Whale Rubber

At dusk, after dinner, Ye Lan did not return to the Seventh Dormitory. Instead, he went for a walk around Nuoding City to digest his meal and see if he could find any clues about Whale Rubber.

Over the past three years, after deducting his daily expenses and the cost of buying Food System Soul Master food from Su Yuntao, Ye Lan still had more than five hundred Gold Soul Coins left. Converted by purchasing power, he would have been a multimillionaire in his previous world.

However, on Douluo Continent, many of the items Ye Lan wanted to buy were exceedingly expensive. For example, a storage Soul Tool cost tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins.

To purchase a storage Soul Tool, one also had to go to auctions in major cities.

A small city like Nuoding City had no storage Soul Tools. Even if it did, the people in a small city could not afford one.

From this perspective, Yu Xiaogang had invested heavily in Tang San. Ye Lan estimated that Twenty-Four Bridges Moonlight Night would fetch at least two hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins at auction.

Before long, Ye Lan arrived at Baibao Pavilion in Nuoding City. According to what he had learned, the Baibao Pavilion was backed by a major merchant guild from Heaven Dou City, so Ye Lan was not worried about buying fakes here.

Upon entering Baibao Pavilion, he found the decor highly classical. The floor was covered in dark red wooden planks, while ornate fire lamps hung from the ceiling and walls. Rows of transparent glass display cases held all sorts of dazzling merchandise.

When the attendants at Baibao Pavilion saw Ye Lan dressed like a young master, they immediately greeted him enthusiastically.

As Ye Lan browsed Baibao Pavilion, he listened to the attendant's explanations and gained a rough understanding of its goods.

Aside from a small number of items for Soul Masters, most of Baibao Pavilion's merchandise consisted of high-end luxury goods.

Ye Lan looked up at the friendly, sweet-looking woman of around twenty and asked with wide, puzzled eyes, "Big sister, do you have any Whale Rubber here?"

At his form of address, the woman immediately beamed. Still, she maintained enough professional composure not to laugh aloud. "Just call me Lily. As for Whale Rubber, we recently received a piece that has some age to it!"

Then Lily realized that Whale Rubber was not something someone Ye Lan's age could use, and she looked at him with puzzlement.

Seeing the confusion in Lily's eyes, Ye Lan explained, "My uncle asked me to buy him some Whale Rubber. Is there something wrong with it?"

"Pfft, nothing. It just won't do anything if someone your age eats it." Lily covered her mouth and laughed.

"Come on, I'll take you to the second floor. Whale Rubber isn't cheap!"

Ye Lan followed Lily to the second floor of Baibao Pavilion and finally saw the Whale Rubber he had long dreamed of: a yellow, translucent lump.

Lily introduced it to him. "This piece of Whale Rubber is around five thousand years old. It's top-grade Whale Rubber. It'll definitely work for your uncle. But it's rather expensive—three hundred Gold Soul Coins, no bargaining."

Ye Lan picked up the Whale Rubber and examined it closely. He sniffed it, but it had no particular smell. There was no doubt that this was the Whale Rubber from the original story.

If the true use of Whale Rubber were exposed, this piece would never have appeared in Nuoding City. Its price would not have been three hundred Gold Soul Coins either; it would have increased by at least tenfold.

Ye Lan did not hesitate any longer. He took out the exact amount of Gold Soul Coins from his backpack and bought the Whale Rubber. Lily had not expected him to pay so readily.

The commission from this sale was considerable, so Lily happily helped Ye Lan pack the Whale Rubber in a gift box.

Once he had the Whale Rubber, Ye Lan stopped browsing. He said goodbye to Lily and left Baibao Pavilion under her reluctant gaze.

After leaving Baibao Pavilion, Ye Lan remained perfectly calm, strolling back toward Nuoding Academy as casually as usual.

Ye Lan was not foolish enough to look like he was carrying a fortune. This world was not so peaceful, and a treasure worth several hundred Gold Soul Coins was enough to draw the covetous eyes of low-level Soul Masters.

Though Ye Lan was not afraid of Soul Masters in their teens, he could not be bothered to invite trouble.

After arriving at Nuoding Academy, Ye Lan planned to return to his dormitory to gather what he needed, take a bath, and then head to the academy's Back Mountain to absorb the Whale Rubber.

When he arrived at the Seventh Dormitory, most of its layout remained the same as before. The difference was that Tang San and Xiao Wu's beds had been placed together. The two shared a single set of bedding, and the raised portion in the middle of it looked like a bundle.

Ye Lan found this rather amusing. A soul several decades old and a soul a hundred thousand years old were playing house as children. No wonder they loved each other so desperately—they had already been sleeping in the same bed under the same blanket since they were six.

Ye Lan stopped paying attention to Tang San and Xiao Wu. He packed the things he needed, took a bath, and headed to the Back Mountain.

Before long, Ye Lan found a suitable place to make a fire. After building a fire pit, he placed a stone slab over the bonfire.

Once the stone slab was hot enough, he took the yellow Whale Rubber from its box and placed it on the scorching stone. Before long, the Whale Rubber began to give off a fragrance and soften.

When the Whale Rubber had softened enough to swallow, Ye Lan swiftly picked it up and stuffed it directly into his mouth despite the heat.

The scorching Whale Rubber made Ye Lan's tongue writhe in pain. He grabbed the water skin beside him and gulped down cold water furiously to cool his mouth.

Before long, Ye Lan's body began to react. His blood became extremely feverish, and his skin grew hot enough to faintly burn.

Ye Lan's mouth and tongue felt parched, as though he were about to breathe fire! After taking one last large gulp of spring water, he sat cross-legged and began cultivating the Meditation Method.

This cultivation session differed from the past. It felt as though a stream of heat was constantly surging wildly through his body. Ye Lan suppressed the irritation in his heart and used the gentle Soul Power of Blue Silver Grass to encircle and suppress it.

As Ye Lan held down the feverish heat, the five-thousand-year Whale Rubber began to reveal its true effects.

The Whale Rubber slowly improved Ye Lan's physical aptitude, making the meridians through which his Soul Power circulated more resilient.

The most obvious improvement was to his body itself. The violent medicinal power of the Whale Rubber comprehensively enhanced Ye Lan's physical condition.

The next morning, Ye Lan awoke from a night of agitation.

The feverish heat throughout the night had soaked his clothes with sweat, leaving them clinging to his back. The morning breeze cooled him pleasantly, and he felt refreshed from head to toe.

What excited Ye Lan even more was that the Whale Rubber's effects were obvious. Though his Soul Power cultivation speed had only increased by ten percent, that was exceedingly precious to him when every second mattered.

His physical condition had improved the most, rising by around thirty percent. If Ye Lan could absorb his first Soul Ring now, he could surpass the absorption limit for a first Soul Ring and reach one under six hundred years.

The sudden increase in his physical condition made the weight he carried feel somewhat light.

It seemed he would need to raise his daily weight training to fifty jin in the future. Only that amount of weight would make the training meaningful.

On the other side, after class, Tang San went to find Yu Xiaogang.

After accepting Tang San as his disciple, Yu Xiaogang's spirit had completely changed from his former dejection. He looked full of energy, just like the continent's Number One Theory Master.

The master looked at Tang San with satisfaction and asked, "Have you gotten used to living in the dormitory? If you're not used to it, Xiao San, you can live with your teacher."

Hearing that, Tang San thought of the adorable girl, Xiao Wu, and quickly shook his head. "No need, Teacher! I'm doing quite well living by myself. By the way, Teacher, do you know Ye Lan?"