Whale glue is hard to come by, and immortal herbs are even harder to find.

Upon hearing this, Elder Ji was startled and glanced at Jing Tianming with some surprise.

"But I've heard that this stuff is a kind of stimulant," he said cryptically. It is understood that whale gelatin is a special substance produced in the brain of whales. When ground into powder and mixed with other drugs, small amounts can cause euphoria and a surge in libido when ingested.

How old is Tianming? Does he already have those kinds of thoughts? Is he that precocious?

"Medicines are neither good nor evil; if used properly, they can have remarkable effects in treating diseases and saving lives."

Jing Tianming explained calmly.

"As far as I know, whale gelatin, in addition to its aphrodisiac and virility-enhancing effects, is also a top-quality tonic for the yang genus."

"Elder Ji, I plan to use this as a starting point, along with other medicines, to try and refine a medicine that can suppress the backlash of the martial soul's cold energy."

Ji Lao, who had studied medical principles with Ju Douluo, immediately realized the underlying principle.

"Using aphrodisiacs to stimulate blood circulation and warm the body from the inside out? That's certainly an idea!"

"Okay, I'll go over there and have them keep an eye out."

"Ahem, Elder Ji," Jing Tianming quickly reminded him, "Remember to keep this a secret."

Old Ji smiled and said, "Don't worry, I understand!"

After all, it's a drug that's generally considered to have improper uses, and it's really not good if word gets out that a child bought this stuff.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Elder Ji."

"It's nothing!" Old Ji, still vigorous despite his age, strode out the door.

Jing Tianming watched the old man walk away, his eyes gleaming.

"In this way, I can use the excuse of refining medicine to suppress the backlash of the martial soul to get my teacher to help me collect the materials with the help of the Spirit Hall, without arousing suspicion."

Neither Sunset Forest nor the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well are places he can enter with his current strength; they are too dangerous. Therefore, he must resort to special methods to address the problem of his slow cultivation speed.

Absorbing a spirit ring from a higher level is one such special method.

"Based on my current cultivation speed and my experience over the past two months, it will take at least four months to advance one level," Jing Tianming assessed. He explained that if he didn't absorb a spirit ring of a higher level, his spirit power would only increase by one level, while absorbing one of a higher level would increase it by two to three levels.

So wouldn't those extra 1 to 2 levels be equivalent to saving 4 months, or even 8 months, of cultivation time?

Moreover, absorbing spirit rings is itself a way for a martial soul to evolve, and therefore it can also improve the quality of the martial soul.

Furthermore, improvements in the quality of a martial soul also mean that the cultivation speed of a soul master will increase accordingly.

However, the difficulty of cultivation will increase further after a Soul Master enters the next realm.

Therefore, Jing Tianming did not expect that absorbing a spirit ring beyond his level would bring him a great improvement. He would be satisfied as long as it could offset the further slowdown in his cultivation speed after breaking through the realm.

But in any case, absorbing a spirit ring from a higher level would be very beneficial for him at the moment, and it's worth a try!

He had to give it a try!

"Maybe the whale glue can really help me suppress the backlash from the cold!" Jing Tianming thought to himself.

……

Time flies.

Mid-February, Starry Sky Forest.

"Tianming, are you crazy? This horned dragon has been cultivating for over 1400 years!" Under the cool shade of the tree, Old Ji was so excited that he blurted out.

"Tianming, are you sure?" Chrysanthemum Douluo seemed much calmer, but his furrowed brows and solemn expression betrayed his inner turmoil.

He had examined his disciple's body and, given his current strength, it was indeed possible for him to successfully absorb the soul ring of the 1400-year-old horned dragon in front of him.

But since there is no precedent, even he dares not guarantee whether it will succeed.

In fact, if it weren't for his own disciple successfully absorbing a 650-year soul ring 3 years ago...

He doesn't even dare to think about it now!

"Teacher, I'm sure!"

Jing Tianming's face was resolute.

Old Ji turned to look at Chrysanthemum Douluo.

But then the other person took a deep breath, and then nodded slightly, "That's it then."

As soon as he finished speaking, he flashed away.

Jing Tianming looked over.

In just a moment, the dinosaur in front of them, which looked just like the Triceratops from its previous life but was covered in armor and had a much stronger defense, collapsed to the ground.

He lay on his side, his limbs trembling.

"Tianming, you can come over now," came Chrysanthemum Douluo's voice.

Jing Tianming strode forward and, without hesitation, pulled a long spear from his soul tool, stabbing it fiercely into the horned dragon's eye socket and stirring it vigorously.

A purple spirit ring quickly floated out.

Seeing this, Chrysanthemum Douluo subconsciously clenched his fist, watching as his disciple sat down on the spot, and summoned his martial soul to begin drawing his soul rings.

"Tianming, you must succeed!" All he can do now is pray, just like three years ago.

It was an evening in March when he received a letter from his apprentice saying that he missed him very much and asked him to come to Venice.

Then he arrived.

When they met, the disciple told him that his soul power had reached level 10.

