"Grandpa, I'm fine—better than fine!" After Feng Baiyu absorbed the Gold of Life, he told his grandfather, who had been standing guard nearby, everything that had changed.
Of course, he didn't mention how he'd bet on the Phoenix God coming to his rescue.
After Feng Qingluan learned what had happened to his grandson, he couldn't help marveling at the wonders of the Gold of Life.
This thing really was even more useful than a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone!
But it was a once-in-a-millennium treasure. He wasn't confident he'd ever come across another one.
"Bai Yu, you must never tell anyone about something this precious!" Feng Qingluan said seriously. "Even if it can't compare to a Deity, it's still more tempting to a Titled Douluo than anything else!"
A Deity couldn't be stolen; at most, one could destroy it.
But whether the Gold of Life could be stolen was another matter entirely!
Feng Baiyu understood, of course. He nodded. "Grandpa, I'm going to focus on cultivation from now on. I won't leave Feng Mansion until I've obtained my Second Soul Ring."
"Good." Feng Qingluan nodded. "Let me check on you. It's time I found the Soul Beast you'll need for your Second Soul Ring."
As he spoke, Feng Qingluan examined Feng Baiyu's body.
His grandson's physical strength had improved considerably, and he could now withstand an older Soul Ring.
But tripling his physical strength didn't mean he could absorb a Soul Ring three times as old. Soul Beasts had several stages of qualitative change, after all, and the physical strength needed to handle each one didn't increase by addition, but by multiplication.
After gauging his grandson's physical strength, Feng Qingluan said, "Once your Soul Power reaches level twenty and you've finished eating all this Whale Rubber, you'll be able to handle an eight-thousand-year Soul Ring!"
Feng Baiyu's Soul Power was clearly only at level sixteen, yet his physical strength was already comparable to a Soul Elder's. If he ate all that Whale Rubber, wouldn't he reach the level of a Soul Ancestor, or even a Soul King?
After saying this, Feng Qingluan was startled by his own words. He murmured, "So this is what it means to have the makings of a god?"
If he found another Spirit Bone, could his grandson's Second Soul Ring be ten thousand years old?
Feng Qingluan glanced at the Spirit Bone he'd prepared, but in the end, he gave up on the idea.
It was a fine treasure, but it wasn't worthy of his precious grandson.
Once the grandfather and grandson had finished talking, Feng Qingluan ordered the servants to bring in the food.
Feng Baiyu hadn't eaten for two and a half days, but he didn't feel hungry. Still, seeing a whole table of his favorite dishes, he ate slowly and unhurriedly.
Mealtimes were a rare chance for him and his grandfather to share a tender moment.
At other times, even when they sat together and chatted, they only ever talked about cultivation.
After eating his fill, Feng Baiyu went back to cultivate.
Now that the Gold of Life had strengthened his body, Feng Baiyu finally got to experience the cultivation speed of a true genius!
He meditated for an hour, then compared his progress with how he'd done before.
"My Soul Power is growing three times as fast as before, on its own. But with the medicine, my cultivation speed is a little more than double that." After sensing the change, Feng Baiyu had a clear idea of where he stood.
The boost to his cultivation speed worked multiplicatively, but the things he used to assist his cultivation boosted it additively.
Feng Baiyu's cultivation talent had been 2.5, and using medicine had raised it to 10. Now, his cultivation speed alone was already 10. With the medicine added, it had shot straight up to 20!
The Gold of Life was terrifying indeed!
Feng Baiyu's cultivation entered another period of rapid growth.
Two days later, Feng Baiyu began using Whale Rubber to help improve his physical strength.
He tried some of the stockpile he'd had on hand, only to find that the thousand-year Whale Rubber had almost no effect on him anymore.
"Just as I thought." Feng Baiyu put the thousand-year Whale Rubber away.
Whale Rubber's effects diminished over time. At his current level, Whale Rubber just over a thousand years old no longer did much for him.
Feng Baiyu's physical strength was already extremely high. A mere thousand-year Whale Rubber might raise the age limit of the Soul Ring he could absorb by three to five years at most.
Feng Baiyu put away the thousand-year Whale Rubber and turned his attention to the five-thousand-year Whale Rubber.
But when he started eating it, he found that it wasn't much better.
The effects of the Gold of Life and Whale Rubber couldn't be perfectly combined. Still, after the Gold of Life had boosted Feng Baiyu, his efficiency at absorbing the Whale Rubber had improved quite a bit.
In less than a week, he'd be able to finish all the Whale Rubber that was over five thousand years old. As for the ten-thousand-year Whale Rubber, he'd probably use that up soon, too.
"Forget it. This will do."
Feng Baiyu thought it over briefly and decided the Whale Rubber he had was enough.
There was naturally plenty of ten-thousand-year and even hundred-thousand-year Whale Rubber in the sea, but its effects on Feng Baiyu were growing weaker and weaker. Unless he could get Whale Rubber from a million-year Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, another thousand or two years wouldn't make much difference to him.
Even if Feng Baiyu could improve a little further, where would he find—or raise—a Pure-Blooded Phoenix with just the right number of years?
To Feng Baiyu, the Soul Beast's species mattered more than its age.
He could feed a Soul Beast things that would help it cultivate and raise its age a little, but at most he'd only add a few hundred or a thousand years. Push it any further, and the Phoenix wouldn't let him raise it at his leisure.
Soul Beasts were all mortal enemies. If you gave one something that benefited its cultivation once, it might eat it. But if you tried feeding it a second time, it would either fight you to the death or kill itself.
A proud Soul Beast like the Phoenix wouldn't compromise unless something extraordinary happened.
As for developing feelings for a human... Forget it.
Feng Qingluan had been watching Feng Baiyu's progress and naturally understood that his grandson's cultivation speed would be remarkable from then on.
He'd originally expected Feng Baiyu to need more than a year to reach level twenty. Now, it looked like he could do it in half a year.
That meant Feng Qingluan had to hurry and find his grandson a Second Soul Ring.
"Perhaps... I should rally a few of my old brothers." Feng Qingluan thought it over. Rather than search for a Soul Ring alone, he might as well mobilize some of his old friends from the Spirit Hall.
He happened to have a twenty-thousand-year Spirit Bone. He could simply put out a reward!
Whoever caught a Phoenix and brought it back could take it in exchange.
The more Feng Qingluan thought about it, the more reliable the plan seemed. This was the fastest way to find a suitable Soul Ring for his grandson.
After making his decision, Feng Qingluan headed straight outside. He said to the steward, "Shui Duanliu, put out a notice. Anyone who brings in a captured Pure-Blooded Phoenix will receive a Spirit Bone no younger than the Phoenix in exchange."
"Ah?" Shui Duanliu was taken aback by how lavishly the family head was making his offer. "Family Head, isn't that too generous?"
Plenty of people in the world would probably be willing to trade a Soul Beast for a Spirit Bone of the same age!
Even if it was a Phoenix!
"Just do it!" Feng Qingluan looked at Shui Duanliu and smiled. "Shui Guan, I only care about the result, not the process. If you can catch one with your clan without delaying the young master's absorption of his Soul Ring, then go ahead!"
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