The bitter taste in his mouth made Mo Li furrow his brow.
It felt like he'd just eaten a lump of old mud. The texture was truly awful.
Once he had swallowed it all, a wave of dryness and heat rose in his stomach, a faint warmth spreading from within.
At the same time, streams of heat flowed along his meridians and out into his limbs.
Mo Li quietly activated the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Art to dissolve this power.
Less than half an hour later, Mo Li opened his eyes and slowly breathed out a mouthful of stale air, feeling the strength surging through every part of his body.
This subtle sensation of his body growing stronger left him feeling incredibly full of energy.
"Are you done?" Liu Erlong, who had been waiting for quite some time, asked from nearby.
"I'm done."
Mo Li smiled. "Now my second Soul Ring can definitely reach more than two thousand five hundred years."
A second Soul Ring of two thousand five hundred years!
Liu Erlong's expression trembled at his answer. Almost instinctively, she wanted to say it was impossible!
But she had just tried it herself. The Whale Rubber, after being refined, really did improve one's physical constitution.
Still, no matter how you looked at it, Mo Li was only about to obtain his second Soul Ring.
If he really intended to acquire a Soul Ring that was over a thousand years old, it would send shockwaves through the Soul Master World!
After all, no one had ever seen a second Soul Ring that was a thousand years old or more. The moment it appeared, it would attract attention from every quarter, and might even prompt secret moves behind the scenes.
Liu Erlong had roamed the continent for many years. She didn't fuss over a lot of things, but that didn't mean she was foolish.
"Do you know how much of a stir it'll cause if your second Soul Ring is a thousand years old?" Liu Erlong asked, full of worry.
Mo Li looked at Liu Erlong and nodded helplessly.
"But there's a limit to what I can do. I can't deliberately look for a Soul Beast under a thousand years old just to absorb its Soul Ring. That would be such a waste."
"But don't worry. I have other plans for later." Mo Li let her in on a little of his thinking, hoping to keep Liu Erlong from worrying too much.
Liu Erlong sighed. She was finding Mo Li harder and harder to understand, but she hadn't forgotten what he'd said earlier—words that had moved her deeply.
Mo Li would never hurt her. She believed that with all her heart.
"All right, then."
"What do you plan to do with this piece of Ten Thousand Year Whale Rubber?"
Liu Erlong looked at the last piece of Ten Thousand Year Whale Rubber left on the table.
"Whale Rubber works best the first time, and I don't need much more of it. Let's give this piece to Jiang Zhu. It'll give her a considerable boost when she gets her Third Soul Ring."
Mo Li had already decided how to use the two pieces of Whale Rubber. Since Liu Erlong had asked, he had no intention of keeping it from her.
"Mm." Liu Erlong didn't ask anything else.
The matter of the Whale Rubber was settled, but the two of them still sat at the table.
Mo Li casually picked up the other piece of Ten Thousand Year Whale Rubber and set about refining it, while Liu Erlong watched him without blinking.
Her gaze wasn't fixed on the Whale Rubber melting and condensing beneath the black flames. Instead, she was watching Mo Li's focused face.
"How did you know Whale Rubber had this effect?"
Liu Erlong suddenly spoke up.
"Hmm?" Mo Li was focused on what he was doing and responded without thinking.
A moment later, he came back to himself. He'd actually been ready for this question, but the events of tonight had changed things. The explanation he'd prepared was suddenly hard to say.
"If I said I read it in a book, Sister Erlong, would you believe me?" Mo Li asked with a wry smile.
Aside from using that tired old excuse to dodge the question, he truly hadn't thought of a better answer yet.
But not long ago, he'd made all those earnest promises to Liu Erlong, and now he was going to deceive her again. Even if he had no choice, he still couldn't help feeling a little guilty.
"I believe you." Liu Erlong's voice held not the slightest ripple.
Mo Li looked up at Liu Erlong. The serious expression on her face left him momentarily stunned.
"Thank you," Mo Li said.
Silence fell.
After a long pause, Liu Erlong finally chuckled. "Have you forgotten what I told you in Sunset Forest?"
