Whale Rubber! It Was Actually Whale Rubber!

The night by the sea was somewhat different. Stars dotted the sky, and the moon hung like a curved hook, yet tonight it seemed tinged with a trace of blood-red.

Bonfires burned all across Moon Bay, and the villagers danced their village's unique dances around them.

The fiery, beautiful young women pulled Cheng Xiao into the crowd. At first, he was a little embarrassed, but he was soon swept up by the joyful atmosphere. Holding hands with the young women, he awkwardly joined in the dancing.

What troubled Cheng Xiao, however, was that these young women loved feeling him up. They had practically examined every inch of his body.

How could Cheng Xiao be a timid man? It would be impolite not to return the favor. Amid peals of laughter, Cheng Xiao sampled the rouge of every one of the ladies.

Yet Cheng Xiao felt rather melancholy. Watching those ladies leave with satisfied expressions, he could not figure out who had gotten the better deal.

Seeing this, Lyu Han leaned close and whispered a few words into Cheng Yu's ear.

"Ah? What did you say?" The banquet was too noisy for Cheng Yu to hear clearly. Holding up his wine cup, he cocked his ear and shouted.

"I said your nephew is quite popular. Maybe your share will go up this year!"

"Hahaha, life isn't easy, life isn't easy!" Cheng Yu laughed heartily, clinked cups, and drained his wine.

Cheng Xiao sighed.

After growing tired of playing, Cheng Xiao slipped away and wandered around at random. When he saw people carving up the Demon Whale corpses, he stopped to watch.

The butchers' knife skills were exceptional. Every cut was like a work of art, so masterful that it left people speechless. Any deeper would be too much, any shallower too little.

Not bad—it was pretty stress-relieving. Not much worse than trimming donkey hooves.

Demon Whale meat was continuously sent into the cauldrons over the bonfires, where it was boiled into whale oil. The intoxicating fragrance added a touch of wonder to the bonfire celebration.

Cheng Xiao became completely absorbed in watching. One Demon Whale corpse after another was processed, yet he did not grow tired of it in the slightest.

He did not know how much time had passed when he suddenly saw a butcher split open a Demon Whale's skull. There was nothing surprising about that; they seemed to do it with every corpse.

This time, however, the butcher's actions made Cheng Xiao's pupils contract. The man reached into the Demon Whale's skull, pulled out a golden crystal, and casually tossed it onto a nearby pile of remains.

Whale Rubber! It was actually Whale Rubber!

"Wait, you're just throwing it away?" Cheng Xiao asked in astonishment.

"That thing?" The butcher glanced at the golden crystal he had tossed aside. "It's a lump that grows in a Demon Whale's head. It's useless and can't be cooked."

Upon hearing that, Cheng Xiao's breathing caught. A lump? Useless? That was Whale Rubber!

Whale Rubber could raise the Soul Ring absorption limit of a Soul Master by an entire tier!

And they were just throwing it away?

But Cheng Xiao quickly realized that Whale Rubber was only mentioned in the original story ten thousand years later.

In this era, nearly everyone rigidly believed that Soul Ring absorption had a maximum age limit. Only a small number believed that the absorption limit was related to the quality of one's Martial Soul, physical strength, and spiritual power, but that view was not mainstream and was not accepted by the public.

In such an environment of understanding, no one believed an item could increase the Soul Ring absorption limit!

Had Whale Rubber's effects only been discovered over the next ten thousand years? Or had the Sun Moon Continent researched it, and only after the continental collision did people on the Douluo Continent learn about it?

Thinking of that, Cheng Xiao could no longer suppress the excitement in his heart.

This was Whale Rubber. Ten thousand years later, there would not be a single Soul Master who did not want it.

He took two deep breaths and forced himself to remain calm before pointing at the golden Whale Rubber. "Can you give that to me? I'm rather curious about it. I can buy it."

"Forget about paying. If you want it, take it. This thing is trash. How could I charge you for it?" The butcher waved his hand dismissively.

