A fierce tiger's roar thundered through the forest for a thousand meters in every direction. A terrifying kingly aura blanketed the woods, and some weaker Soul Beasts fled for their lives.
The roar echoed for a long time, then abruptly cut off.
Soon, rustling sounds came from the trees. Ye Tian emerged from the bushes, filthy from head to toe, with a long rope made of fur gripped in his hand.
As Ye Tian pulled hard, the corpse of a Dark Giant Tiger more than ten meters tall came crawling out of the woods. Looking at the beast behind him, even with his greatly increased strength, he felt exhausted.
Lately, he had been taking all sorts of jobs just so he could go on a buying spree in Heaven Dou City. It had been a month since the day he consumed the Whale Rubber, and he had already saved up ten thousand Gold Soul Coins.
Once he hauled this Dark Giant Tiger back, he planned to sleep for several days.
You didn't know the cost of firewood and rice until you ran a household.
The nobles treated Whale Rubber like an aphrodisiac, driving its price higher and higher as if money meant nothing to them. Ye Tian had asked around before. The apothecaries hadn't seen ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber in a decade. The highest grade they had was only five-thousand-year Whale Rubber.
After spending over an hour dragging the thousand-jin Dark Giant Tiger to the quest center, Ye Tian collected his reward and immediately found a hotel. He washed up properly, then burrowed into bed and fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke again and asked a staff member, he learned that he'd slept for three whole days and nights. Only then did Ye Tian realize that his Soul Power had made a tremendous leap, reaching level forty-six.
One level every month and a half. If word of that got out, who knew how many Soul Ancestors would drop their jaws in shock?
At Ye Tian's terrifying rate of cultivation, he would become a Soul King in six months at most.
Ye Tian knew he had pushed himself too hard this time. Any further results wouldn't be nearly as significant. He spent the next ten days on the road, arriving at Heaven Dou City, the heart of the Heaven Dou Empire.
It truly lived up to its reputation as one of the only two royal capitals on the Douluo Continent. Soul Masters made up nearly one-fifth of the people coming and going.
Ye Tian continued his buying spree for Whale Rubber at the apothecaries. Perhaps because he spent so freely, one shopkeeper took the initiative to share an inside tip with him.
"Young master, the Tiandou City Auction House will hold its annual auction in half a month. I hear they'll be auctioning off a batch of Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber brought in from the sea."
"Really?"
"Of course. This isn't a secret among the medicinal herb merchants in Heaven Dou City."
"What qualifications do I need to attend?"
"My shop happens to have an extra invitation. I can tell you're remarkably strong, young master. A team from my shop is planning to gather some rare medicinal herbs in Sunset Forest. Would you be willing to escort them there?"
"What herbs are you after?" Ye Tian didn't immediately reject the shopkeeper's offer.
Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber was at least ten times more effective than the thousand-year variety after refinement. What's more, no one had discovered the uses of Whale Rubber yet, so he had a good chance of getting a bargain.
A treasure had practically landed right at his doorstep. There was no way he'd watch it slip away.
Soul Beasts in Sunset Forest only reached level sixty at most. With his current strength, he could escape if things went wrong. That was what gave him the confidence to hear the shopkeeper out.
"In the den of a thirty-thousand-year Frost Tiger Beast, there are three Frost Blood Grass plants. We only want the herbs; we won't take so much as a hair of anything else."
"If you agree, the shop will also pay you three thousand Gold Soul Coins and give you an invitation to the auction. How does that sound?"
"Fine. Let me know when you're leaving." After giving it some thought, Ye Tian accepted the offer.
"Please come by the shop at noon in five days, young master."
Ye Tian took the temporary identity token the shopkeeper offered and turned to leave.
Those five days would give him just enough time to refine the Whale Rubber he had on hand and build up his strength.
After Ye Tian had gone some distance, a young man who had been listening silently beside them looked up at the shopkeeper, his eyes still carrying a hint of defiance.
"Dad, why were you so polite to that guy?"
"And that invitation was the only one we had. You just gave it away?"
"What do you know!" The shopkeeper glared at his good-for-nothing son, his words full of exasperated contempt.
"Do you know who that young master was?"
"No idea!"
"He definitely wasn't some noble or scion of a great family. His face looked completely unfamiliar!"
The boy answered with such righteous confidence that the shopkeeper's temper flared. The more he looked at his son's innocent expression, the angrier he got. In the end, he couldn't take it anymore and slapped him.
Smack! The boy winced and clutched the back of his head, his clear eyes clouded with confusion.
"Dad, why'd you hit me?"
The foolish boy had no idea why he'd been hit.
If the shopkeeper hadn't been childhood sweethearts with his wife, and if the brat's face hadn't looked eighty percent like his mother's, he would've wondered whether the midwife had switched babies at birth.
How had a man as sharp as him ended up with such a stupid son?
With a sigh, the shopkeeper had no choice but to break down the reasoning and hammer it into his son's head.
"Have you noticed there's been more medicinal material from Soul Beasts coming into the shop lately?"
"Dad, didn't you say Soul Beast materials have been plummeting in price? What's that got to do with that guy?"
The shopkeeper felt that every extra glance at his rebellious son would take years off his life. So he stopped looking at the idiot and explained on his own.
"If you'd paid the slightest attention to what's happening outside, you'd know a quest fanatic has arrived recently. He's hunted several ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts. That young master just now was the one."
"Even though we hired other Soul Masters, having that young master with us will make the trip much safer. Besides, that invitation isn't much use to us. It's clearly more worthwhile to trade it for a favor."
"That young master has been buying Whale Rubber lately, and we happen to know something he doesn't. Over time, that kind of connection becomes part of our network."
The boy nodded as though he understood. He seemed to have grasped his father's point, though it would probably take him many days to fully figure it out.
The shopkeeper sighed and rubbed the back of the boy's head, a trace of fondness in his eyes.
"I've kept you too sheltered."
"Next time I go out to gather herbs, I'll have your second uncle take you with him."
"Great!" The boy cheered. He'd long since grown tired of being cooped up in the apothecary. "Thanks, Dad!"
Ye Tian returned to his lodgings and refined and consumed all the thousand-year Whale Rubber he had. Feeling his physique grow stronger by another thirty percent, he looked forward to the legendary Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber all the more.
Just then, a system notification appeared.
"Please prepare yourself, host. Dream entry will begin again tonight."
Only then did Ye Tian realize that he hadn't entered a dream in three months. He wondered how much time had passed for Dong'er.
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