Mo Li replied sheepishly, "I haven't."
"Then why say that?"
"I won't do it again." Mo Li smiled.
"Much better."
After that exchange, which might have seemed baffling to an outsider, the awkwardness that had filled the room vanished.
As the flames in his hand went out, Mo Li placed the transparent gel, now fully refined, on the table.
He smiled at Liu Erlong. "Done. We'll give it to Jiang Zhu tomorrow."
"Good."
Since Liu Erlong now knew all about Whale Rubber's effects, why not strike while the iron was hot and tell her about his idea to corner the Whale Rubber market?
With that thought, Mo Li didn't hesitate. He told Liu Erlong directly about his plan to monopolize the Whale Rubber market.
"How long have you been thinking about this?" Liu Erlong asked, her expression grave.
"Ever since I learned what Whale Rubber can do."
He didn't care much about how wealthy he was, but with such a good opportunity right in front of him, he couldn't help trying to seize it.
Liu Erlong looked uneasy. After a long silence, she finally spoke. "Do you want to amass wealth?"
Mo Li didn't quite understand. Of course there were benefits to making money. Even if they didn't monopolize the Whale Rubber business, earning just one or two tenths of it would bring wealth beyond their wildest dreams.
Soul Masters were all quite wealthy, and Whale Rubber could raise the age limit of the Soul Rings they could absorb. It was a treasure Soul Masters could only dream of.
Mo Li had been about to nod, but he noticed that Liu Erlong seemed troubled, so he asked instead:
"Sister Erlong, are you worried about something? Or is there another reason?"
Liu Erlong shook her head, her gaze fixed on the table. She spoke in a low voice:
"I think this could involve too much. If the effects of Whale Rubber are exposed, we may not be able to live as peacefully as we do now."
"And how can an eight-year-old like you have thought of so much?"
Seeing Liu Erlong's inner conflict, Mo Li couldn't help feeling for her. He spoke softly:
"Sister Erlong, I respect what you think. If you don't want to get involved, then we'll leave this for later. I honestly don't care how much money I have."
"But with money, the academy could be run even better." Mo Li smiled.
Liu Erlong lifted her face and looked at Mo Li's smiling expression, feeling touched.
"You don't need to worry about any of this. I can handle it myself. I won't stop you from doing this, but I hope you'll wait until you're capable of seeing it through. Can you do that?"
"All right, I promise."
Mo Li knew what Liu Erlong was worried about. The matter of Whale Rubber wasn't especially important to him.
"You refused to look for your second Soul Ring earlier because of the Whale Rubber, didn't you?"
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you tell me? Why keep it from me?"
Liu Erlong's gaze turned stern. Mo Li felt a little embarrassed. How had they ended up back on this topic again?
"But I've told you everything now," Mo Li said helplessly.
"Hmph. Telling me beforehand and telling me afterward aren't the same thing."
With that snort, Liu Erlong had successfully seized the initiative in the matter.
Mo Li couldn't help laughing. He steered the conversation elsewhere.
"Then we can go get my Soul Ring tomorrow."
With everything ready, the thought of stepping into the realm of Soul Grandmasters the very next day set Mo Li's heart pounding with excitement.
After all, compared to accumulating wealth, improving his strength here and now was something tangible.
"Then we'll set out tomorrow."
"Good. I'll head back first."
With that, Mo Li left Liu Erlong's room and returned to his own.
As she watched Mo Li leave, Liu Erlong remained seated at the table. She still had to gather some information. Based on her original estimate, there had already been a good chance that Mo Li's second Soul Ring would be over a thousand years old.
The appearance of Whale Rubber could push the age of Mo Li's Soul Ring to an even more terrifying level.
A thousand-year second Soul Ring—and one that was nearly two thousand five hundred years old, at that.
Liu Erlong really was worried that the Spirit Hall might capture Mo Li and study him.
But things had come to this. Both a thousand-year and a two-thousand-five-hundred-year Soul Ring were purple. There wasn't much point in worrying over it now.
After all, Mo Li's stance was clear: he would never choose a Soul Beast under a thousand years old just to disguise himself.