"Phew..."
"Finally... it worked."
By the moonlight, Gao Shang washed the blood and grime off his body.
After two days of rest, his body had only just recovered, but that very night, he could not wait to absorb the second piece of whale rubber.
Although whale rubber was most effective the first time, its effects dropped off a cliff afterward.
This time, however, he had consumed three-thousand-year-old whale rubber, far older than what he had eaten the first time.
Although its medicinal effects had diminished, the improvement it ultimately brought was still greater than the first time.
But after this, if he wanted to keep strengthening his body with whale rubber, he would probably need whale rubber at least ten thousand years old.
For now, at least, his physical strength was basically sufficient.
"System, search for a thousand-year-old Tyrant Dragon origin fossil."
Gao Shang summoned the system panel and entered the name in the search bar.
Once the items refreshed, he clicked purchase directly.
He did not use his ninety-percent-off card. It was only ten thousand Gold Soul Coins; he could afford it. He could save the card for buying something more valuable.
The next moment, an enormous oval boulder, a full four or five meters in diameter, appeared out of thin air in the center of the courtyard.
Staring at the small mountain of a boulder before him, Gao Shang was somewhat dumbfounded.
He had originally assumed that, since it was an origin fossil, it should not be too large.
Who could have imagined it would be such an enormous piece?
Moreover, from the bones exposed on its surface, he soon recognized that this boulder, four or five meters in diameter, was actually just the skull fossil of a thousand-year-old Tyrant Dragon.
A boulder four or five meters in diameter was actually just the skull fossil of a thousand-year-old Tyrant Dragon.
"That's ridiculous. Its head alone was this big?"
Gao Shang circled the fossil, unable to help clicking his tongue in wonder.
"If this were a complete fossil, wouldn't it be thirty or forty meters long?"
Marvel though he did, his movements did not stop.
Things had gone somewhat beyond his expectations, and he no longer had time to wait for his body to recover.
It was nighttime now, so the fossil sitting in the courtyard was not too conspicuous, but once daylight came, there was no guarantee outsiders would not discover it.
Trying to absorb it then would not be so convenient.
Gao Shang found a relatively comfortable spot to sit, pressed his palm against the fossil's surface, and circulated his Soul Power.
The next moment, he clearly sensed a strange power sealed deep within the fossil.
That power was wild and domineering, carrying the ferocity unique to an ancient predator.
Gao Shang did not even need to guide it deliberately. The moment his Soul Power touched the fossil, the power seemed to find an outlet and surged madly into his arm.
The violent Soul Power was like scalding lava, rampaging through his meridians.
Even with his two previous experiences absorbing whale rubber, the burning agony still twisted Gao Shang's face.
"Behave-yourself!"
With a low shout, Gao Shang tensed every muscle, veins bulging beneath his skin.
His blood-red Sharingan spun rapidly, and spiritual power far beyond that of Soul Masters at his level erupted with it, penetrating every corner of his body.
While suppressing the rampaging Tyrant Dragon Soul Power, he guided it toward his dantian along the route of the Basic Meditation Method.
Fortunately, this fossil was a system product.
Under the system's rules, it could not contain anything like a dragon soul.
Otherwise, even if his body could withstand it, he would never successfully absorb this Tyrant Dragon origin if the dragon soul did not acknowledge him.
As the first wisp of Soul Power flowed into his dantian, the subsequent absorption gradually stabilized.
In the courtyard, a faint purple phantom Soul Ring slowly formed beneath Gao Shang, then grew solid bit by bit.
The refining continued for several hours.
Only when the morning sun rose did Gao Shang wearily open his eyes.
"So this is a Tyrant Dragon Soul Ring. It really is powerful."
He instinctively clenched his fists.
Once the refining was complete, information about the Soul Ring had automatically surfaced in his mind.
The result was much as he had expected.
The Tyrant Dragon origin fossil had bestowed an enhancement-type Soul Skill on him, and his body had also been strengthened considerably during the absorption of the Soul Ring.
As he was now, even absorbing a two-thousand-year-old Soul Ring would be no problem.
Looking at the fossil before him, now drained of its power, Gao Shang closed and opened his eyes, his pupils instantly turning blood-red.
A pale purple Soul Ring slowly rose from beneath his feet.
"First Soul Skill, Tyrant's Power!"
With his low shout, the First Soul Ring abruptly lit up.
A domineering presence spread from Gao Shang's body, carrying a faint trace of draconic might.
At this moment, he had a little less of a youth's immaturity and a touch more of a superior's majesty.
Boom!
Feeling the power surging within him, Gao Shang narrowed his eyes slightly, his Sharingan precisely locking onto a crack in the fossil.
The next moment, he threw a punch!
As the wind of his punch swept past, even the morning breeze seemed to stop for an instant.
An invisible shock wave spread outward, blowing away the dust around Gao Shang's feet.
Immediately afterward, a faint cracking sound rang out.
Crack-
The crack in the fossil began spreading to either side, faster and faster.
In the blink of an eye, cracks covered the entire boulder.
"Crack... boom!"
The hard fossil split completely down the middle into two pieces, one large and one small, which toppled thunderously to either side.
Gao Shang shifted his feet and nimbly retreated, avoiding the flying rubble and dust.
This was his first Soul Skill.
A two-hundred-percent increase to all physical attributes, lasting ten minutes.
Simple, yet powerful.
Looking at the fossil he had shattered with a single punch, the smile on Gao Shang's face grew increasingly pronounced. Finally, unable to restrain himself any longer, he pressed one hand to his forehead and let out crazed laughter.
"Hahahaha-hahaha!!"
"Is this the power of whaling?"
"Amazing! So damn amazing!"
"Ha... cough, cough..."
"B-Boss?"
His Uchiha-style laughter, carried away with triumph, was interrupted by a timid voice. Without guessing, he knew the commotion in the courtyard must have woken Sun Meng.
The corner of his mouth twitched.
With his back to Sun Meng, he did not turn around. He merely lowered the hand on his forehead in silence and tried to make his voice sound a little calmer.
"Since you're awake, go get to work. I'm fine."
"Uh..."
Sun Meng cautiously glanced at the huge stones in the courtyard, then at her boss standing beside them, who looked anything but normal no matter how she looked at him.
For a moment, she did not even know whether she should start working or find a physician first.
But on second thought, her boss was already a Soul Master.
An ordinary physician might not be able to treat a Soul Master.
So she could only abandon the idea and ask tentatively:
"Boss, these stones..."
"It's fine. I'll sweep them up in a bit."
Gao Shang lowered his head for a glance and waved a hand expressionlessly.
"But boss, the broom broke yesterday."
"It's fine."
Gao Shang's tone was flat.
"I'll use my face."
Sun Meng: "?"
Sun Meng blinked in bewilderment.
Seeing that Gao Shang never turned around, Sun Meng ultimately did not dare press him further. She could only carefully skirt around him and the fossil and head toward the front hall.
She felt as though she should not be here.