l"These four are disciples of our Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, and they have all been taking Whale Gel since two years ago. You can see for yourselves whether Whale Gel has any effect!"
With that, the host waved his hand at the four boys.
The four nodded and stepped forward, instantly summoning their martial souls. The configuration of their soul rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, yellow, yellow, purple—was displayed before everyone, with waves of soul power rippling outward.
"Please look! These four are an auxiliary soul master, a control-type soul master, an agility-type soul master, and a power-type soul master. They have all consumed a significant amount of thousand-year Whale Gel. The highest age of their first soul ring is six hundred eighty years, and the highest for the second is one thousand three hundred years. As for the third ring, I believe you can tell from the fluctuations in their soul power without me elaborating!"
"However, I must remind everyone not to recklessly pursue a thousand-year fourth ring just because they've taken Whale Gel. Until you resolve the issue of mental impact, it's better to opt for a nine-hundred-year fourth ring!"
The host smiled as he warned them, but the audience was hardly listening; their eyes were glued to the two boys with thousand-year second rings, their minds racing with excitement.
What the host said was true—Whale Gel could indeed enhance the limit on absorbing soul rings.
As for doubting that Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School was deceiving them, this thought quickly vanished; if it were mere hearsay, they might not believe it. But this was an auction—Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School wouldn't risk its reputation by lying.
"Now that everyone understands the effects of Whale Gel, the starting bid for this ten-thousand-year Whale Gel is 10,000 gold soul coins. Each subsequent bid must increase by no less than 1,000 gold soul coins…" The host cheerfully announced the price for the ten-thousand-year Whale Gel.
"20,000 gold soul coins!"
"25,000 gold soul coins!"
"Don't compete with me! 30,000 gold soul coins!"
"…"
The frenzy of bidding was due to the fact that Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School had already swept up all available Whale Gel on the market. While hundred-year and thousand-year varieties could still be found here and there, ten-thousand-year ones were virtually nonexistent. Missing out on this one meant they might not get another chance anytime soon.
Ultimately, the ten-thousand-year Whale Gel in Heaven Dou City was won by Pope Salas of Spirit Hall for 300,000 gold soul coins.
Meanwhile, in Star Luo City, another ten-thousand-year Whale Gel was purchased by the Star Luo royal family for 320,000 gold soul coins.
These two pieces of Whale Gel ignited a wildfire of interest regarding Whale Gel across all factions of soul masters—large or small—as they began frantically collecting and researching it. Some even dispatched water-type soul masters to venture to Hanhai City to hunt for whale-type soul beasts at sea.
In Spirit City's Pope Hall…
Bibi Dong looked at the ten-thousand-year Whale Gel in her hand with astonishment. Her shock wasn't about the effects of Whale Gel but rather that Ning Fengzhi had chosen to actively expose its effects.
"Ning Fengzhi is quite clever. As time goes on and abnormalities among Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's soul masters become evident, the effects of Whale Gel would eventually be discovered anyway. It's better to reveal it early; not only will it earn goodwill from other factions toward Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School but also greatly benefit auxiliary sects. It will protect their talented disciples from being coveted by other factions due to exceeding age limits on their soul rings—a win-win situation!"
There was one major point Bibi Dong didn't mention: Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School had essentially monopolized Whale Gel on the continent. Other factions wanting Whale Gel would either have to hunt whale-type soul beasts at sea or curry favor with Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School. This meant Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School could maintain its dominance indefinitely.
"Your Holiness, should we strengthen our surveillance on Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School? And perhaps eliminate some of their talented disciples?" Salas suggested.
"No need! Spirit Hall isn't so petty as to eliminate talents from other sects. Besides, I've just taken over as Pope; my control over Spirit Hall isn't solid enough yet to take unnecessary actions that could create enemies." Bibi Dong pinched her brow and said solemnly.
"Additionally, send people across the continent to collect Whale Gel and dispatch water-type soul masters to hunt whale-type soul beasts at sea; we cannot fall behind other factions—we must remain far ahead!"
"Understood! Your Holiness!"
Salas accepted his orders and slowly exited Spirit City to arrange for collecting Whale Gel.
...
At Notting City's Notting Junior Soul Master Academy…
Yu Xiaogang looked at the Soul Master Report in his hands with disbelief, muttering repeatedly: "Impossible! My theory can't be wrong; this must be fake! The maximum age limit for a first soul ring should be 432 years; there's no way a second ring could reach a thousand years…"
After a while of frenzied thoughts, Yu Xiaogang regained some composure and looked again at the report's contents.
"If Whale Gel can improve physical quality—could it also help me break through my thirty-level bottleneck? No! I must obtain Whale Gel! If I can't get a thousand-year one then I'll settle for a ten-thousand-year one—I can definitely do it!"
With that thought in mind, he began packing his things to seek out his friend Flender—who he knew was money-driven and often collected rare treasures—hoping he might have some Whale Gel.
...
Within Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School!
Xu Yang also looked at the Soul Master Report before him with mixed feelings. He knew that Ning Fengzhi's decision to expose the effects of Whale Gel was partly due to him; otherwise, they could have delayed revealing it for several more years.
Since he would soon be attending classes at Heaven Dou Royal Academy—where he would inevitably need to use his martial soul—the exposure of his soul rings would reveal his absurd configuration. At that point, it would be impossible to avoid attracting attention from other factions who might covet him and threaten his life.
Now that they had revealed the effects of Whale Gel—the attention from other factions would shift away from him and focus more on Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School instead. This was effectively protecting him under the guise of safeguarding Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School!
Moreover, Ning Fengzhi had timed this perfectly; this moment coincided with a critical transition period in Spirit Hall's power structure when they couldn't afford to pay too much attention to Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School. Other factions aside from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan were hardly worth considering in his eyes.
The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan appeared to still be allies with Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School on paper—they couldn't openly act against them—and any covert moves could easily be dealt with by Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School.
*Sigh*, Xu Yang thought inwardly while feeling slightly overwhelmed by these growing obligations. He then resumed cultivating as he sought to harness the power gained from his second soul ring. With deliberate transformations during practice sessions—his solar power within had already transformed by thirty percent and become much purer.
This stage would also mark one of his fastest periods of advancement; he didn't want to waste any time. Summoning his Sun Martial Soul behind him and activating his second soul skill caused eight suns to split off continuously absorbing solar energy while guiding it into his body for refinement—transforming it into pure soul power that nourished his cells.
(End of Chapter)