Although the Sword Heart State was ridiculously powerful, it wasn’t without its weaknesses.
The enormous strain it placed on the body meant that Qi Dao could only use it as a trump card.
Unless he had an exceptionally strong physique and abundant soul power to support him, there was no way he could extend the duration of the Sword Heart State.
With that in mind, Qi Dao decided to incorporate physical conditioning into his daily cultivation.
Although practicing swordsmanship also strengthened his physique to some extent, its effects were clearly inferior to dedicated physical training.
The next day, on the second floor of the cafeteria.
Xiao Chenyu made up for the meal he had failed to treat everyone to the day before.
Although the food on the second floor was much more expensive than that on the first floor, the ingredients were far more abundant.
There was even soul beast meat, making the meals highly nutritious.
At the dining table, Xiao Chenyu, Liu Long, and Ling Feng couldn’t help but swallow as they watched Qi Dao devour his food.
Their boss really wasn’t a normal person.
He was already eating more than the three of them combined.
Of course, they had no idea that this was because Qi Dao’s body had been severely depleted by that single sword strike the previous day.
He needed a huge amount of food to replenish what he had lost.
After eating his fill yesterday and continuing to replenish himself today, Qi Dao had already recovered most of his condition.
Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Xiao Chenyu suddenly took out a gold card and handed it to Qi Dao.
“What’s this…?”
Qi Dao looked at Xiao Chenyu.
Xiao Chenyu grinned.
“Boss, the dean already told my father what happened yesterday.
After hearing about it, my father gave Xiao Haijie a severe scolding.”
“Then, when he heard that you and I have such a good relationship, he told me to bring you some compensation.”
“This gold card has this much inside!”
Xiao Chenyu proudly raised one finger.
Liu Long and Ling Feng immediately sucked in a breath.
“Could it be…
a hundred gold soul coins?”
Xiao Chenyu rolled his eyes at them.
“A hundred?”
“Poverty has really limited your imagination.”
“My father is a dignified imperial baron and the Lord of Nuoding City.
If he only compensated you with a hundred gold soul coins, wouldn’t people laugh at him if word got out?”
“This gold card contains a full thousand gold soul coins!”
Qi Dao’s eyes lit up slightly when he heard this.
“Oh?
That’s quite a lot!”
Qi Dao accepted the gold card without hesitation and casually turned it over in his hand.
“If I could get a thousand gold soul coins every time I fought your brother, that’d be great.”
Of course, Qi Dao felt there was a very good chance that this wouldn’t happen again.
Those thousand gold soul coins were most likely compensation that Xiao Chenyu’s father had offered because of the dean’s influence.
But although Qi Dao had said it casually, Xiao Chenyu took his words seriously.
His eyes shifted as an idea suddenly occurred to him.
“Boss, if you’re really short on gold soul coins, I have an idea.
Maybe I can help you make some extra money!”
Qi Dao’s eyes immediately brightened.
“Tell me!”
There was one particularly direct way to strengthen his physique: nutrition.
Eat more soul beast meat and train more, and his physique would naturally improve.
However, soul beast meat with sufficient age and high nutritional value wasn’t something ordinary people could afford.
There was also whale rubber.
Qi Dao remembered that whale glue could also strengthen the physique.
Moreover, this wasn’t the era of the later Douluo Continent, so the effects of whale rubber hadn’t yet been discovered.
People still treated it as an aphrodisiac.
That was why Qi Dao was so short on money.
A sly look flashed through Xiao Chenyu’s eyes as he leaned forward and lowered his voice.
“Boss, don’t be fooled by the fact that you defeated Xiao Haijie yesterday.
He isn’t convinced at all.”
“Moreover, because he lost to you, my father is extremely dissatisfied with his performance.
So I know he’ll definitely want to find a way to wash away his humiliation.”
“If you’re confident in your strength, I can provoke him into challenging you to a bet.
Then he’ll willingly hand over his own money.”
“That guy definitely has a hefty sum of savings.”
After hearing this, Qi Dao gave Xiao Chenyu an odd look.
“Kid, you’re really going all out now.”
Xiao Chenyu chuckled.
Yesterday’s battle between Qi Dao and Xiao Haijie had completely convinced him, making him willingly acknowledge Qi Dao as his boss.
