Over the next few days, Su Mo often visited Dorm Seven to see Tang San. He successfully copied the Mysterious Heaven Skill, then handed it to Tian Meng to study.
Tian Meng did not disappoint.
After spending nearly a month focused on the Mysterious Heaven Skill and meditation methods, and combining them with Su Mo's Ultimate Wood and his first soul skill, Wood Element Control, he actually cobbled together a three-in-one meditation method that cultivated soul power, spiritual power, and physique.
However, this new cultivation method was still far from mature.
Its cultivation efficiency was only half that of the previous method.
For the time being, Su Mo named it Threefold Return to Origin, Version 1.0.
Then he kept his external brain, Tian Meng, working on further research. These days, Tian Meng worked overtime every day, and his resentment could have sustained ten Evil Sword Immortals.
Meanwhile.
Over the course of that month, the Three Great Laws of Martial Souls that Su Mo had spread swept across the continent from Nuoding City like a prairie fire.
Grandmaster Tian Meng's popularity also gradually began to show.
Whale rubber consequently sold like crazy, its price climbing relentlessly. Even after rising dozens or hundreds of times over, demand still outstripped supply.
Some people even planned to form groups and head out to sea to harvest whale rubber.
During this period, quite a few people came to visit him as the disseminator of these theories. To reduce his own influence, Su Mo turned them all down and entrusted Nuoding Academy with handling every inquiry.
To avoid drawing Spirit Hall's attention, he did not even go to have his rank assessed.
After all, Tang Hao was still around. If he discovered that Su Mo had established ties with Spirit Hall, he would surely do everything possible to snuff him out.
Besides, if he went to Spirit Hall, how would he keep screwing over Tang San?
Xiao Chenyu did visit once, bringing plenty of Gold Soul Coins and a deed to a property in Nuoding City.
After some thought, Su Mo declined them.
Instead, he mentioned that he came from Holy Soul Village. Xiao Chenyu immediately caught his meaning and had his city lord father send people into the countryside to develop Holy Soul Village.
Old Jack was absolutely delighted.
In addition, Yu Xiaogang had been recovering in the hospital all this time. With a caregiver looking after him, Tang San did not need to attend to his teacher's daily needs constantly, though he still visited Yu Xiaogang often.
Tang San had no idea that his own father was responsible.
So every time he visited, he asked who the culprit was and declared that he would avenge his teacher, making the "Grandmaster's" eyelids twitch.
Now that was a display of filial devotion that could bring the house down.
If Tang Hao heard about it, he would probably come looking for trouble again.
Two such displays of filial devotion in a row-truly unmatched.
"Ugh-!"
That day, Su Mo was taking a dump when he suddenly felt a familiar, scorching energy surge into his body, as though it would melt him.
"Fuck! Again? Froggy, are you trying to fucking murder your own dad?!"
Agonizing pain spread throughout his body.
It was even worse than last time.
Even his physique, tempered by ten-thousand-year whale glue, could not withstand it. The soul ring Froggy had absorbed was definitely over three thousand years old.
"Brother Sky Dream, help me suppress it..."
Feeling as though he was about to explode, Su Mo immediately called to Tian Meng for help.
Tian Meng, who was working overtime on his research, instinctively wanted to complain when he heard Su Mo assigning him another task. But when he noticed Su Mo's abnormal condition, he was startled.
"How did taking a shit turn into this?"
Without waiting for Su Mo to answer, Tian Meng unsealed some of his energy to ease the turmoil inside Su Mo's body.
Soon, the turmoil subsided, and the pain inside Su Mo turned into a warm current that nourished every meridian throughout his body.
"I'm alive again..."
Su Mo let out a comfortable groan, wiped himself with some paper, and pulled up his pants. Only then did he summon his second soul ring.
Hum!
A ring of deep purple light rose from beneath his feet.
"Holy shit! Four thousand years!" Tian Meng's cry exploded inside Su Mo's mind.
