Lies did not hurt people; the truth was the sharpest blade.
Those words struck a nerve with the disciples. Angry shouts and curses rose one after another, and some even rolled up their sleeves to charge onto the platform, only to be pinned in place by a sudden pressure.
"A bunch of trash."
Du Busi's voice boomed like thunder, and the pressure of a Level 98 Super Douluo silenced the entire gathering.
He walked slowly onto the arena, his dark green hair stirring without wind. He glanced at the disciples below, disappointment written all over his face.
"You bunch of trash can't even beat a kid without Soul Power, and you still have the nerve to shout?"
"What, do the rules say Soul Tools aren't allowed?"
"He can use Soul Tools, and so can you. Besides, as someone without Soul Power, he can't use Soul Skills at all, but every one of you can use Soul Skills and the Second Awakening talent of your Body Martial Souls."
Toji could not help taking another look at Du Busi.
Du Busi clearly hated Soul Tools himself, yet he had changed his tune when Toji used one.
The Body Sect really is famous for being overbearing and shielding its own. No wonder Du Busi was so angry when I killed a squad of disciples.
"Even with such a huge disparity between the two sides, you still couldn't beat him, and now you're actually using 'he used a Soul Tool' as an excuse to cover up the fact that you're inferior to him?"
Du Busi berated them coldly:
"Failure isn't frightening. What's frightening is that you don't even have the ability to recognize what you are."
"Toji was right. He has neither Soul Power nor Soul Skills, and he hasn't undergone a Martial Soul Second Awakening. Your cultivation is higher than his, and every one of you has undergone a Martial Soul Second Awakening. The gap between the two sides is already this wide, and you're still making excuses for your failure?!"
Only then did the disciples fall silent.
"The competition continues." Du Busi's face was cold. "If none of you has the courage to challenge him again, then you're admitting you're all trash."
"Learn from him. He fought for all that combat experience with his life on the line."
Du Busi left in a fury. This time, none of the Body Sect disciples had anything to say.
The competition continued, and another Soul King stepped onto the platform to challenge Toji.
The result was no surprise. Toji knocked him off the platform as well.
The arena matches lasted from morning until noon, and the Body Sect's successive challengers kept coming. Toji alone had taken down more than twenty of them.
He had claimed twenty-three consecutive victories.
Most were Soul Ancestors, seven or eight were Soul Kings, and one was a Level 55 Soul King who had given Toji a grueling fight. In the end, Toji had still won by a narrow margin.
By the afternoon, the number of people challenging him had noticeably dwindled. By dinnertime that evening, Toji had won thirty-seven matches in a row.
He had set the best winning streak in the Body Sect's history.
Among those he had brought down were three Level 55 Soul Kings.
When it was time for a break, the disciples watched Du Busi lead the blood-covered Toji off the platform. Not one of them dared meet Toji's eyes.
In a world where the strong preyed on the weak and strength reigned supreme, no one would look down on you as long as you were strong enough.
"Go take a bath first." Du Busi looked at Toji, his tone exceptionally gentle for once. "You're covered in wounds."
"Mm."
Toji was already used to it. He went to soak in the hot spring room first.
After he washed up, Du Busi took him to the Body Sect's cafeteria.
"I've been paying for your meals until now, but starting tomorrow, you'll have to pay for your own food," Du Busi said. "The Body Sect's cafeteria loses more money than anywhere else. The meals here cost far less than they do outside, but their ingredients provide the nutrition and energy most beneficial to Soul Masters."
"Every bite is worth a thousand pieces of gold."
This was Toji's first visit to the cafeteria. His gaze swept over the dazzling array of dishes, and he casually picked out a few of the best before carrying his tray to a seat in the corner.
As soon as he took a bite, Toji felt a warm current spread from his stomach throughout his body, as if his exhausted body had been infused with new vitality.
Even his Qi and blood improved a little once more.
"As expected of the ingredients at a top-tier sect. What great resources," Toji remarked.
"They're all the choicest parts of rare Soul Beasts." Du Busi looked at him with a smile. "Well? Much better than the garbage you ate outside, right?"
Toji did not answer, merely eating faster. With every mouthful, he could feel the injuries in his body healing rapidly, while both his physique and his Qi and blood improved noticeably.
Eating such precious, rare ingredients was just like cultivating for him.
How was this eating a meal? He was practically eating money!
Thankfully, Du Busi was treating him to a meal. Ordinarily, he would not have dared spend his Gold Soul Coins so extravagantly.
Even though he still had a fortune of tens of millions.
Du Busi watched Toji wolf down his food, a flicker of satisfaction in his eyes:
"Slow down, no one's going to steal it from you. But your Qi and blood really are vigorous. I'm starting to wonder whether I'm sitting across from a Soul Beast."
Toji quickly finished his meal, then went and brought back another heap of food:
"I can still eat, right?"
"However much you can eat, I'll pay for it," Du Busi said generously.
With those words from him, Toji continued sweeping the table clean. The empty plates gradually piled up until they hid him completely.
At first, Du Busi was quite happy. After all, a good appetite was a blessing, and these were all expensive ingredients. The more Toji ate, the more energy and nutrition he could absorb.
But as Toji kept on eating, Du Busi's expression turned somewhat blank.
Is this guy eating so fiercely because he's a reincarnated hungry ghost?
He ate even more than Du Busi!
He kept eating until he had finished every last dish in the cafeteria, leaving some Body Sect disciples who came late for dinner with nothing to eat.
The Body Sect had few members, so it only made that much food each day to avoid waste. Then Toji came along and left nearly a hundred people without a meal.
Seeing how much Toji could eat, the people around him were utterly won over, full of admiration.
He was strong and could eat, too. His appetite alone was enough to match more than a dozen of them.
"Is this how much you usually eat?" Du Busi had dealt with the matter briefly, making a special trip to the kitchen to ask the cooks to make more. When he returned, he looked at Toji with a dark face.
Toji put on an innocent expression:
"I outdid myself today. Usually, I only eat half this much."
Since someone else was paying, that meant he should eat to his heart's content. In any case, his teacher was not short of money.
Besides, a meal like this was worth almost half a year of training for him, and it could also effectively enhance the results of his future cultivation.
"All right, all right, you brat." Du Busi was completely speechless. "Come with me. I'll teach you how to absorb a Soul Bone."
"Yes, teacher."
The two returned to the hot spring room, and Toji took out the left leg Soul Bone as Du Busi instructed.
"To tell the truth, this Soul Bone is clearly better suited to a fire-attribute Soul Master. It isn't very suitable for you," Du Busi reminded him.
"But a Soul Bone provides a great improvement. Having one is better than having none."
"Teacher, can I trade it for something else?" Toji looked at Du Busi. "This Soul Bone is of good quality. Even the Body Sect's treasury has a need for this kind of Soul Bone, right?"
"How about this? I'll hand this Soul Bone that doesn't suit me over to the Body Sect. In exchange, could you give me a Soul Bone of the same quality that does suit me, teacher?"
"That works. I can accept that." Du Busi agreed at once and stood up to leave. "Wait here while I go look..."
Du Busi soon returned and tossed Toji another left leg Soul Bone, which radiated a silvery-white luster.
"This one also came from a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, a Gale Demon Leopard. Absorbing it will greatly increase your speed. It might even grant you a top-grade spatial-type Soul Bone Skill, or perhaps an offensive skill."
"As for your Soul Bone, I'll take it and see whether any of the sect's disciples need to absorb this fire-attribute Soul Bone in the future."