Besides, he had never had a good relationship with Xiao Haijie in the first place, so he had no psychological burden whatsoever about setting his brother up.
A while later, just as Qi Dao and the others were preparing to leave, a dejected figure walked past in the distance.
It was Yu Xiaogang!
Qi Dao glanced at him before immediately looking away.
He called out to his companions and stood up.
“Let’s go.”
“Sure!”
On the other side, Yu Xiaogang naturally noticed Qi Dao and the others as well.
When he saw them leave, his brows furrowed slightly.
He was certain that Qi Dao had seen him just now, yet the boy hadn’t even bothered to greet him.
How rude.
Yu Xiaogang was extremely displeased by the feeling of being ignored.
At the same time, he couldn’t help feeling a little relieved.
“Fortunately, I didn’t take him as my disciple.”
His future disciples had to possess exceptional talent, but that wasn’t enough.
They also had to be polite, sensible, and respectful toward their teacher.
Someone like Qi Dao could never possibly become his disciple.
With that thought, Yu Xiaogang snorted softly and walked over to the area reserved for the faculty before beginning his meal.
Just then, he suddenly heard the conversation between two young teachers at the neighboring table.
“Teacher Li, did you hear?”
“Yesterday, a first-year student nearly killed a sixth-year student, Xiao Haijie, with a single sword strike!”
“What?”
“That happened?”
“How exactly did that first-year student manage it?”
“Could his innate soul power be extremely high?”
“To severely injure a Soul Master with a single sword strike, that first-year student would have to be at least Rank 8 or 9 Soul Warrior, and he’d also need a top-tier martial soul.
Only then would it be possible for him to heavily injure Xiao Haijie with one sword.”
Teacher Li was extremely shocked, and his voice unconsciously grew louder.
Their conversation immediately caught Yu Xiaogang’s attention.
The moment he heard the words “Rank 8 or 9 soul power” and “top-tier martial soul,” his ears practically perked up.
Even the chopsticks holding food stopped in midair.
He had been away from the academy yesterday, so he had no idea what had happened.
But the conversation between the two teachers immediately piqued his interest.
A first-year student had severely injured Xiao Haijie, who should have been at least Rank 12 or 13, with a single sword strike.
At this point, Yu Xiaogang agreed with the latter half of Teacher Li’s statement.
That first-year student’s martial soul was definitely a top-tier sword martial soul.
As for the first half…
Yu Xiaogang gave a disdainful snort.
These two teachers really weren’t intelligent enough.
He had some impression of Xiao Haijie.
He knew Xiao Haijie was the city lord’s son and possessed the Wolf martial soul.
He had also obtained his first soul ring last semester.
More importantly, it was a 100-year soul ring.
And a 100-year soul ring provided a tremendous boost to the physique of a beast martial soul master.
Therefore, an ordinary Rank 8 or 9 Soul Warrior, even one with a top-tier martial soul, would have great difficulty contending with Xiao Haijie.
Let alone doing what the two teachers had described and severely injuring him with a single sword strike.
So Yu Xiaogang boldly guessed that the first-year student who had defeated Xiao Haijie not only possessed a top-tier sword martial soul but was also born with innate full soul power.
He had even most likely already obtained his first soul ring and, by relying on his first soul skill, achieved the effect of severely injuring Xiao Haijie with a single sword strike.
Yu Xiaogang’s breathing unconsciously quickened.
Only a genius like that was worthy of becoming a disciple of Yu Xiaogang!
As for that completely ill-mannered Qi Dao from earlier…
A little brat whose martial soul had undergone a malignant mutation could forget about becoming his disciple for the rest of his life!
With that thought, he turned his head and interrupted the conversation.
“What is the name of that first-year student you’re talking about?”
The two young teachers discovered that it was Yu Xiaogang and frowned slightly.
They had no favorable impression of this man who ate at the academy without paying, but he was ultimately the dean’s friend.
On the surface, they still had to show him the proper respect.
Teacher Li could only answer,
“His name is Qi Dao!”
“What?!”
The moment he heard that name, Yu Xiaogang’s pupils contracted violently, and he abruptly stood up.
The sudden movement was so forceful that he knocked the dishes on the table onto the floor.
But he had no time to care about that now.
There was only one thought in his mind.
“Qi Dao!”
“How could it possibly be him?”
“I know!
They must have the same name!”
End of Chapter