Thanks to You, I Have Gained Some Enlightenment

Opening Day

The Opening Ceremony was undoubtedly an ordeal, with the dean speaking, followed by the director, and then the outstanding teachers.

When the ceremony finally ended, it was already close to noon.

"Boss, let's go eat together, my treat today!" Xiao Chenyu said.

"Fine." Qi Dao's family was not badly off either, as Qi Father and Qi Mother could collect ten gold soul coins from the Spirit Hall every month, and occasionally went out to help others hunt soul beasts, considering themselves quite well-off.

Yet he would not refuse a treat from his lackey, Xiao Chenyu.

It was just a meal.

Yet just as Qi Dao, Xiao Chenyu, Liu Long, Ling Feng, and a few others hurried toward the cafeteria, another group called out to them from a distance.

To be precise, they called out to Xiao Chenyu.

"Second brother, are you not even going to greet your big brother when you see him?"

This group also wore the Notting Academy uniform, but they were tall and sturdy, clearly senior students.

Among them, the leader's figure and features bore a striking resemblance to Xiao Chenyu.

"Who is he?" Qi Dao asked casually.

"He is my older brother, Xiao Haijie, a sixth-year student." Xiao Chenyu glanced at Xiao Haijie and introduced him to Qi Dao.

Xiao Haijie?

He didn't appear in the original work!

After all, even Xiao Chenyu was just a bit player in the original work, and by the time the plot started, he had long since graduated.

"It looks like you and he don't get along very well."

Xiao Chenyu clenched his teeth and said in a low voice, "Boss, you don't understand."

"The struggle for the title of heir has always been like this. In the future, only one of us can inherit our father's peerage!"

Upon hearing this, the corner of Qi Dao's mouth twitched slightly.

However, this reminded him that yesterday Xiao Chenyu had said his father was not only the Notting City Lord, but also an empire baron.

In the Heaven Dou Empire, peerage could be inherited, unless one committed a grave crime and was stripped of the title.

Thinking of this, Qi Dao could not help but recall Xiao Chenyu's first soul ring from the original work.

The son of a dignified city lord, yet his first soul ring turned out to be a ten-year soul ring.

Wasn't this likely the handiwork of his older brother?

Just as the two were talking, Xiao Haijie had already brought his people over.

Soul masters on Douroland developed physically very quickly. Xiao Haijie was only eleven or twelve years old, but his height had already reached one meter seven.

His eyes drooped slightly, his gaze first sweeping over Qi Dao condescendingly from above, and then shifting away as if he had lost interest, carrying a faint trace of contempt.

"Second brother, I heard you recognized a boss in the academy."

"To be honest, I am very disappointed in you!"

"I originally thought that no matter how much of a good-for-nothing you were, it was only compared to me."

"But I never expected that you would actually be defeated by a waste kid with innate half-rank soul power and then acknowledge him as your boss."

"You have truly fallen!"

Xiao Haijie's face was written with undisguised mockery.

Hearing these words, Xiao Chenyu's face instantly flushed red.

Liu Long and Ling Feng likewise wore expressions of displeasure.

Cursing their boss as trash, wasn't that cursing them as trash?

If not for the fact that Xiao Haijie was a sixth-year student, they would have definitely picked a fight with him today.

Just who did he think he was acting all arrogant!

A sharp glint also flashed in Qi Dao's eyes as he stared straight at Xiao Haijie like a hawk.

Noticing Qi Dao's gaze, a playful and bantering smile flashed across Xiao Haijie's face.

"Yo, judging by that look in your eyes, you seem quite unconvinced by what I just called you?"

"What, could it be that you still want to challenge me just like you did to that good-for-nothing Xiao Chenyu?"

Qi Dao lifted his chin slightly, his expression calm. Although he was a head shorter than Xiao Haijie, the aura around him did not shrink in the slightest.

"Why wouldn't I?"

Just as Qi Dao's voice fell, a burst of loud laughter immediately erupted from Xiao Haijie's mouth.

