Everyone Takes Whale Rubber

Ning Jinbao bowed to Ning Quan, then turned and left as ordered.

He went to prepare for the purchase of Whale Rubber.

Only Ning Quan and Aodebiao remained in the Sect Master's Hall.

Aodebiao asked, "Sect Master, why make such a big show of buying it? Wouldn't it be better to buy a little at a time, quietly?"

Ning Quan rubbed his temples. "Do you think we can hide our purchase of Whale Rubber from Spirit Hall?"

Aodebiao thought it over. "Almost certainly not."

"There you have it," Ning Quan explained. "Since we can't hide it from Spirit Hall, we might as well snap up as much as we can right now. By the time they react, most of the Whale Rubber on the market will be ours. Its price will rise at least tenfold. Besides, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect isn't short of Whale Rubber. We already have over a hundred thousand pieces in storage."

Aodebiao looked even more confused.

"Then why buy the Whale Rubber on the market, Sect Master?"

Ning Quan sighed at the foolish question. With brains like that, he's only fit to be a bodyguard.

Still, Ning Quan patiently explained, "First, Spirit Hall is bound to find out about Whale Rubber. If we don't buy it, the Clear Sky Sect will. Their strength will soar, and once Spirit Hall learns that, it won't go after a much stronger Clear Sky Sect. We'll be next instead."

"Second, if the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect knows about Whale Rubber but does nothing, what does that tell them? That we must already have a huge stockpile. Why would Spirit Hall bother buying any when it could attack us and take ours?"

"Third, there are only forty or fifty thousand pieces left on the market. Right now, only the Clear Sky Sect and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect are buying. We'll probably split those pieces roughly in half, making Spirit Hall think our stockpiles are about the same size—and neither is very large. After we finish buying, we'll sell some once Whale Rubber's effects become public. Then Spirit Hall will have no reason to attack us."

After hearing Ning Quan's explanation, Aodebiao felt as though he was growing a brain.

In truth, his head was still a bowl of mush. He had barely understood a word.

Even so, he tried to look as though he understood and nodded. "I see, Sect Master."

Then he fell silent, turned into a streak of light, and flew toward his quarters.

Ning Quan watched him go and let out a deep sigh.

"With brains like that, even after I broke it down and chewed it up for him, he still didn't understand. Sigh..."

Ning Quan clasped his hands behind his back and left the Sect Master's Hall.

Before long, Tang Yue and the other two returned to the Clear Sky Sect.

Once back, Tang Yue summoned every member of the Clear Sky Team.

He gave each member except Tang Chen two pieces of Millennium Whale Rubber.

"This is Millennium Whale Rubber," Tang Yue explained. "It raises Soul Power, strengthens the body, and increases the age of Soul Rings you can withstand. You each have two pieces. Use them now."

With that, Tang Yue brought out six wooden barrels filled with ice water.

He gave one to Ning Zi. "Xiao Zi, absorb yours inside. I'll have two maids stay with you."

Ning Zi nodded and went indoors to absorb the Whale Rubber.

Tang Yue told the other five how to use the Whale Rubber, then warned them about its side effects.

Only then did he leave them to it.

Tang Chen remained to watch over the five of them.

One by one, they softened their Whale Rubber, put it in their mouths, and quickly jumped into the wooden barrels.

They began refining its energy.

At last, after a long while, all six finished absorbing the energy from their two pieces of Whale Rubber.

Ning Zi, Yang Wu, and Cowboy each advanced one level.

The Clear Sky Team's levels now stood at:

Captain Tang Chen: level twenty-five.

Tang Xiao: level twenty-six.

Ning Zi: level sixteen.

Tai Kang: level sixteen.

Bai Kai: level seventeen.

Yang Wu: level twelve.

Cowboy: level ten.

When Yang Dongsheng learned that Cowboy had reached level ten, he personally took him to obtain a Soul Ring.

The others continued training according to Zhou Yuan's plan.

Only after returning home that evening did Tang Chen have time to examine Ning Quan's gift.

A careful look revealed an exceptionally rare ore.

Extraterrestrial Meteoric Iron! More than that, it was the rarest kind: a fragment of a star's core left behind after its destruction.

The piece of Starcore Meteoric Iron gave Tang Chen a bold idea.

Should I try forging a divine artifact that can house the Clear Sky Hammer? If I use the hammer as its artifact spirit and what I forge as its vessel, then once I become a god, it's sure to become a top-tier divine artifact—perhaps even a Super Divine Artifact!

But Tang Chen's cultivation was still too low, and one fragment was nowhere near enough. The Clear Sky Sect had plenty of rare ores, yet almost none could compare with the Starcore Meteoric Iron.

So Tang Chen went to the sect treasury to search for suitable ore.

In the end, he took only an eight-hundred-jin piece of Deep Sea Silver Motherlode and two pieces of Extraterrestrial Meteoric Iron weighing a combined twenty-seven hundred jin.

Five days later, Cowboy returned.

He had obtained a six-hundred-year First Soul Ring from an Iron Thorn.

His Soul Skill was called Thorn's Defense. It coated his body in Soul Power armor that reflected one-tenth of the damage dealt to it back at the attacker. If the armor shattered, the reflected damage would not take effect.

The armor's strength was equivalent to increasing the Soul Master's own strength by fifty percent.

It was another powerful Soul Skill.

Now every member of the Clear Sky Team had become a Soul Master.

And so the team plunged back into their usual hellish training.

More than a month later, Tang Chen finished training and returned home as usual.

To his surprise, Tang Yue was not handling sect business. He was at home waiting for him.

"Father," Tang Chen asked in surprise, "did they remove you as Sect Master?"

Tang Yue's face darkened.

"Not for a long time yet, you brat. I'm here to tell you something important."

Curious, Tang Chen asked, "What could be so important that you put down your work?"

Tang Yue took a deep breath and resisted the urge to hit his son.

"I came because your body is now strong enough to train in the Clear Sky Nine Absolutes. You've already mastered the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer. It's time I taught you the Clear Sky Nine Absolutes."