Tang Feng and Dugu Bo began buying up whale rubber everywhere.
Ten days later, the two had bought out the whale rubber at all the major pharmacies and auction houses in Heaven Dou City.
In a secret room backstage at the Heaven Dou Auction House, Dugu Bo displayed his imperial retainer badge. "Whale rubber over a thousand years old. I'll take everything you have."
The steward shakily brought out their stock: two pieces of fifty-thousand-year whale rubber, eight pieces of ten-thousand-year whale glue, and twenty pieces of thousand-year whale rubber. Dugu Bo bought the entire lot on the spot.
Wearing a mask, Tang Feng roamed the black market, sweeping up stock at a thirty-percent premium. He obtained another piece of fifty-thousand-year whale rubber, ten pieces of ten-thousand-year whale glue, and thirty pieces of thousand-year whale rubber.
Wooden signs reading "Whale rubber sold out" went up outside all the major medicinal supply shops.
With that, their sweep was complete. In total, they had obtained ten pieces of fifty-thousand-year whale rubber, thirty pieces of ten-thousand-year whale glue, and a hundred and twenty pieces of thousand-year whale rubber.
They split it evenly. Tang Feng had truly caught a white wolf with empty hands, pocketing five fifty-thousand-year pieces, fifteen ten-thousand-year pieces, and sixty thousand-year pieces of whale rubber. After all, he had a vast household to support, with a whole crowd of Clear Sky Sect clansmen crying to be fed, as well as his maternal grandfather's Breaking Clan.
Late that night, in a certain noble estate, the noble lord found himself powerless in the depths of the night and could not help wailing inwardly, Who was so deficient that they bought up all the whale rubber in the city?! My nightlife!
Early the next morning, the Moonlight Pavilion, as always, held a tranquil fragrance of agarwood.
When Tang Feng visited again, Tang Yuehua was tuning an instrument in the third-floor music room. At the maid's announcement, her fingertips paused, and the lingering notes drifted away.
"Little Feng? Bring him up at once."
After paying his respects, Tang Feng took a storage ring from inside his clothes and handed it to Tang Yuehua.
"Aunt," Tang Feng lowered his voice, his expression unusually solemn, "this matter is of great importance. I'm sorry for the trouble, but you must return to the sect in person. You must not entrust this to anyone else, much less let a whisper of it escape."
Tang Yuehua's brows knitted slightly. She accepted the ring and probed it with her Soul Power, her pupils abruptly contracting.
Inside the ring were more than ten pieces of ten-thousand-year whale glue and several dozen pieces of thousand-year whale rubber. This was two-thirds of everything Tang Feng had collected; he intended to give the remaining third to his maternal grandfather.
Tang Feng took out the letter he had prepared and handed it over:
"This contains the method I developed for consuming whale rubber to improve a Soul Master's constitution and cultivation speed, along with the whale rubber I collected for the sect. The letter details the experimental process and summarizes the method of consumption and its effects."
"Whale rubber?" Tang Yuehua asked in puzzlement.
"Exactly." Tang Feng nodded and rapidly explained the process in detail once more, finally saying, "The specifics are all in the letter. The sect master will understand once he reads it. You can also quietly collect some more."
"Little Feng, thank you for still keeping the sect in your heart!" Tang Yuehua's voice caught slightly.
Tang Feng concealed the ripples in his eyes. "Aunt, the sect has withdrawn into seclusion. If this can improve the aptitude and cultivation of a group of core disciples, we'll have that much more confidence when the sect emerges again. But Spirit Hall must never discover this, or else..."
Tang Feng paused and did not continue, but Tang Yuehua understood.
"I understand." Tang Yuehua drew a deep breath and solemnly slipped the ring onto her finger, then patted Tang Feng's shoulder. "Don't worry. I'll leave tomorrow and deliver it personally to your grandfather and the others."
Tang Yuehua also cautioned Tang Feng, "While you're out on your own, you must be careful in everything. People's hearts are hard to fathom..."
At her words, Tang Feng revealed a trace of a boyish smile. "Don't worry, Aunt. Senior Poison Douluo and I will be setting out for the Star Luo Empire tomorrow."
It was already noon when Tang Feng left the Moonlight Pavilion. With the blazing sun high overhead, he arrived outside the smithy, A Thousand Hammerings and a Hundred Refinements, to collect his staff as agreed.
Seeing Tang Feng arrive, the owner hurried forward to greet him and shouted toward the rear courtyard, "Bring out our honored customer's Ruyi Jingu Bang!"
Two bare-chested workers emerged at his call, carrying a long wooden case across their shoulders, and lowered it to the ground.
Thud!!
The dull impact actually made the ground tremble slightly.
The owner opened it himself, and dark light rippled in an instant.
The staff was six feet long, forged entirely from Thousand Refinement mysterious iron. Rather than being smooth, its surface was covered in fine, dense, star-shaped hammer marks.
The golden hoops at either end were not ordinary gold, but "golden flame gold," smelted from gold mixed with crimson fire copper and starfall iron. A restrained fiery brilliance shimmered beneath the lamplight.
At the center of the shaft, five tiny characters were engraved in miniature seal script: Ruyi Jingu Bang.
Tang Feng reached out and gripped it. The cold texture of metal pressed against his palm, yet it fit his hand remarkably well. The entire staff weighed three hundred and thirty-three jin.
