Douluo Continent: This Tang San is different

Chapter 53 Cheap and Affordable Whale Glue

Tang San didn't care about becoming famous.

Although news of his martial soul had spread far and wide, apart from Matthew, Su Yuntao, Sisi, Wang Sheng, and Xiao Wu, only the principal, Director Su, Mohen, and a few others at Notting Academy knew that he was Tang San.

Even if others stood right in front of him, they wouldn't believe he was the author of "An Analysis of the Self-Positioning of Soul Masters," and would only think of him as a child with the same name.

How many people in the Douluo Continent are named Tang San?

Tang San didn't know, but the number was definitely over a thousand. The probability of him being found was possible, but not high.

As for whether Tang Hao would find him, Tang San said that a guy like Tang Dachui, all brawn and no brains, would only believe in the power of the Clear Sky Hammer, ignoring any theories he had developed—the pride instilled by the Clear Sky Sect had blinded Tang Hao, even though Tang Hao was currently in a state of "deep sorrow"...

"The details about the lifespan of spirit rings that a spirit master can withstand, from the first ring to the second ring, have been written in great detail. The effects of whale glue have also been added, which should allow me to use my second spirit skill openly in the future." Tang San tidied up the theory he had written, which was a full centimeter thick and could be published as a book, rather than just published in the Martial Soul Gazette.

That's obviously inappropriate.

Tang San also realized this was a problem, and decided to write a concise theoretical report to publish in the Martial Soul Newspaper, while the rest would be used to publish a book... no, two books.

In the future, for each major level you advance, you can write a book on how a Soul Master at that stage should determine how many years of Soul Rings they can withstand, and how to absorb Soul Rings with even higher lifespans.

"In that case, regarding the best combination of spirit rings, we can only mention the evolution of the best spirit rings from ancient times to the present, explain that the age at which human spirit masters can absorb spirit rings has actually been increasing, and then point out the effects of thousand-year whale glue and ten-thousand-year whale glue."

Thinking about this, Tang San felt that he should actually buy some whale glue to study it in detail, so as to make his theory more convincing, instead of relying on the settings of the novels he read in his previous life to make wild guesses.

Researchers must be grounded in reality!

So Tang San went to the pharmacy in Notting City and asked the shopkeeper if they sold whale glue.

The pharmacy owner was a kind old man. Seeing a little child asking about whale gelatin, he asked with some doubt, "Little friend, do you want to buy whale gelatin? For your parents?"

"Yes." Tang San didn't want to explain too much, so he went along with the shopkeeper's misunderstanding and said, "I heard that this thing can temporarily increase a person's strength."

"Hmm~ that doesn't seem to be wrong." The shopkeeper had a strange expression, but considering that the person in front of him was a child, he stopped there and didn't say anything more. Instead, he took out two boxes of whale glue and said, "I have ordinary whale glue here, which is produced by ordinary whales, and then there is whale glue from thousand-year-old soul beasts."

"You have whale glue of the thousand-year level?" Tang San was surprised. He didn't expect that a small shop in Notting City would have whale glue of the thousand-year level. It's just that the piece they took out was a bit small, only the size of his fist.

"Yes, but not much. The only thing currently stored in the pharmacy is what's right in front of you. After all, whales live in the deep sea, and even for those Soul Masters, hunting them is very difficult," the shopkeeper explained. "I guess there isn't much Thousand-Year Whale Glue on the entire continent, but it's basically unsellable. However, small pharmacies like mine have some, more or less."

"Why?" Tang San asked, puzzled. "Isn't whale glue an aphrodisiac? Why don't those nobles pursue it?"

"Uh... so you knew." The shopkeeper was a little speechless, but still explained, "The effects of the Millennium Whale Glue are quite strong. If the person who takes it is not a Soul Master, they will die from excitement. And Soul Masters... to put it bluntly, unless they really have a problem in that area, no Soul Master would buy this kind of thing. They would be laughed at by other Soul Masters."

"I see." Tang San nodded, then asked, "Do you have any ten-thousand-year-old whale glue here?"

