs of precociousness. Mu Hu had always believed that Gu Yi possessed extraordinary comprehension and exceptional intelligence.

Thus, after obtaining the methods for making glass and brewing distilled liquor from Gu Yi, Mu Hu immediately put them into practice.

When he saw the first batch of differently shaped, crystal-clear "crystals" and richly fragrant liquor, Mu Hu was even more stunned.

Mu Hu brought this batch of crystal glass and distilled liquor to Yangzhou City to sell, earning seventy to eighty thousand taels of silver in one go.

—The bulk of the earnings came from the exquisite crystal glass, each piece of which could sell for the astronomical price of over a thousand taels.

There were too many wealthy people in Yangzhou City. There were hundreds of Spirit Martial Realm martial artists alone, and which Spirit Martial Realm martial artist did not possess a fortune worth tens of thousands of taels of silver?

However, after this incident, Mu Hu also understood that crystal glass was an industry of enormous profits. As a mere sixth-level Qi Martial Realm martial artist, he could not protect it.

Without a backer, once the business grew larger, the Four Great Families of Yangzhou City and the major gangs and factions would surely come to demand their share.

After pondering for a long time, Mu Hu decided to find himself a backer.

That backer was the Divine Arrow, Liu Canglan!!

Mu Hu himself had been a retired veteran from Broken Blade Horizon in the north of Snow Moon Kingdom, one of the earlier batches of soldiers led by Liu Canglan.

His son had even joined the Crimson Blood Iron Cavalry personally founded by Liu Canglan.

It could be said that Mu Hu's family had countless ties to Broken Blade City and Liu Canglan.

If the crystal glass business were placed under the name of the Divine Arrow Liu Canglan and the Crimson Blood Iron Cavalry, they would not need to fear the Four Great Families of Yangzhou City.

That was because Liu Canglan was not only a beloved general, but also a Profound Martial Realm expert capable of walking through the air!!

Mu Hu told Gu Yi about this idea.

Gu Yi agreed with it as well.

Gu Yi was not worried that Liu Canglan would swallow up the crystal glass business.

Because he knew the plot, he knew that Liu Canglan was unlike the greedy clans and gangs of Yangzhou City. He possessed noble character and had devoted his entire life to Broken Blade Horizon, resisting the invasion of Moyue Kingdom. He was deeply beloved by the people of northern Snow Moon Kingdom.

Everyone in Snow Moon Kingdom knew the name of the "Divine Arrow"!!

He would not abandon his principles for such petty profits.

Having made up his mind, Mu Hu immediately prepared to ride north to Broken Blade City and seek an audience with General Liu Canglan.

As for Gu Yi, he remained in Qingshan Town. He also kept seventy thousand taels of silver, equivalent to seven thousand taels of gold.

Converted into the currency of Douluo Continent, seven thousand taels of gold were worth at least ten thousand Gold Soul Coins.

With such a large sum of money, Gu Yi bought two pieces of thousand-year Whale Rubber and more than ten pieces of hundred-year Whale Rubber from the apothecary.

With the energy from this Whale Rubber, Gu Yi cultivated in seclusion for several days and broke through the threshold of 2,000 jin in one stroke, entering the second level of the Qi Martial Realm!

Sorry, the update was a little late.