Before long, the two of them had gone from shop to shop, spending over 2,300 Gold Soul Coins to buy a large batch of Whale Rubber.
With Flender's knack for being a shrewd merchant and his silver tongue, they had even managed to buy a ten-thousand-year-quality piece of Whale Rubber at a low price. The rest, all of thousand- and hundred-year quality, came to more than twenty pieces in total.
After all, no one had yet discovered Whale Rubber's true use at this point in time, so it wasn't all that expensive.
At dusk, outside the academy.
Flender looked at Lin Yan with an expression of reluctant disbelief.
"Lin Yan, you're still young. Even if your fire burns strong, you still need to show some restraint. Otherwise, by the time you're my age..."
"Ah, cough, cough~"
Halfway through, he realized something was off and hurriedly changed tack.
"Anyway, don't overindulge. Even if it's to vent your Evil Fire, don't get too caught up in it. I'm only saying this for your own good."
Lin Yan offered no explanation.
"Thank you for the reminder, Dean. I understand."
As he'd said before, his reputation and all that had stopped mattering long ago!
There was a saying from his previous life that put it perfectly: When I enter the pass, great scholars will naturally be there to debate the classics with me!
Once Lin Yan grew strong enough, these scandals would naturally fade like smoke...
Besides, this didn't even count as a scandal. Whale Rubber was merely branded obscene in the eyes of the world; he only wanted to use it to grow stronger.
Night soon fell.
There was a senior at the academy whose Martial Soul was an Ice Flower Butterfly. As it happened, this senior had reached level 19 at the age of eleven, and Flender had delayed Lin Yan's acquisition of a Soul Ring because of her.
The academy's rear mountain.
"Senior, could I trouble you to use your ice-attribute Soul Power to help me with something?"
"As payment, I can give you some Gold Soul Coins."
Standing before Lin Yan was a girl in a light-blue dress. She had delicate features and cool, clear eyes. Though she wasn't stunningly beautiful, she was certainly gentle and charming.
And perhaps because her Martial Soul was a butterfly, every gesture of hers carried a hint of nobility and grace. With her shapely figure and mature-looking face, anyone passing by would take a second look.
The girl was named Wen Ruan. Like Lin Yan, she was a child from an ordinary family who had awakened Soul Power in a nearby village a few years earlier thanks to Flender. Now, she lived at Shrek Academy as Lin Yan's senior.
As for why Tang San and the others had never heard of her six years later, Lin Yan guessed it probably had something to do with the Spirit Hunting Operation a few months from now...
"How much can you pay me? And what do you need me to do?"
Wen Ruan's tone was neither warm nor cold. Faced with an offer of paid work, she was naturally willing to hear the details.
Lin Yan didn't waste time. He immediately handed over all the dozen or so Gold Soul Coins he had left and explained that all she needed to do was keep cooling his body.
That wouldn't be difficult for an ice-attribute Soul Master. As a commoner Soul Master, Wen Ruan had no reason to refuse.
The two hit it off and reached an agreement on the spot.
"An ice-attribute Soul Master should be more useful than a block of ice, right?"
"My over-limit First Soul Ring, just you wait."
As the sky darkened, Lin Yan looked up at the few stars that had appeared early overhead. His eyes reflected his anticipation for the future.
First, he took out a hundred-year-quality piece of Whale Rubber he had prepared earlier and held it in his palm. His Evil Fire Demon Dragon Martial Soul possessed him, and in moments, its terrifying heat had melted the Whale Rubber into a sticky mass.
"Hmm? What's that? It smells a little like seafood. So fishy!"
Wen Ruan blinked her curious, wide eyes at the Whale Rubber in Lin Yan's palm. Lin Yan smiled back at her.
"Senior, I'm about to start. You have to make sure my body temperature doesn't get too high, or something could easily go wrong."
"Oh, okay~"
[Ice Flower Butterfly Soul Possession!]
Wen Ruan summoned her Martial Soul. A pair of magnificent crystalline butterfly wings sprang from her back, and snowflakes drifted down around her, looking beautiful.
Unfortunately... In the past, when she flew into the air, those snowflakes would really fall to the ground like snow. But today, the terrifying heat of the Evil Fire Demon Dragon melted them the instant they formed.
Wen Ruan was surprised. She hadn't expected the flames of a level-ten Soul Master to be this hot. She straightened and looked at Lin Yan, a hint of seriousness in her expression.
"I'm ready. I can cool you down whenever you need."
"Good!"
Lin Yan sat cross-legged, wrapped the Whale Rubber in Soul Power, and swallowed it whole.
The scorching heat flowed down his throat and into his lower abdomen. Before long, Lin Yan sensed an energy that didn't belong to his body spreading from his dantian, gradually coursing through his meridians.
At the same time, the warmth brought by this energy merged with the Evil Fire inside him. The sensation of warmth in his meridians gradually spread, turning into a burning heat...
"Senior, cool me down."
[First Soul Skill: Ice Ring.]
It had to be said that Wen Ruan's so-called Ice Ring skill seemed practically made to assist Lin Yan in taking Whale Rubber.
It had no offensive power whatsoever. It could only mark enemies caught within the Ice Ring's range. Those marked would be continually eroded by ice-attribute Soul Power, causing their body temperature to drop rapidly.
The moment Lin Yan felt the effect of her Soul Skill, he understood why this girl wouldn't live to see six years later.
The moon hung high overhead.
Among the trees on the academy's rear mountain, two figures—one ice, one fire—shone with brilliant light, adding a touch of the extraordinary to an otherwise ordinary evening.
As a girl from an ordinary family, Wen Ruan didn't know exactly what Lin Yan had eaten, or why he had asked her to do this.
She was simply doing a job for money!
But Lin Yan was now wholly focused on refining the medicinal power. With no other living person around besides her, the girl couldn't help sneaking a few more glances at him.
"He gave me more than a dozen Gold Soul Coins just to have me cool him down? Is it really that simple?"
"What exactly did he eat? And what does it do?"
The girl murmured to herself. While maintaining her Soul Skill, she edged a little closer to Lin Yan.
And that was when she saw the most embarrassing sight of her life.
Lin Yan sat cross-legged, and whether it was the influence of the Evil Fire or the effects of the Whale Rubber, an awkward bulge had appeared at his waist.
Wen Ruan hurriedly turned her head away. As she looked toward the depths of the forest, her eyes darted nervously.
"W-what the heck!"
"Damn it! I knew this money wouldn't be that easy to earn."
For a moment, countless guesses ran through Wen Ruan's mind.
Maybe Lin Yan had coveted her beauty ever since his first day at the academy. Maybe he was eating some kind of aphrodisiac. Maybe he had some kind of problem in that department. Or maybe he was using this opportunity to start something with her...
At that moment, she unleashed the full power of a teenage girl's imagination.
But Lin Yan, the protagonist of all those fantasies, knew nothing about them. He remained completely focused on refining the medicinal power of the Whale Rubber.