Everyone present today was a purchaser on good terms with the village. If people found out that he had "sold" trash to them, it would damage his reputation. He would never do something like that. He had a bright future ahead of him and had no need to associate with those people who loafed around Whale Hunting City.

Holding the golden Whale Rubber in his hand, Cheng Xiao gently stroked it with his fingers. Its surface was quite smooth, and when he pressed his fingernail into it, it was as hard as stone.

When he returned to Lyu Han and his uncle, Cheng Xiao still found it unreal. He had obtained Whale Rubber, something that would make Soul Masters ten thousand years later drool with envy, without spending a single coin.

"Eh? Why are you holding that thing?" Lyu Han looked at the Whale Rubber in Cheng Xiao's hand with utter disgust.

"Hm? What is that?" Cheng Yu's eyes were bleary with drunkenness, and he could barely speak clearly.

"That thing grows in the brains of some sick Demon Whales. It greatly affects the quality of whale oil. It has to be removed before the meat goes into the cauldron, or it'll ruin an entire cauldron of whale oil. Even the cauldron itself will be ruined. Otherwise, the whole batch of whale oil will have to be dumped." Lyu Han said with a drunken hiccup.

Cheng Xiao's heart stirred as he asked, "Is there a lot of this stuff?"

"Not really. At most, one or two pieces come out of a batch. Sometimes there isn't even one in an entire batch. But better safe than sorry. When boiling whale oil, the worst thing is accidentally mixing this stuff in. The oil will stink and give off thick smoke, making it completely unsellable."

Cheng Xiao counted the travel time on his fingers. In other words, there could be at most three batches a year.

Did that mean they could produce as many as six pieces of Whale Rubber in a year? Damn! This was the road to riches!

"Hiss!"

It was a little unbelievable.

But on second thought, Moon Bay controlled half the whale oil production of the entire Douluo Continent. Producing at most six pieces was not all that strange. After all, when their luck was bad, they might not get even one piece for years in a row.

Oh, no. For the villagers, that should count as good luck, since it meant they had not ruined any whale oil.

How strange. Was this what they called one man's poison, another man's honey?

"What about the ones produced before?" Cheng Xiao wanted to collect more.

"They were either thrown back into the sea along with the Demon Whale remains or tossed to the village children as toys. Who knows?" Lyu Han said indifferently.

Cheng Xiao's mouth twitched. What a waste.

"Uncle Lyu, I like this thing. It's golden and quite pretty." Cheng Xiao played with the Whale Rubber and smiled. "You don't know this, but I love collecting strange stones. This thing is as hard as a rock, so I want to keep it for fun."

"How about this? Please keep an eye out for them each year. I'd like to collect them and take them home as keepsakes. Of course, I won't let you do it for nothing. Uncle, right?" Cheng Xiao nudged Cheng Yu with his elbow.

Cheng Yu managed the family business in perfect order, so his emotional intelligence was naturally not low. He had sensed something was off from the very beginning. His nephew liked collecting strange stones? Bullshit. How had he never known that?

The excuse even sounded convincing. Anyone who did not know better might truly believe he was some young master with peculiar hobbies.

And his nephew was asking him to play along. This thing was definitely not ordinary!

Cheng Yu immediately understood. He threw an arm around Lyu Han's neck. "Old Lyu, this is the future head of our Cheng Family, so you'd better take it seriously. Don't you like drinking? Every year when I come here, I'll bring you a jug of Imperial Jade Liquid. Hic, it smells amazing."

"Tomorrow, we brothers will head to Whale Hunting City. I heard a batch of good merchandise just arrived there. Hehe, we've been at sea for over twenty days and we're going crazy from holding it in..."

Upon hearing Cheng Yu's words, Lyu Han's eyes immediately lit up. He readily agreed. "Don't worry. I'll ask around first thing tomorrow morning and see whether this year's batch produced any."