The group of people following behind him saw that their boss was laughing and immediately burst into loud laughter as well.

"Hahahaha!"

This scene made Xiao Chenyu, Liu Long, and Ling Feng itch with anger.

Yet while angry, they simultaneously thought to themselves, Boss is being foolish.

How could someone with innate half-rank soul power dare to challenge Xiao Haijie!

Especially Xiao Chenyu. As Xiao Haijie's younger brother, he knew Xiao Haijie's strength all too well.

This guy was already a rank 13 soul master!

Even though Qi Dao could defeat him using swordsmanship, facing Xiao Haijie, who had absorbed a first soul ring, he would definitely be crushed.

Xiao Haijie looked as though he had been amused, gazing at Qi Dao with a playful expression.

"Kid, do you even know who I am? How dare you challenge me?"

Qi Dao said indifferently, "So what if I know, and so what if I don't?"

"We sword cultivators, how could we fear a single battle?"

"Hahahaha!" Xiao Haijie laughed uninhibitedly, lowering his head to look down at Qi Dao with disdain.

Suddenly, he slammed his fist forward without warning, striking Qi Dao squarely in the lower abdomen.

At the very instant Xiao Haijie made his move, Peerless trembled in Qi Dao's hand.

Qi Dao instantly sensed Xiao Haijie's sudden assault, his right hand moving toward his waist on pure reflex as he tried to draw his sword in response.

Yet he possessed only half a rank of soul power, and even with Peerless giving him a warning, he still failed to react in time.

Xiao Haijie's punch sent Qi Dao stumbling back seven or eight steps straight, his stomach churning violently as he almost threw up his stomach acid.

Even without Martial Soul Possession, Xiao Haijie's physical constitution far surpassed Qi Dao's.

Yet his actions immediately drew the angry, glaring stares of the first-year crowd.

"Bastard, do you have any sense of rules left!"

Xiao Chenyu roared angrily, instantly executing his Martial Soul Possession.

Liu Long and Ling Feng did the exact same.

The former's martial soul was a staff, while the latter's was a swallow.

Xiao Haijie swept a contemptuous glance over the three of them.

"I didn't expect you guys to be quite so united, but unfortunately, even if the three of you charge together, to me you are nothing more than a mob of rabble."

"You!" Xiao Chenyu flew into a rage, unable to hold back his urge to strike.

At that moment, a slightly weak voice came from afar.

"Stop!"

They saw Qi Dao pulling the sword from his waist as he stood not far away, his complexion looking slightly pale, yet his eyes still devoid of the slightest timidity.

"Boss, are you alright!"

Seeing Qi Dao in this state, the three of them rushed over to ask with concern.

Especially Xiao Chenyu, whose eyes carried a hint of self-reproach.

In his eyes, Qi Dao had clearly been implicated by him and suffered unearned disaster.

Qi Dao shook his head and smiled, "Rest assured, I'm fine!"

However...

Someone was about to have a problem very soon!

Xiao Haijie looked at Qi Dao with slight surprise, speaking mockingly, "I didn't expect that punch just now wouldn't knock you flat on your face. You really surprise me."

"However, after seeing the gap between us clearly, do you still want to challenge me now?"

Surrounded by Xiao Chenyu and the other two, Qi Dao slowly looked toward Xiao Haijie's group with a blank expression.

Yet deep within his mind, the scene of the exact moment Xiao Haijie had attacked just then replayed itself.

Peerless was vibrating, sounding the alarm for him!

At that very moment, he discovered that his connection with Peerless had coincidentally deepened by a massive margin, and his comprehension of swordsmanship had also surged as if through a sudden epiphany.

Within his sea of consciousness, the blade of the Peerless Sword he had constructed bloomed with a faint light.

Qi Dao straightened his back, holding his sword horizontally before him as an unruffled voice rang out.

"Thanks to you, I have gained some enlightenment!"

"Today, I must use you to test my sword and repay the karma of that punch!"