"Fuck, this little frog is as unreliable as ever!"
Su Mo could not help complaining. "Four hundred years last time, and now four thousand? Don't tell me the next one will be forty thousand!"
He felt a little panicked.
He wondered whether he should put Froggy in solitary confinement.
At the very least, he needed to give him a thorough talking-to so he would not dare absorb soul rings recklessly.
"Quick, check the soul skill!" Tian Meng urged curiously.
At that, Su Mo examined Froggy's second soul skill.
A moment later, he said, "The soul skill is called Three-Leaf Clover. When attached to a soul ring, it can absorb the ring's age. Every year absorbed produces one clover. The clovers can be transferred to other soul rings, including other people's, and converted back into soul ring age."
"Uh, what good is that? Your Returning Peaches with Plums can do that too, can't it?"
Tian Meng was somewhat disappointed.
Su Mo did not dispute this. "True. Using Returning Peaches with Plums consumes gratitude, but it works without anyone noticing. Three-Leaf Clover can't do that."
"Huh? Wait! No!"
Su Mo suddenly realized he had overlooked something crucial. "At first glance, Three-Leaf Clover is a soul skill, but it can also serve as a currency."
"A currency?" Tian Meng was a little bewildered.
Human monetary systems fell outside his knowledge.
Su Mo's expression was now fervent. "Exactly. Three-leaf clovers have the properties of currency. Used properly, they could not only buy things worth far more than their own value, but even overturn the entire continent's financial system."
"Really? Isn't that a bit exaggerated?"
Tian Meng voiced his doubts. Even a Titled Douluo would not dare make such a claim. How could some inexplicable currency accomplish it?
Seeing that Tian Meng did not understand, Su Mo could not be bothered to explain.
He simply said, "Brother Sky Dream, start gradually releasing the seal on the Sharingan's first soul ring."
"Are you crazy?"
Tian Meng exclaimed, "Your body can't withstand having it unsealed directly... Uh, don't tell me you want to turn it into three-leaf clovers?"
"Exactly!"
Seeing how confident Su Mo was, Tian Meng no longer hesitated. He gradually released the seal on the soul ring, while Su Mo continuously converted the age of the Sharingan's first soul ring into three-leaf clovers.
One, two, three...
One hundred thousand, two hundred thousand...
Nine hundred and ninety thousand...
Su Mo divided the remaining surplus evenly among the four soul rings he currently possessed, bringing all of them to the limit of four thousand years.
He still had nine hundred and ninety thousand three-leaf clovers left.
"Tsk, tsk. Just a little short of being a millionaire."
With that remark, Su Mo planted them in the open space at Frog Home for the time being.
He certainly had enough three-leaf clovers, but his strength was still insufficient to step onto the stage. There was little he could do in the short term.
"Hm?"
Just after Su Mo used his thoughts to plant the nine hundred and ninety thousand three-leaf clovers in Frog Home, he discovered that the two soul skills had actually triggered a chain reaction.
A new effect had appeared-Plantation.
It could produce an annual yield of one percent.
In other words, if Su Mo planted one million three-leaf clovers this year, he could harvest ten thousand three-leaf clovers a year later.
"Holy shit! How is this any different from putting money in a bank?"
Su Mo was stunned.
He became even more convinced that the proper use of three-leaf clovers was to develop them as currency.
He also thought of something else.
If Froggy absorbed another soul ring beyond what his body could withstand, he could convert it directly into three-leaf clovers.
"Huh? In that case, I should just absorb ten-thousand-year or even Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings from now on." Su Mo's eyes lit up.
But a moment later, he deflated again.
He currently lacked the strength to hunt soul beasts over ten thousand years old.
"Su Mo! Su Mo! Stop spacing out. Your little frog nephew has sent you such a wonderful gift. Shouldn't you check on his travels?"
The chibi Tian Meng blinked his little eyes.
Clearly, he was looking forward to reading Froggy's journal.
"All right, let's take a look." Su Mo was very curious about it too.