Taking Whale Gum

After confirming again and again that Ling Feng would not be returning to the inner courtyard with her, Ling Luocheng had no choice but to part ways with him.

As an inner courtyard disciple, she had only just returned to the academy and still had many miscellaneous matters to deal with.

Ling Feng, meanwhile, leisurely wandered around the academy.

Before long, several enormous statues appeared directly ahead of him.

Needless to say, these statues depicted the three core figures who had founded Shrek Academy, along with Tang San and the other six members of the first-generation Shrek Seven Monsters.

Beneath the statues, small groups of students gazed up at them, their eyes filled with longing.

At the sight, Ling Feng could not help curling his lip. He silently cursed his bad luck and continued along the path to the left, known as Lakeside Path.

To the right of Lakeside Path stood a shady forest. Through the trees, he could vaguely see Sea God Lake beyond.

Ling Feng could clearly make out a row of floating ice on the surface of Sea God Lake that had yet to melt.

There was no need to think about it. Ling Luocheng must have left it behind when she returned to the inner courtyard earlier.

"With my current eyesight, forget 5.0—even 15.0 is probably possible."

After awakening his Spirit Eyes, Ling Feng's vision had become terrifyingly sharp even in his normal state.

He could even see every vein in the leaves on the trees beside him with perfect clarity.

At the end of Lakeside Path was Shrek Plaza, beyond which stood rows of teaching buildings in various colors.

The white freshman teaching building, representing the first year, stood at the southernmost end and was also closest to Lakeside Path.

Ling Feng soon lost interest.

Wandering aimlessly around the academy alone was truly boring. Ling Luocheng obviously had matters to attend to, and it was inconvenient for him to disturb her.

"Forget it. I should head back. I can use the opportunity to figure out how to deal with that Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue."

Before he even reached the dormitory entrance, he spotted someone standing outside.

Ling Feng's first thought was that it was his roommate, but upon closer inspection, it was actually Li Goudan.

"Gou... uh, Little Li, why are you here?"

"Ain't I here to return this soul tool?"

As he spoke, Li Goudan handed back the storage soul tool Ling Feng had lent him earlier.

"There's no rush. Just keep using it for now."

Though Ling Feng said so, he could tell that Li Goudan had strong self-respect and did not force him to keep it.

"That won't do. My ma said that if you borrow something from someone else, you gotta return it once you're done."

"Lending it to me was already a huge help. I can't just keep it and not give it back."

Li Goudan gave an honest smile and waved at Ling Feng.

"Then I won't bother you anymore."

"I'm in room 138. If you need help with anything, come find me!"

With that, Li Goudan jogged away.

"This kid... I hope he gets assigned to a good class and graduates smoothly."

After sighing with emotion, Ling Feng entered his dormitory and shut the door tightly to prevent any further accidents.

Taking out the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue from the system space, Ling Feng condensed ice in his right hand and formed a sharp ice blade. He first divided the whale glue evenly into nine portions.

After ensuring they were all roughly the same size, Ling Feng stored eight portions back in the system space.

Looking at the palm-sized piece of whale glue before him, Ling Feng considered it for a long time before cutting off a thumb-sized piece and kneading it in his hand.

"...No. Even fresh whale glue can't be consumed directly without being softened first."

Ling Feng had long been prepared for this.

The journey from the Ling Family to Shrek was long, and it was impossible for all three daily meals on the road to happen conveniently in cities.

Both he and Ling Luocheng were ice-attribute soul masters, so they had specifically kept tools for making fires and cooking in their storage soul tools.

Moreover, when he and Ling Luocheng had eaten outside earlier, he had thought of this and conveniently replenished some materials as well.

Before long, Ling Feng had assembled a simple, small grill.

After preparing enough kindling, Ling Feng looked at the whale glue in his hand. In the end, he cut one-third of it into evenly sized thumb-sized pieces, while putting the rest back into the system space.

The roasting took even longer than Ling Feng had expected.

It took nearly an hour before the whale glue on the grill gradually began to show signs of melting.

A strange fragrance wafted from the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue. It was rich and lingering, while its original deep amber-yellow color gradually revealed a golden radiance like flowing light.

Ling Feng took a deep breath of the whale glue's fragrance, then immediately grabbed one piece and put it directly into his mouth.

The whale glue carried a strong fishy taste when it entered his mouth, but as it quickly turned into a stream of heat and entered his stomach, the fishiness gradually faded, replaced by a faint, delicate fragrance.

With only a thumb-sized piece of whale glue in his stomach, Ling Feng felt a warm current spread throughout his body, nourishing every part of him.

The wonderful sensation left Ling Feng somewhat intoxicated. As soon as he swallowed the first piece, he immediately picked up the second and swallowed it as well.

As the whale glue on the grill tray dwindled, Ling Feng's body temperature gradually rose.

By the time he had eaten every last bit of whale glue on the tray, he realized that his body had already become scorching hot!

Even more embarrassingly—

At some point, the whale glue had begun to display its side effects. Ling Feng had automatically switched into battle mode, his fighting spirit soaring.

He could still dispel his body heat with his Ultimate Ice Martial Soul.

But what was he supposed to do about this battle mode?

Ling Feng glanced out the window. Night had fallen, and nearly every dormitory had already turned off its lights. It was long past time to rest.

He couldn't exactly use the takeoff-to-sleep method, could he?

"..."

"What a sin!"

When the first ray of morning sunlight shone into the dormitory, Ling Feng emerged from meditation looking somewhat listless.

Judging by his condition, he clearly had not rested well the previous night.

After all, the damned side effects of that whale glue had been far too troublesome, tormenting him for the entire night!

Even now, the whale glue's side effects had not completely faded.

However, Ling Feng could also clearly feel that his physical strength had improved noticeably compared to yesterday.

The most obvious sign was that the age of his soul rings was now nearing six thousand years!

"I definitely need to control the amount of whale glue I take next time!"

Although Ling Feng's physical strength had improved significantly, he still decided to reduce the amount of whale glue he consumed each day.

For no other reason than that its side effects were simply too embarrassing.

After washing up quickly, Ling Feng prepared to head to the cafeteria to buy breakfast.

Just after turning the corner, before he had even left the dormitory, Ling Feng noticed a crowd gathered around the bulletin board at the dormitory entrance.

After hesitating briefly, Ling Feng went over.

At the very top of the bulletin board, the words "School Rules: Points to Note" were prominently displayed.

"What's there to note about school rules? Aren't they all in the student handbook?"

A student standing to Ling Feng's front right could not help complaining.

"Ah, that's where you're mistaken."

This time, the speaker was a student to Ling Feng's front left.

"Brother, you must have only arrived to register yesterday, right? The school rules posted on this bulletin board have a special significance!"

As soon as he said that, quite a few people turned their attention toward him. Many of them were freshmen who had only registered yesterday and knew nothing about the school rules.