Heaven Dou Empire's Fourth Prince Xue Beng, Nine Heart Begonia Ye Lingling!

Over roughly the next week, Qin Qi tried physical training and soul power cultivation again.

In the end, he reached an accurate conclusion: physical training was basically useless. The improvements were negligible, and it wasted a great deal of time.

Then there was the increase in soul power. Strength-Eating Immortal Gu could now only enhance physical strength.

However, while digesting what it had eaten, it instinctively absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth from its surroundings.

It then fed the energy from the digested food, along with that spiritual energy, back to Qin Qi.

Simply put, eating was cultivation. Stuffing himself was Qin Qi's own mimicry cultivation ground for beast martial souls.

"One plus one equals two, but when one person is added to one martial soul, the result is still one."

"That means my martial soul and I are actually a single entity. Only together do we form a complete one."

"Hmm... Strength-Eating Immortal Gu draws in soul power from the outside world, digests it simply, and then I absorb it."

"Because Strength-Eating Immortal Gu purifies it first, the absorption process becomes much easier for me."

"I need to write this down."

Qin Qi recorded what he had discovered. In the future, he planned to publish his own ten great theories.

But what he intended to publish would not be the ten great theories of soul masters. He wanted to publish theories on detached beast martial souls.

After finishing that day's cultivation—stuffing himself—Qin Qi read for a while in his dormitory, supplementing his knowledge of soul masters.

Then, during his break, he took a stroll through the academy's forest and happened to run into some trouble.

"Little sister, you're really pretty."

"Want to come take a walk around with us?"

"Your big brother here is..."

Qin Qi looked at the backs of those three people. With just one glance, he was certain that they were noble students from the academy bullying a girl.

As a man educated by modern society, Qin Qi naturally could not stand by and watch.

Besides, now that he had obtained his first soul ring and his soul power had increased, he was like a carpenter holding a hammer.

Everyone looked like a nail, and he wanted to give each of them a couple of hits.

"Hey, broad daylight, under the clear skies, and you dare do something so despicable and shameless here."

"I absolutely cannot tolerate this. Come on, state your soul power, then let's duel!"

Qin Qi felt his blood beginning to boil. Sure enough, whether men or boys, deep in their bones, they all craved battle.

"Huh?"

The noble teasing the girl found Qin Qi's voice somewhat familiar and turned around.

"Qin Qi?"

Xue Beng stared blankly at Qin Qi, who had clenched his fists and looked eager to beat him up.

"..."

"You've got the wrong person. Let's duel!"

Qin Qi fell silent for a moment. Xue Beng was the fourth prince of the Heaven Dou Empire, outwardly a worthless playboy.

But that was merely a disguise he had put on to protect himself. He was also a student of Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

Earlier, Qin Qi had even become friends with him, and they had gotten along quite well.

But at this point, Qin Qi could only pretend not to know him. Otherwise, what was supposed to be a heroic rescue of a beauty would turn into the enemy looking back and thinking, Damn, isn't this my brother?

"No, how could I mistake you when we see each other around the academy every day? Before your martial soul awakened, you even came to my house to mooch meals."

"I might mistake someone else, but even if you turned to ashes, I still wouldn't mistake you, brat!"

Xue Beng instantly lost interest in the new junior girl. He turned toward Qin Qi and spoke in an unwavering tone.

Bang!

Without another word, Qin Qi threw a punch, sending Xue Beng flying. Then he turned to Xue Beng's two lackeys.

"Don't..."

"Mm."

Qin Qi showed no mercy, giving each of them a punch. The two of them were knocked unconscious on the spot.

"You bastard, forget everything else—I treated you to so many meals, and this is how you greet me?"

Xue Beng climbed up from the ground, ran back as fast as he could, and looked at Qin Qi with deep resentment.

"Alright, stop acting like a bitter wife."

"Miss, this guy didn't touch you, did he? If he did, tell me, and I'll punch him again."

Qin Qi sized up the girl before him. Her skin was fair, her features beautiful, and her long blue hair was soft and lovely. She wore a black dress.

The girl looked expressionlessly at Qin Qi, then shook her head.

"Not really. I've never seen you around the academy before. Did you enroll recently?"

Qin Qi continued to ask.

"Mm."

The girl nodded.

"What's with her? Can't she talk?"

Qin Qi looked at the girl, silently pulled Xue Beng aside, and spoke to him in a low voice as they huddled together.

"No, she's the Ye family's only daughter, Ye Lingling. She was born with an aloof personality, and her parents wanted to help her correct it."

"So they sent her here to study, hoping she'd interact with more people."

Xue Beng explained quietly.

"Ye Lingling? The one from the Nine Heart Begonia family—the kind that can heal you back as long as you're not dead?"

Qin Qi suddenly remembered. No wonder this little girl had looked vaguely familiar—so she was Ye Lingling.

"Mm."

Xue Beng nodded.

"Miss Ye, let me introduce myself. My name is Qin Qi, and I'd like to be your friend."

Qin Qi immediately turned around and walked solemnly up to Ye Lingling. Taking her hand, he spoke in a serious tone.

As a strength-type soul master, a powerful healer was simply too important. He had to team up with this girl!

"Don't ever say you're friends with me. It's embarrassing. Pah, shameless."

Xue Beng stood nearby with a face full of disdain. At this moment, Qin Qi looked exactly like Xue Beng had back then!

"Mm."

Ye Lingling's gaze remained cold, devoid of any emotion, and she did not say another word.

Nor did she pull back her hand, as though she did not care about anything in the outside world.

"She's seriously withdrawn, huh? But it's fine. If I can't win over a little girl like her, then I've lived these two lives for nothing."

Qin Qi thought to himself.

"Well, Junior Sister, you've just arrived, so you probably don't know much about the academy yet, right? How about this—I'll take you to the place where people spar with their Martial Souls."

"Then you can show me your Martial Soul, and we can get to know each other a little better."

Qin Qi's eyes were utterly pure, without the slightest stray thought. They held only a desire for a top-tier healer!

"You're just after her Martial Soul, you shameless bastard."

Xue Beng immediately mocked him from the side.

"Don't mind this rich brat. We're good students—we shouldn't play with someone like him."

Qin Qi ignored Xue Beng outright and pulled Ye Lingling away.

"No, wait for me! It's been a long time since we last hung out. Let's chat for a while—I'll treat you guys to something."

Xue Beng hurriedly followed after them.

"Um, aren't we going to do anything about those two?"

Ye Lingling spoke for the first time. Her voice was ethereal, like an emotionless machine.

"Mm... we should probably take care of them."

Qin Qi glanced at Xue Beng, who nodded as well. The two of them then walked over to those two fellows.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

They swung their fists and gave the two men a couple more hits.

"Alright, there's no way they'll wake up anytime soon. Let's go have some fun over there."

Xue Beng wiped nonexistent sweat from his forehead. Those two looked like his lackeys.

In truth, they were his elder brother Xue Qinghe's lackeys, keeping watch over him at all times.

"Remember to buy drinks. You're paying."

Qin Qi said with a smile.

The two chatted and laughed as they walked down the road, while Ye Lingling watched them.

She did not understand what the two of them were doing. Qin Qi and Xue Beng seemed strange to her, but... they were rather interesting.

She stepped forward and followed them.