Strength is a Soul Power Drain, We Must Conserve Soul Power to Practice Strength!

"To be honest, what exactly is your martial soul?"

"Why is your combat power so strong?"

Yu Tianheng carried his prepared meal over and sat beside Qin Qi, asking curiously.

"This little guy is my martial soul. He has no combat power."

"When it comes to fighting, I have to do it myself. All this guy knows is how to eat."

Qin Qi fed two pieces of beef to the Strength-Eating Immortal Gu, then started eating as well as he spoke.

"This... is a detached beast martial soul really that special?"

Yu Tianheng was a little bewildered. He truly did not understand detached beast martial souls, nor did he dare assume that their traits were all like this.

"I don't know about others, but my own martial soul is like this."

By the time Qin Qi finished speaking, he had already finished his portion. Yet he still was not full, so he went to get another serving.

"How many days has it been since you last ate?"

Xue Beng looked at Qin Qi. He remembered that Qin Qi had not eaten this much in the past. Just how long had he been starving?

"Get lost. I'm still growing. It's normal for me to eat more."

Qin Qi rolled his eyes at Xue Beng. He was a prince of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, yet he did not understand even basic manners.

What did he mean, how many days had I been starving? Couldn't he talk properly?

"What is your first soul skill? Why didn't I see you use a single soul skill throughout the entire battle?"

Yu Tianheng continued asking. Compared to Qin Qi's eating habits, he was far more curious about his martial soul.

"Soul skills... that's something very private. We've only just met."

By the time Qin Qi said that, he had already eaten half of the food he had just gotten. His eating speed was truly astonishing!

"I'm very sorry. I was being rude."

Yu Tianheng also realized that he had gone a little too far, but he was simply too curious about detached beast martial souls.

He thought that perhaps Qin Qi might offer a way to help his uncle, Yu Xiaogang.

While Yu Tianheng was apologizing, Qin Qi suddenly noticed that Ye Lingling had not touched her food in quite a while.

"Lingling, is the food not to your taste?"

Qin Qi asked.

Ye Lingling shook her head.

"You don't know how to use chopsticks?"

Qin Qi asked again.

Ye Lingling shook her head again.

"Don't tell me you're already full?"

Qin Qi looked at the meal that had barely been touched and asked tentatively.

"Mm."

Ye Lingling nodded. She really was full. She had always eaten little since childhood, and as a girl, her appetite was even smaller.

"I think I've found the reason you can't grow taller."

As Qin Qi spoke, he finished his food and went to get another serving. This was already his third portion.

"You really do have a great appetite. No wonder your body is so strong."

"But it's a pity. Although your attack power is very strong, your methods are too limited."

"That might be fine at lower ranks, but once your level rises and everyone has more soul skills..."

"Your advantage will keep weakening. In the end, you may not even be able to hit anyone."

Watching Qin Qi eat, Yu Tianheng somehow began to feel hungry as well, so he started eating too.

As he ate, he spoke at the same time.

"I know that too. I need to figure out how to make up for my weaknesses."

Qin Qi sighed inwardly. Awakening the Strength-Eating Immortal Gu was both a good thing and a bad thing.

If he had an ordinary martial soul, then there would be complete, systematic soul ring, soul skill, and combat theories that he could directly draw upon.

But Qin Qi's martial soul was different from ordinary martial souls, and his soul skills were different from everyone else's as well.

He had to find a way to create a combat system unique to himself, or he would definitely fall behind others in the future.

"By the way, Old Yu, I have an academic question I'd like to ask. Would that be alright?"

Qin Qi suddenly remembered something and asked.

"Mm, that's fine. As long as it's not too private, I can answer it."

Yu Tianheng nodded.

"I read in a book that soul masters have what is called the optimal soul ring configuration: two yellow, two purple, four black, and one red. That is the best soul ring configuration for soul masters."

"But that only applies to ordinary people. Sect and clan families with long inheritances have even better configurations."

"For example, what soul beast each soul ring should be obtained from, and what kind of soul skill each soul beast is most likely to provide."

"And how those soul skills should be combined to achieve the strongest effect."

"I wanted to ask, is that true?"

Qin Qi felt that it should be true. A systematic combination of soul skills was far stronger than a scattered assortment of them.

Those families with long inheritances had long since figured out combinations that could bring out the maximum power of their martial souls.

That was the power of inheritance!

"Mm... that is indeed the case. In our family, there are records of what soul beast should be hunted for the first soul ring."

"What soul skill it will likely provide, and how that soul skill should be developed and trained—there are detailed records for all of it."

Yu Tianheng thought for a moment before answering. Among the upper ranks, this was no secret.

Almost everyone knew about it, but knowing was useless. After all, martial souls determined everything.

"Our family has that too."

Ye Lingling spoke up as well.

Although every soul ring of the Nine Heart Begonia granted the same soul skill, they too had an optimal configuration.

Soul rings from specific soul beasts could effectively enhance the Nine Heart Begonia's healing effects while reducing soul power consumption.

"Is that so? A system... a system is very important."

Qin Qi thought of the Clear Sky Sect's Clear Sky Nine Absolutes. A systematic inheritance was far too important.

He had to find a way to develop his own combat system.

"Ah, knowledge is power!"

Qin Qi had no real ideas at the moment. He felt that he still needed to read more books and build a deeper foundation.

In the blink of an eye, three months passed. With everyone's ideas combined, Qin Qi developed Force's true first killing move!

"Yora Yora Yora Yora Yora!"

Qin Qi condensed all the soul power in his body into his fists, then swung them rapidly, blasting his soul power outward.

In an instant, he threw over a hundred punches, each burst of soul power like a cannonball.

They struck the trees in the distance directly, punching them full of holes!

"The power, speed, range, and destructive force are all quite good. The only drawback is probably the high soul power consumption."

Qin Ming watched from the side, pushed up his glasses, and spoke.

"Mm, but it doesn't affect me much. After all, I don't have anything else that needs soul power."

Qin Qi could not help laughing at himself as he said this. Force consumed a great deal of soul power, so all the soul power saved by Force had to be spent on Force's killing moves.

"It can be further developed in terms of concentration, range, accuracy, and distance."

"Mm. Overall, this is only a prototype for now. It will develop even better in the future."

Qin Ming walked over to Qin Qi and patted him on the shoulder.

"Congratulations on creating your own self-created soul skill. I'm proud of you."

A smile appeared on Qin Ming's face. Though he was strict, he was never stingy with praise.

"Thanks, bro."

"Oh, right. If there's nothing else, I'll be going. I made plans to have tea with Lingling and the others today."

Qin Qi packed up and prepared to go have tea with Ye Lingling and the others. This was how he had spent his time lately.

Most of the time, he wandered around with Xue Beng and the others. After all, thinking did not stop his body from moving.

Only when experiments were needed did he make time to put things into practice.

"Got it. What level is your soul power at lately?"

Qin Ming asked.

"Almost level nineteen."

Qin Qi had already gone far away, and his voice drifted back to Qin Ming's ears only after a long while.

"Ah, his improvement is so fast... and so effortless."

Qin Ming could not help sighing. What other student did not train through the bitter cold of winter and the scorching heat of summer, cultivating diligently day and night without rest?

Yet his little brother only needed to eat on time. The only issue was that his food expenses were rather high.

Other than that, there were no problems at all.

"I heard a special student will be arriving today... Dugu Yan, martial soul: Jade Phosphor Serpent."

Qin Ming took out the new student's file. After only one glance, he frowned, thinking of a terrifying person.