On the way back to the dormitory.
Halfway there, Xiao Chenyu suddenly stopped. "About our match just now... thanks for holding back."
He wasn't someone who couldn't tell kindness from ill will.
Qi Dao had stopped short of hurting him in their match, and Xiao Chenyu had remembered it. He had simply been too embarrassed to thank him in front of everyone.
"No need to thank me," Qi Dao said casually. "Just remember that I'm the first-year boss from now on. When I tell you to do something, you do it."
Xiao Chenyu's face flushed. He gritted his teeth. "Fine. You're my boss from now on. But if I beat you someday, you'll have to give me the position."
"You're welcome to challenge me anytime. But..."
Qi Dao rested a hand on the sword hilt at his waist and smiled with utter certainty. "I'll keep winning!"
Xiao Chenyu froze for a moment at Qi Dao's unwavering gaze and easy expression.
This guy...
He's kind of cool!
They pushed open the door and entered the dormitory.
Every gaze in the room swung toward them at once.
Those chatting on their beds and those busy with other things all stopped what they were doing.
"Boss!"
Someone called out first, and then...
"Boss!"
The whole dormitory erupted in a deafening shout.
Meanwhile, in the dormitory next door.
"What are those first-years yelling about? They're driving me crazy!"
"Sounds like they're calling someone boss!"
"School's only just started, and they've already picked a boss?"
"Who is it?"
"I heard the city lord's youngest son, Young Master Xiao Chenyu, enrolled today."
"So the first-year boss is Young Master Xiao Chenyu?"
"Must be. I heard he has Innate Level Three Soul Power, and his Wolf Martial Soul is a strong attacker."
Back in the first-year dormitory.
Qi Dao laid down a rule.
No shouting or rowdy behavior in the dormitory. Anyone who wanted to play had to go outside.
No one objected in the slightest.
The sword strike Qi Dao had used against Xiao Chenyu had not injured him badly, but it had left a powerful impression on everyone who saw it.
The formidable presence Qi Dao had shown afterward had cowed the first-years then, and they still regarded him with awe now.
Once Qi Dao had set the rule, the dormitory grew much quieter. Satisfied, he returned to his bed and began cultivating.
Cultivation on Douluo Continent relied on meditation. At its heart, it meant guiding Soul Power through the body in a complete circuit to absorb energy from heaven and earth and strengthen oneself.
But when ordinary Soul Masters meditated, their Soul Power traveled along complicated routes. Completing a circuit took longer, so their cultivation was naturally less efficient.
It was like taking two paths with the same starting point and destination. One ran straight; the other twisted and turned. Naturally, the winding path took longer.
By contrast, the Mysterious Heaven Skill in the original story had a systematic route for circulating Soul Power. It followed precise meridians, making cultivation far more efficient than normal.
Qi Dao had Innate Half-Level Soul Power, and his cultivation speed was painfully slow. Even when he placed Peerless before him while cultivating, the improvement was limited.
After two and a half months, his Soul Power was still at half a level.
At this rate, Qi Dao estimated it would take at least another month or two to reach level one.
Becoming a God at that speed was a joke.
So he had two paths before him.
One was exceedingly cautious: cultivate steadily and behave himself.
Qi Dao could clearly sense how different he was from others, especially when it came to his talent for Swordsmanship.
His father, for instance, had awakened his Iron Sword Martial Soul more than twenty years ago, yet had never formed the slightest connection with it.
So Qi Dao judged that as his connection with Peerless deepened, perhaps even reaching the state of Man and Sword as One,
his cultivation speed would naturally rise.
But he couldn't be sure that would let him become a God. In the original story, Ji Juechen had also achieved Man and Sword as One, yet had still stopped at Titled Douluo.
If Qi Dao crossed over to Douluo Continent only to fail to become a God, wouldn't the whole journey have been for nothing?
Of course, he had a second path.
He could improve the meditation method until it became a cultivation method perfectly suited to him. His cultivation speed would then rise as well.
The risk was considerable, but so was the reward. As the saying went, riches and honor were found amid danger!
Still, Qi Dao had yet to try it.
It wasn't that he feared death. He simply knew he understood far too little to improve the meditation method.
If he forced it, he would most likely cripple himself, just as Feng Xiaotian had done with his Self-Created Soul Skill.
Qi Dao wasn't discouraged, though.
He had an advantage ordinary Soul Masters lacked. Others could only look within themselves after absorbing their First Soul Ring, while he could already do it.
He guessed it was a benefit of having lived two lives, or perhaps something he had gained from his sudden enlightenment on the day he awakened his Martial Soul.
Being able to look within so early meant he could sense the paths his Soul Power took through his body.
All Qi Dao needed to do was observe how Soul Power flowed through his meridians, identify the branches it took between them, and remove the parts he didn't need.
Unfortunately, looking within consumed a great deal of mental energy. After just a few minutes, Qi Dao would feel exhausted, so he did it only once a day.
To strengthen his Spiritual Power and extend the time he could look within, Qi Dao came up with an idea based on novels he had read before.
While meditating, he would try to construct the shape of Peerless in his mind, then contemplate it.
As Qi Dao saw it, a Martial Soul was an extension of one's mind and soul. Contemplating it might well strengthen his mind from within.
It sounded unreliable, abstract, driven by belief, and completely unscientific!
But then Qi Dao thought, I'm in a fantasy world. Why worry about science?
There was no harm in trying.
Qi Dao spent two months constructing the image, and to his surprise, it worked!
At first, the Peerless he formed was so blurry it was barely recognizable as a sword, and the image kept slipping away.
But as time passed, the Peerless Sword in his mind grew clearer and steadier.
Until today!
Unnoticed by everyone else in the dormitory, Qi Dao's presence suddenly grew a shade sharper.
The Peerless he had constructed in his mind took complete form. Even the cracks on its blade were identical, and a faint light glimmered from the sword.
Qi Dao had only to contemplate it once before a stabbing pain rose in his mind, as though a needle had suddenly pricked him.
Yet the pain made his mind clearer. His Spiritual Power, depleted from looking within, felt like parched earth receiving a trickle of water.
Contemplation can do that too?
Qi Dao grew more eager. Enduring the needlelike pain, he continued contemplating Peerless, as though he had entered a different state.
And as he contemplated it, the Soul Power within him miraculously began circulating a little faster.
When he opened his eyes again, it was already midnight!
A smile he couldn't suppress spread across his face. At this rate, another ten days to half a month of cultivation would be enough to reach level one.
His cultivation speed might still fall short of a genius Soul Master with Innate Full Soul Power.
But compared with Soul Masters born with level five or six Soul Power, it was more than enough.
Before you continue