"Everyone, listen up. Enjoy your weekend and get some good rest. We'll meet here again next week. Dismissed!"
Teacher Mu Jin's voice rang clearly in the ears of every student in Class Nine. Another week of physical training had finally come to an end.
The weekend "duel" Lin Feng and Wang Dong had planned was quietly called off, too. After that one-sided bout of hand-to-hand combat, the girl had finally gained some self-awareness.
After saying goodbye to Wang Dong, Ning Tian, and Wu Feng, Lin Feng had just walked out of the training field when he spotted Ma Xiaotao waiting not far away.
Her tall, voluptuous figure and fiery red hair stood out among the dispersing crowd of freshmen. A bright smile lit up her face.
"Sister Xiaotao!" Lin Feng hurried over to her.
"It's only been a week. Why do you look a little pale?" Ma Xiaotao naturally took his hand, concern in her voice. "Come on, I'll make sure you get some proper nourishment when we get back."
"Keep your voice down..." Lin Feng lowered his voice, half amused and half exasperated. "Don't go around telling people a guy looks weak."
"Alright, alright. Whatever you say." Ma Xiaotao smiled and leaned closer, then pulled a finely crafted, gold-embossed invitation from her bosom and waved it in front of him. "We're not going to the hot springs this week. I'm taking you somewhere nice to pick out some supplements that suit you."
"The Treasure Appraisal Fair?" Lin Feng read the gold-embossed words on the invitation.
"Right. It's an auction held by a famous merchant association in the city. Shrek City is the commercial hub of this region, so all kinds of treasures show up here..."
"But I don't have much money." Lin Feng spread his hands.
"Don't worry." Ma Xiaotao winked, her tone light and a little smug. "Our teacher will cover us. Besides, your senior sister has saved up quite a dowry. It'll be enough~"
"Your dowry? That doesn't seem right. That's supposed to be for your future..."
"What's your senior sister's is your junior brother's. What's the problem?"
"No problem..."
Ma Xiaotao naturally linked her arm through Lin Feng's and led him out of the academy.
A quarter of an hour later, the two arrived at the venue for the Treasure Appraisal Fair.
Before them stood a towering, elegant pavilion, its golden signboard bearing the three shimmering characters "Treasure Gathering Pavilion."
The building was grand and imposing, with sweeping eaves and elaborate brackets. In the dusk, it gleamed with golden splendor.
The entrance was already crowded with people, and the place was quite lively.
As they approached the front entrance, Lin Feng's gaze was drawn to the welcoming attendants standing there, but he quickly looked away.
He didn't want Ma Xiaotao catching him making even this little move. Wu Feng and Ning Tian had already given him more than enough trouble.
After they presented Yan Shaozhe's written order, the welcoming attendant's eyes immediately lit up, and her manner became especially deferential. She led them straight to the Treasure Gathering Pavilion's highest VIP floor.
As Yan Shaozhe's direct disciple—and the dean of the Martial Soul Department—Lin Feng could naturally move about here without hindrance. Everyone in the pavilion understood the weight of that status.
The auction proceeded as usual, and time slipped by.
"Honored guests, the next item up for auction is truly a hefty one."
At the host's words, two attendants slowly drew back the velvet cloth on the display platform, revealing a large, dark lump with a dim, shadowy sheen.
"One ton of thousand-year Whale Rubber! The bidding starts at two hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins." The host's voice rang out. "According to the seller, this item was made by melting and solidifying dozens of pieces of thousand-year Whale Rubber. Its outer layer was..."
"Three hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins!"
Before the host could finish the introduction, Ma Xiaotao gave the attendant standing beside her a slight nod.
The attendant understood at once and raised her bidding paddle. Her clear voice instantly drowned out the quiet chatter in the room.
"Excellent! VIP number eleven bids three hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins!" The host reacted quickly, picking up right where he'd left off. "Are any other honored guests interested in this treasure?"
The crowd murmured among themselves, then shook their heads one after another. No one else bid.
It was obvious that this black Whale Rubber wasn't worth that much.
"Any other bids? The current offer is three hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. Going once!"
"Three hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, going twice!"
"Three hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, going thrice—sold!"
The gavel fell with a crisp crack.
"Congratulations to VIP number eleven on successfully purchasing this one ton of thousand-year Whale Rubber!"
"Sister Xiaotao, is this Whale Rubber really that precious?" Lin Feng turned to her, looking puzzled.
He hadn't even heard the full explanation of its effects, so he couldn't understand why Ma Xiaotao had bid so decisively and generously.
"Heh, why the rush..." Ma Xiaotao turned to him, the corners of her lips curling into a sly smile. She lowered her voice. "You'll find out when we get back."
Her eyes gleamed. She looked like a little cat that had spotted a fresh fish, and Lin Feng's heart gave an inexplicable leap.
Even the attendant standing beside them seemed to look at them a little differently...
"There's nothing worth watching among the remaining items. Let's head back." Ma Xiaotao glanced at the catalog in her hand, which was reserved for top-tier VIPs.
"This early?"
"We have... plenty of important things to do when we get back." She winked, smiling in a way that left much unsaid.
Lin Feng didn't ask anything more, but a vague sense of impending doom stirred in his heart.
The two soon returned to the dormitory.
Without another word, Ma Xiaotao took the dark lump of Whale Rubber out of her Storage Soul Tool.
Though it was said to weigh a ton, the Whale Rubber was incredibly dense and felt astonishingly heavy.
"Xiao Feng, this Whale Rubber is a powerful tonic. It strengthens your tendons and bones, improves your physique, and helps you absorb higher-age Soul Rings. You have a Body Martial Soul, so this is exactly the kind of treasure you need." She ran her fingertips over its rough surface, her voice coaxing.
"A tonic? This stuff is pitch-black. Can you really eat it? It hasn't gone bad, has it?" Lin Feng asked skeptically.
"Don't worry. I've eaten some before, though it was only in small chunks. This stuff has to be softened slowly with high-grade flames before you can absorb it," Ma Xiaotao explained.
"High-quality thousand-year Whale Rubber should be amber-colored and about the size of a fist. This one's black and huge, so the unscrupulous merchant probably tampered with it... Still, there's a lot of it, and it was cheap. There should be plenty of good stuff inside."
As she spoke, blazing Phoenix Evil Fire surged from her palm, scorching the surface of the Whale Rubber.
Before long, the thick, black outer shell began peeling away in layers like mud, revealing a crystalline, lustrous glow within.
It wasn't the golden color she'd expected, nor even the deep yellow of legend...
It was a nearly translucent blend of black and gold.
"This is..." Ma Xiaotao's breath caught. Incredulous delight flashed in her eyes. "Ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber?!"
No, that couldn't be right. This color, this fragrance...
Ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber should be a rich, deep yellow, and its fragrance shouldn't be this strong.
As Yan Shaozhe's direct disciple, she had naturally seen countless treasures, including the exceedingly precious ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber.
But this piece before her was deep as an abyss in color and crystal-hard in texture. As its light shimmered, it seemed to pulse faintly with life...
"More than ten thousand years..." Her voice trembled with excitement as she lightly touched the warm, pliant material. "And it's so big, with such pure texture... It could very well be hundred-thousand-year Whale Rubber. We... just stumbled across an enormous bargain."
The Sea Soul Beasts were far stronger than Land Soul Beasts as a whole, and their numbers were more than ten times greater.
Whales were all overlords in their own right. The most famous among them was the million-year-old Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, a being even Di Tian feared.
That was why obtaining ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber was incredibly difficult for humans, let alone hundred-thousand-year Whale Rubber...
Before you continue