Chapter 15: Consuming Whale Jelly

After the first batch of whale oil was produced, the various buyers returned laden with barrels of whale oil from Whale Hunting City. However, this was only the first batch; two more batches were yet to come.

Cheng Yu led the first team ready to set off, while Cheng Xiao waited here to prevent others from preempting the second batch.

Despite having a contract, one couldn't rule out the possibility of someone being tempted by wealth.

"Tell me, what is that thing exactly?" Before leaving, Cheng Yu hugged his nephew's neck, taking him aside and whispered.

"That thing is called whale jelly, used for soul cultivators' cultivation," Cheng Xiao replied briefly.

"Is that all?" Cheng Yu raised an eyebrow.

"What else could it be?" Cheng Xiao shrugged helplessly.

It wasn't that he didn't want to disclose it to his uncle, but secrets always spread from the first person who knew. Once the secret was known to a second person, it would inevitably be disseminated. The secret of whale jelly was revolutionary for soul cultivators. If this information leaked, whale jelly would undoubtedly become a hot commodity. The major forces like the Martial Soul Hall, the Upper Three Sects, the Lower Four Sects, the two empires, etc., would surely monopolize the channels for whale jelly. They currently didn't have the ability to keep this treasure trove to themselves. If his uncle got obsessed, it might even bring disaster to the family.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Cheng Xiao decided to keep the secret of whale jelly for now. When he became a Title Douluo and had the strength to resist, then he would consider revealing it.

"Alright..." Cheng Yu said indifferently.

Cheng Xiao watched his uncle's figure gradually disappear from sight. He touched the two pieces of whale jelly in his hand. After that day, Lü Han inquired about it, and he obtained two more pieces. One of them was obtained from a child in the village and had lost its golden luster, showing a trend towards black. It was close to becoming a millennium whale jelly.

If luck was on his side, there might be a few more pieces from the next two sea expeditions. If not... it didn't matter. Three pieces were already enough.

Originally, according to his estimate, the range of his first soul ring's endurance was about over a hundred years. Extrapolating from that, his second soul ring should be in the early nine hundred years. Considering that Taiji was still continuously replenishing the innate deficiencies of his physique, taking a little risk, a thousand years was the limit.

He had been hesitating all along about whether the second soul ring should absorb a thousand-year soul ring. After all, the age of soul beasts couldn't be calculated very accurately. If he absorbed a thousand-year soul ring, it was too dangerous.

The three pieces of whale jelly came just right.

Whale jelly was a special substance produced in the brains of whale-type soul beasts. After consuming it, it could enhance the muscles, bones, and meridian-bearing capacity of the soul cultivator, improving their physical fitness. A whole piece of millennium whale jelly was enough to increase the upper limit of the soul ring's absorption by five hundred years.

"All three pieces are millennium whale jelly. Although it cannot be stacked rigidly, even with significant discount due to repeated consumption, it should still be able to increase by about one thousand five hundred years. This way, my choice range is quite extensive, between two thousand to two thousand five hundred years, with no danger." Cheng Xiao recalled the descriptions about whale jelly deeply engraved in his memory.

Cheng Xiao came to the blacksmith shop and found a blacksmith to forge a quenching furnace. This furnace was sufficient for forging, and he believed it should be enough to soften the whale jelly.

A few days later, a furnace was set up in a shabby stone house next to Moonlit Bay.

Cheng Xiao watched the flames burning in the furnace, and a smile appeared on his face. He placed the three pieces of whale jelly on a steel fork he had prepared and put them into the furnace for quenching. He paid close attention to the changes in the whale jelly, prodding it with a steel rod every now and then to check if it had softened.

As time quietly slipped away, along with the fierce heat of the fire, a peculiar fragrance wafted from the furnace. The fragrance condensed but did not disperse, causing Cheng Xiao to involuntarily swallow saliva.

"It's ready!"

The temperature in the furnace was very high. In no time, the whale jelly was softened by the intense heat. Cheng Xiao immediately took it out.

"Hiss!"

Eager to tear into the whale jelly, Cheng Xiao accidentally got a blister from the hot piece, and the pain made him draw in a cold breath.

"Damn!"

Cursing softly, Cheng Xiao blew and fanned, waiting for the whale jelly to cool enough to touch with his hands. Only then did he slowly tear off a small piece and put it into his mouth.

The whale jelly had a strong fishy smell, and as soon as Cheng Xiao tasted it, he almost spat it out.

However, thinking about the preciousness of this thing, Cheng Xiao still endured the nausea and swallowed it down, a warm flow entering his abdomen. A comforting warmth spread from the stomach to the chest, emitting a faint fragrance.

Worried about the whale jelly hardening, Cheng Xiao, like a gust of wind sweeping fallen leaves, tore the remaining whale jelly into small pieces and quickly sent them into his mouth. Soon, he had swallowed all three pieces of whale jelly.

With the digestion of the three pieces of whale jelly, it felt as if a scalding hot flow was pouring from his abdomen to the limbs.

Cheng Xiao began to feel a bit feverish, with blood and energy surging, his face turning as red as a boiled lobster. Anxious, he scratched his neck and body, feeling as if countless ants were crawling all over him.

"So nourishing?" Cheng Xiao's mouth twitched involuntarily.

He knew that whale jelly was an extremely yang and robust tonic, but he didn't expect it to be this potent.

Fortunately, he only consumed three pieces of thousand-year whale jelly, not like Huo Yuhao, who took in a ten-thousand-year one, avoiding the risk of getting as intoxicated as Huo Yuhao and couldn't wait to release it on a woman.

He could still maintain a clear head for now, but the sensation of fever was truly hard to suppress.

The rolling hot flow surged through his body uncontrollably. Cheng Xiao felt his body temperature continuously rising; he was drenched in sweat, like a person lifted from water.

"This can't go on!"

Seeing no relief in sight, Cheng Xiao rushed out of the house and headed towards the nearby beach, diving into the seawater.

The seawater temporarily eased the discomfort caused by the high temperature, but it didn't change the fundamental issue. At this moment, Cheng Xiao's body was like a water bottle without a mouth, with water constantly boiling inside without a way to vent.

"I must guide the medicinal power inside my body. I can't let it rush recklessly like this."

Slightly calming down, Cheng Xiao immediately thought of a solution. Standing in the shallows, he activated his Tai Chi.

Accompanied by the movements of Tai Chi, the uncontrollable hot flow began to flow along the revised Tai Chi route that Cheng Xiao had formulated, rushing towards the Ren Du Second Meridian.

"Boom! Boom!"

The hot flow, like an unstoppable behemoth, directly forcefully opened up the obstructed Ren Du Second Meridian, and along the meridians, a sensation of indescribable comfort spread throughout his body.

"Ugh..."

Cheng Xiao moaned, and after a crackling sound from his joints, he, after two years, entered the state of "no self, no form."

He wielded his fists as if in a trance, each movement resembling a masterpiece. In this state, the originally imperfect running route was gradually corrected by Cheng Xiao's unconsciousness, evolving continuously towards the most perfect and fitting Tai Chi path.

"Boom!"

In an instant, a thunderous sound echoed as the previously obscure Ren Du Second Meridian was cleared, and Cheng Xiao's soul power broke through in this moment.