Jin Yue greeted them in Spirit City with one question.
“How old?”
She did not ask if they were fine.
Did not ask what Soul Beasts they found.
Did not even congratulate Luoyue or Renxue.
“How old are your rings?”
Renxue smiled.
“Mine is older than Luoyue’s.”
“That doesn’t answer me!”
Luoyue answered calmly:
“Mine is approximately five hundred fifty.”
Jin Yue looked at Renxue.
“And yours?”
“Around six hundred.”
Jin Yue went silent.
Then she looked at Golden Crocodile, who stood several meters behind her.
“Grandpa.”
“No.”
“I didn’t even ask!”
“Yes, you did.”
“I want a seven-hundred-year one!”
“No.”
“Six hundred fifty!”
“You do not bargain over Soul Rings like vegetables.”
Jiangmo began laughing.
Jin Yue pointed toward Longyu.
“He started all of this!”
Longyu chose not to defend himself.
Technically, she was right.
The next two days were devoted to rest and records.
Longyu compared three absorptions.
His own had been the most violent.
Luoyue’s the smoothest.
Renxue had endured an age similar to Longyu’s with less physical stress.
That supported something they had suspected.
Age alone was insufficient to predict difficulty.
Compatibility and individual characteristics mattered enormously.
But three cases were still too few.
They needed five.
Then fifty.
Then hundreds.
Longyu knew that would take years.
Perfect.
He was in no hurry.
Meanwhile, the Whale Glue was waiting.
Mu Qinghe finally authorized a controlled test.
Not on the children.
On adults.
Jiangmo raised his hand.
“I already participated.”
Longyu looked at him.
“Stealing a sample does not count as participating.”
“I survived.”
“That does not prove anything either.”
Qianjun smiled.
“Use him.”
Jiangmo looked at him.
“What?”
“As a volunteer.”
“Why me?”
Longyu answered:
“Because you already consumed an experimental sample without permission.”
Jiangmo looked around at everyone.
“This family doesn’t know how to forgive.”
They would not use Jiangmo as the only subject.
He was a Titled Douluo.
His body was far too powerful to detect small effects.
Mu Qinghe recruited six adult Spirit Hall Soul Masters who agreed to participate.
All healthy.
Similar levels.
Three would receive a preparation.
Three would not.
Longyu wanted the evaluators, whenever possible, not to know who had received which treatment.
Mu Qinghe looked at him.
“You are trying to reduce expectation effects.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Lingyu asked:
“What are we measuring?”
Longyu answered:
“Recovery after standardized exercise.”
Jin Yue appeared behind them.
“Exercise?”
Longyu looked at her.
“How did you get in?”
“The door.”
“That was not a literal question.”
“I want to help.”
Longyu thought.
Then smiled.
“Fine.”
“Why are you smiling?”
“We need to design the physical test.”
Her suspicion disappeared.
“Perfect.”
For the first time, Jin Yue had control over part of an experiment.
And she took it surprisingly seriously.
Running.
Strikes.
Load.
Repetitions.
Time.
Rest.
Longyu had to reduce the program twice.
“We want to fatigue them,” he said.
“Not kill them.”
“This is too little.”
“They are volunteers.”
“Exactly.”
Lingyu laughed.
Eventually, they agreed on a reproducible sequence.
Same distance.
Same relative weights.
Same time.
Same rest periods.
They would measure heart rate.
Perceived fatigue.
Soul Power recovery.
Post-exercise strength.
Next-day muscle pain.
Lingyu added several medical indicators.
Longyu let her.
She knew more than he did in that field.
That was exactly what he wanted.
The first test showed almost nothing.
Jin Yue looked disappointed.
“So it doesn’t work?”
“We don’t know.”
Longyu compared the numbers.
The differences were small.
Too small.
Second test.
Another controlled dose several days later.
Similar results.
Third.
This time, a difference appeared.
Two of the three subjects receiving Whale Glue recovered their physical performance slightly better.
The third did not.
Longyu did not celebrate.
Neither did Lingyu.
Jin Yue did.
“It works!”
“No.”
“But they improved!”
“Two.”
“Out of three.”
“With a small difference.”
Jin Yue frowned.
“You always ruin interesting things.”
“I am trying to stop us from fooling ourselves.”
Mu Qinghe nodded.
“Correct.”
Longyu looked at the data.
It was a signal.
Nothing more.
But a signal was enough to continue.
Then they found something more interesting.
One participant had received a slightly different preparation.
Same quantity.
Same sample.
But heated for longer at a moderate temperature.
His response was the best.
Lingyu noticed first.
“Look.”
Longyu moved closer.
Not only recovery.
The subject had also reported a warm sensation throughout the body for several hours.
No adverse effects.
Mu Qinghe examined the man.
“No damage.”
Longyu looked at the preparation.
Temperature.
Time.
That mattered.
Probably a great deal.
“We need to repeat it.”
Jin Yue groaned.
“Always repeat.”
“Yes.”
“When do we reach a conclusion?”
Longyu thought.
“When repeating stops changing it too much.”
“I hate research.”
“You said yesterday that you liked it.”
“I like the part where people run and hit things.”
Longyu mentally noted that this was perfectly consistent with Jin Yue.
Lingyu began studying the Whale Glue more deeply.
She no longer needed Longyu to tell her what to look for.
Proteins.
Life energy.
Soul Power residue.
Impurities.
Reactions with herbs.
Digestion.
Absorption.
Longyu did not know all the answers.
In fact, something began happening that pleased him greatly.
Lingyu started asking questions he could not answer.
“Is the energy absorbed in the stomach or later?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why do some samples produce more warmth?”
“I don’t know.”
“Can we reduce the impurities without destroying the energy?”
“I don’t know.”
“What part of the substance actually strengthens the body?”
Longyu smiled.
“I don’t know.”
Lingyu frowned.
“You look happy.”
“Because those are good questions.”
She thought about it.
Then smiled too.
A week later, Longyu returned to the market.
This time, not to buy.
To ask questions.
Merchants.
Sailors.
Middlemen.
People who traded marine products.
He wanted to know where the Whale Glue came from.
What species.
What ports.
What prices.
What ages.
What parts were discarded.
And he discovered something surprising.
It was cheap.
Not all of it.
Samples considered medicinal could be expensive.
But large quantities of Whale Glue with poor reputations were treated as by-products.
Some fishermen did not even bother preserving it properly.
Longyu held a dark piece in one shop.
“How much?”
The merchant named the price.
Longyu blinked.
“That’s all?”
“If you want more, I can get a shipment next month.”
Longyu felt something.
Not excitement.
Opportunity.
If his hypothesis was correct…
Spirit Hall was overlooking a valuable resource simply because no one had standardized its use.
Longyu purchased several samples.
As they left, Lingyu asked:
“How much money do you have?”
Longyu stopped.
Good question.
Until now, his research had been financed by his family and the Worship Hall.
That could not continue forever.
Whale Glue.
Medicine.
Materials.
Books.
Soul Beast samples.
Travel.
Research cost money.
A lot of it.
Longyu looked across Spirit City’s commercial streets.
Shops.
Caravans.
Merchants.
Products.
Money moving in every direction.
An idea began to form.
Not for now.
Perhaps not even next year.
But one day…
if he wanted to research without asking permission for every coin…
he would need his own source of income.
Longyu stored that idea beside many others.
For now…
two friends remained without Soul Rings.
And Jin Yue was becoming unbearable.
It was time to solve at least one of those problems.