Tang Feng shook one arm, and the staff hummed, like a dormant golden dragon stretching its limbs in his palm, ready to burst through the air at any moment.
"Perfect!" Delight showed on Tang Feng's face. He turned his wrist, and the staff's shadows became a dark-gold ring. Fierce winds howled through the shop, making the charts hanging on the walls flap noisily. The owner stared, dumbfounded, and retreated three steps before finding his footing.
"Fine craftsmanship, shopkeeper."
Tang Feng stopped the staff and put it into his storage ring, then tossed over a pouch containing a full hundred and fifty Gold Soul Coins. "The extra is your tip," he said generously.
Holding the money pouch, the owner grinned so broadly that his eyes vanished and hurriedly bowed to see him off. "Take care, honored customer! Please come again!"
Early the next morning, before the thin mist had fully dispersed, the hall of Dugu Manor was already filled with the sorrow of parting.
Dugu Yan clung tightly to Dugu Bo's arm, her eyes full of reluctance. "Grandpa, you must be careful on this journey!"
"Go back to school and cultivate diligently." Dugu Bo affectionately stroked the top of Dugu Yan's head and instructed her seriously, "If anyone asks why your strength suddenly increased so much, just say it was your grandfather's doing and that you know nothing else."
"I know. I'm not a three-year-old." Dugu Yan hugged Dugu Bo and protested coyly.
Tang Feng watched the scene with clear eyes beneath his half-mask of silver and black. His expression froze slightly, his thoughts seemingly drifting far away.
"Little Feng, what's wrong? Why are you staring blankly at Grandpa?" Sharp-eyed, Dugu Yan nudged Tang Feng and asked curiously.
Only after Dugu Yan nudged him did Tang Feng come to his senses. Concealing the melancholy in his eyes, he laughed. "Hahaha, nothing. The scene just stirred my feelings! Seeing how close you and your grandfather are made me think of my own grandfather. I wonder whether he received my letter and how he's doing now..."
At this, a trace of cunning flashed through Dugu Bo's eyes, and he teased half-jokingly, "Little Monster, if you're willing, you can call me Grandpa too."
The moment he spoke, both Dugu Yan and Tang Feng understood what Dugu Bo was scheming.
"Grandpa, you're teasing me again!" Dugu Yan stamped her foot in anger.
Tang Feng shot Dugu Bo an exasperated look.
Over the past few days, Dugu Bo had tried both openly and covertly to match the two of them together, but Tang Feng's aspirations lay elsewhere, and he had no interest in romance. Dugu Yan, too, only regarded Tang Feng as a younger brother and always felt he was too young.
Seeing that neither had any such intention, Dugu Bo laughed heartily and stopped pressing the matter. "All right, all right. Let's go!"
Jade light flashed, and the vast Soul Power of a Titled Douluo enveloped Tang Feng. Like meteors streaking through the dawn, the two shot toward the Star Luo Empire.
Five days after the two headed south, at the Clear Sky Sect's ancestral grounds.
By then, two years had passed since Tang Feng left the sect. During those two years, the sect's strength had risen considerably once more. Sect Master Tang Xiao had successfully broken through to level ninety-five, becoming a Super Douluo.
With the domineering might of the Clear Sky Hammer, coupled with the Clear Sky Sect's supreme inherited technique, the Clear Sky Nine Absolutes, Tang Xiao's combat strength was in no way inferior to that of other level ninety-six Titled Douluo.
Second Elder Tang Zhen had broken through to level ninety-three, while the third and fourth elders had also broken through to level ninety-two.
Blaming himself for failing to protect Tang Feng, Fifth Elder Tang Rui had cultivated bitterly day and night. Half a year earlier, he had successfully broken through to level 90, and after hunting down a Soul Ring, his strength reached level ninety-one, making him the Clear Sky Sect's fifth Titled Douluo. Seventh Elder Tang Lie was also at the peak of level eighty-eight, approaching level eighty-nine. In another four or five years, the Clear Sky Sect would likely gain another Titled Douluo.
With five Douluo in one sect, discussions about returning to the Soul Master World had already begun within the Clear Sky Sect.
Among the sect's disciples, Tang Long and Tang Hu, the first- and second-ranked members of the third generation, had just broken through to Soul King. Tang Feng's good brother Tang Jian had broken through to level twenty a year earlier and obtained a seven-hundred-year second Soul Ring. He was now a level twenty-three Soul Grandmaster.
At this time, Tang Yuehua finally arrived at the Clear Sky Sect, travel-worn and dusty. Sect Master Tang Xiao accepted the letter she had brought.
Learning that Tang Feng had not only escaped death but also advanced by leaps and bounds in cultivation, already breaking through to Soul Elder, and had even become fast friends with Poison Douluo Dugu Bo, Tang Xiao immediately summoned the five elders for an urgent meeting.
Before long, the elders had all gathered. Tang Xiao passed the letter around. When Tang Lie learned that his grandnephew was safe, his long-dormant heart finally kindled with hope again.
Only then did Tang Yuehua take out a ring and a letter, solemnly offering them to Tang Lie. "Seventh Uncle, Little Feng instructed me to hand these to you personally. The things inside are vital to the sect. You'll understand the details once you take a look."