Furthermore, the whale glue previously found has been tested and found to be ineffective in suppressing the backlash of the martial soul.

But we discovered other secrets!

That is, after taking it, it can enhance the body's muscles, bones and meridians, and improve physical strength in a very short time.

In addition, he discovered that his mutated martial soul, the Sun and Moon Golden Wheel, held a hidden secret.

It can absorb sunlight and moonlight to accelerate cultivation and also enhance the strength of the physical body and mental power.

In addition, consuming whale gelatin can also strengthen the physical body.

So here's the question.

Since his physical strength and mental power are both higher than those of other Soul Masters of the same level, can the age of the Soul Rings he absorbs also be higher?

That stumped him!

As a titled powerhouse who had been working in the Spirit Hall for many years, he naturally knew that different spirit masters had different physical abilities from a young age due to differences in the type and quality of their spirits. For example, those who possessed beast spirits generally had higher physical abilities than weapon spirit masters.

Especially compared to support classes, the difference is not just a little bit, but there's simply no comparison.

Therefore, the question raised by my disciple is actually based on reality and is not unfounded.

In fact, the Spirit Hall had studied this issue many years ago. The optimal age for absorbing a spirit ring, which is now widely accepted in the spirit master community, is the result of the Spirit Hall's research, or rather, the result of summarizing data accumulated from its large number of spirit masters.

Its most prominent feature is its stability.

Absorbing a spirit ring according to this standard will generally not cause any problems. It is precisely because of this that, through countless years of oral tradition, it has gradually evolved into a consensus in the spirit master community.

Even the Spirit Hall, which developed this theory, adopted it as the standard. This led to no one daring to attempt to absorb spirit rings from higher-level opponents anymore.

However, his apprentice brought it up again, expressing his desire to try it himself with his first spirit ring.

To be honest, he was very hesitant at first, but he couldn't resist his apprentice's insistence and eventually had to agree.

After investigation, he discovered that his disciple's physical strength was comparable to that of an ordinary level 20 Soul Master. In other words, theoretically, he could absorb the best age Soul Ring of the current second stage, namely 764 years.

But he dared not gamble, so he strongly demanded that the price be lowered.

The year was finally set for 650.

Looking back now, the time he spent waiting for the results was definitely the most nerve-wracking moment of his life.

This attempt is absolutely insane!

It's tantamount to gambling with your life.

Fortunately, it was successful in the end.

As a result, the disciple's soul power jumped directly from level 10 to level 13, an increase of 3 levels.

Absolutely terrifying!

"It's a pity that the Grand Elder made an agreement with Seagod Island that the Spirit Hall could not hunt sea spirit beasts at will, otherwise..." Chrysanthemum Douluo sighed inwardly. Otherwise, he really wanted to send people to the sea to hunt whale spirit beasts.

But now, it's just a dream.

Otherwise, if the Grand Elder finds out, he'll definitely be in deep trouble.

Furthermore, he certainly cannot reveal that consuming whale gelatin can enhance physical strength.

There was no other way; there were very few channels available to obtain whale glue on the market, so he would definitely prioritize his own apprentice.

The main reason is that, at present, before the effects of strengthening the body have been fully explored, no major force has made a living by hunting whale-like spirit beasts.

The ocean is boundless and fraught with danger, and whale-type soul beasts are among the most powerful sea soul beast species.

The risks and rewards are indeed not proportional, at least on the surface.

Therefore, the current industry focuses on hunting very young whale spirit beasts, primarily for their oil and blubber. Furthermore, due to factors such as climate and the habits of whale spirit beasts, fishing fleets only venture out once or twice a year.

Various factors have led to the current scarcity of whale glue available on the market.

Furthermore, the age of these artifacts is extremely rare; a hundred years is already considered rare, and a thousand years is even rarer.

As for those lasting ten thousand years, that's unheard of.

That's understandable. Without the involvement of major powers, there are no experts to carry out the task, and ordinary soul masters simply cannot deal with ten-thousand-year-old whale-like soul beasts.

Therefore, in the past 6 years, he has only collected one thousand-year-old whale glue and a few ten-year-old and hundred-year-old ones.

The confidence to let his disciple absorb the soul ring of this horned dragon came from this thousand-year-old whale glue.

"It's a pity that my disciple's martial soul has a flaw, preventing him from absorbing sunlight for extended periods. Furthermore, the efficiency is low due to the martial soul's poor quality, resulting in minimal improvement to his physical body. Otherwise, perhaps the absorption period could be extended further!" Chrysanthemum Douluo felt utterly helpless about this. In fact, ever since his disciple successfully absorbed his first spirit ring, he had been trying to find a solution.

With such a talent for martial soul, if the flaws in the martial soul can be resolved, my disciple's future achievements will be immense.

He simply couldn't imagine it!

Unfortunately, the method has not yet been found.

"Perhaps only the legendary immortal herb can help my disciple completely resolve the flaws in his martial soul?"

Thinking of this, Chrysanthemum Douluo felt even more helpless, and even somewhat desperate.

The miraculous herb is so hard to find!