The shopkeeper's eyes immediately sharpened, and he asked, "Where did you hear that from?"

"Really?" Tang San was surprised that a small pharmacy in Notting City actually had 10,000-year-old whale glue. Could it be that he was wrong before? In this era, there are quite a few 10,000-year-old whale glues on the continent?

"It does exist, but don't think that there's a lot of ten-thousand-year-old whale glue on the continent. I dare say, if you count piece by piece without comparing their sizes, the number is definitely no more than two hands and two feet. And most of them are bought by nobles for collection." The shopkeeper said cautiously, "At ten thousand years old, every part of a soul beast is a treasure. Even though ten-thousand-year-old whale glue can only be used as an aphrodisiac, it still has collectible value. It's just that no one dares to eat it. Moreover, ten-thousand-year-old whale glue is as hard as ore, so some sculptors buy it to practice their work."

"Shopkeeper, do you sell your ten-thousand-year-old whale glue?" Tang San asked.

"I'm not selling it; I'm keeping it as a family heirloom..."

"What's the price of whale gelatin?"

"For ordinary items, one silver soul coin will get you one jin; for thousand-year-level items, one gold soul coin will get you half an liang."

"How did you buy that ten-thousand-year-old whale glue?"

"When I was young, I saved a Soul Master. He didn't have any money at the time, so he gave me that piece of ten-thousand-year-old whale glue the size of a head." Seeing that Tang San really wanted it, the shopkeeper gritted his teeth and said, "My son is getting married soon, but he needs a thousand gold soul coins as a bride price. Also, my son wants to move out of here, which means he wants to buy a new house in the city. If you can come up with five thousand gold soul coins, I'll sell it to you."

The ancient whale glue in the shopkeeper's hand is the size of a human head?

Tang San was taken aback, but quickly calmed down and asked, "If I buy it, could you give me some thousand-year-old whale glue as a gift?"

"At most, I'll give you this thousand-year-old piece in front of you, plus ten catties of ordinary whale glue," the shopkeeper said with some reluctance.

"Okay, I agree." Tang San wiped the wrist guard on his left hand and took out a soul card.

"Soul Master..."

The shopkeeper immediately became respectful and hurriedly went to the back room, took out a box slightly larger than a human head, opened it, and revealed the dark, ancient whale glue inside.

It really is the size of a human head.

Tang San's mood brightened.

After paying, he stored the ten-thousand-year-old whale glue, a fist-sized piece of thousand-year-old whale glue, and ten kilograms of ordinary whale glue into the gem on his left storage wristband, then bid farewell to the shopkeeper and hurried to the Spirit Hall.

"I really hit the jackpot. For five thousand gold soul coins, I bought a piece of ten-thousand-year whale glue the size of a head, a piece of thousand-year whale glue the size of a fist, and ten catties of ordinary whale glue."

After returning to his study in the backyard of the Spirit Hall, Tang San immediately took out all three types of whale glue and examined them carefully.

Using soul power to soften ordinary whale glue, the fishy smell dissipates and it becomes soft.

Tang San tore off a piece the size of a fingernail, put it in his mouth, and swallowed it. He felt his whole body warm up, but the strengthening effect on his body was almost non-existent.

It's possible that ordinary whale glue doesn't work for him, or that ordinary whale glue simply doesn't have the effect of strengthening the body.

Next, he used a knife to cut off a piece of millennium-level whale glue the size of a fingernail, softened it with his soul power, and the brown color faded, turning into an orange-yellow color, just like honey.

Tang San hurriedly swallowed it and found that it was completely different from ordinary whale glue. It was very smooth in the mouth, but the taste was not good and had a fishy smell.

After swallowing it, he circulated his soul power and immediately felt a surge of blood energy rise to his heart and flow through his body, as if his whole body was getting hot.

Tang San immediately activated the simplified method of qi and blood transport he had created by studying Wang Sheng's first soul skill, "Tiger King Qi and Blood Transformation," to maximize the use of this energy to strengthen his physique.

Thirty seconds later, the heat dissipated, and Tang San felt his body become slightly stronger.

"The millennium whale glue does have an effect on me, but the effect is extremely weak, better than nothing." Tang San looked at the head-sized piece of millennium whale glue, cut off a small piece with a knife, and was about to try it when he discovered that the inside of this head-sized piece of whale glue was actually other substances... Could it be that he was cheated by the shopkeeper?

No, whale glue is basically a whole piece. The shopkeeper is just an ordinary person. It's impossible for him to use his soul power to melt it and then attach it to other objects.

Moreover, whale glue cannot be boiled in hot water if it is over a thousand years old.

Could it be...?

Upon realizing a possibility, Tang San immediately used his Mysterious Jade Hand technique, carefully scraping off the hardened ten-thousand-year whale glue with a small knife, finally revealing a deep blue transparent bead.

"Whale pearl! The inner core of a ten-thousand-year-old whale soul beast!" Tang San was extremely excited. Although he didn't know how long this thing had been stored or how much energy had been lost, as the inner core of a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast, it must contain extremely large amounts of energy. If he could digest it, it would definitely be of great benefit.

But how do I use it?

The inner core of a soul beast can also be called a soul core. Perhaps we can observe it and see if we can condense a soul core for ourselves in the future.

For a Soul Master, the greatest benefit of a Soul Core is that it allows their Soul Power to recover faster and with higher quality.

In this era, soul cores have not yet appeared, but they should have a prototype, such as Dugu Bo's poison pill.

Tang San suppressed the urge to immediately study the whale pearl and put it into his white jade belt. He then began to study the strengthening effects of the ten-thousand-year whale glue on his body.

After consuming the ten-thousand-year whale glue softened with soul power, Tang San discovered that his physical attributes had improved significantly; even a small amount had raised him by nearly one level.

He continued taking the medication, but after taking nearly half of it, he found that his physical condition could no longer be improved, presumably because it had reached the limit for his current age.

Gathering the remaining fragments of the ten-thousand-year-old whale glue, Tang San found that they were only the size of a fist. He couldn't help but chuckle: "No wonder that shopkeeper was so quick to buy it for five thousand gold soul coins. It's ten-thousand-year-old whale glue, after all. Such a big piece should be worth at least ten thousand. I guess he already knew that there was something else inside this ten-thousand-year-old whale glue and thought it might not be worth anything, so he was too embarrassed to cheat me."

At this moment, the nine-section jade that Tang San had used as a hair tie jumped from behind Tang San's head onto the table, pointed at the ten-thousand-year whale glue with its tail, and then pointed at its mouth.

"Want some? Here you go."

Tang San picked up a piece of ten-thousand-year whale glue the size of a fingernail and fed it to Nine-Section Jadeite. It swallowed it in one gulp, squinted its eyes in satisfaction, and then jumped behind its head, re-arranging Tang San's hair into a ponytail.

Tang San didn't care and continued to study the effects of whale glue, wasting it in various ways to see if there were any other more suitable ways to consume it.

"By the way, it seems like we're missing a century's worth of whale glue?"

Thinking of this problem, Tang San immediately ran to the pharmacy. When the shopkeeper learned that Tang San was not there to return the goods, he breathed a sigh of relief and replied, "Whales live in the deep sea. When a Soul Master goes to hunt for a Soul Ring, it's at least when they're at their fourth Soul Ring, and they only choose thousand-year-old whale glue. Hundred-year-old whale glue is much rarer than ten-thousand-year-old."

"So that's the reason." Tang San hadn't expected that the scarcity of century-old whale glue was due to demand.

However, it makes sense when you think about it. Whale spirit beasts live in the deep sea. Even if your spirit is a whale, it's impossible for you to go to the deep sea to hunt with your first spirit ring. There are too many unsafe factors.

After thanking the shopkeeper, Tang San spent another three hundred gold soul coins to buy all the Millennium Whale Glue from the pharmacy before returning to the Spirit Hall's backyard.

At that moment, Xiao Wu was practicing climbing trees.

(End of this chapter)