Ethan Foster had sandbags tied to his legs by the old priest since he was four years old. Then, a pit about ten centimeters deep would be dug in the ground, forcing his knees to stay straight as he jumped in and out of the pit. As he grew older, both the weight of the sandbags and the depth of the pit kept changing.

　　By now, he could basically leap over walls more than two meters high, but the hardships Ethan Foster had endured over the past ten-plus years were hard to put into words. At the very least, when Chad tried to learn alongside him for a week, he ended up rolling on the ground, crying for his parents, and became a deserter.

　　Of course, Chad, who hung around the Taoist temple every day, wasn’t completely useless. Following the old priest, he did pick up some skills. When he first arrived at the army’s new recruit camp at the age of fifteen, he managed to take down three veteran soldiers at once, making quite a name for himself.

　　However, Chad inherited the old priest’s temperament. Preferring to eat well and be lazy, he absolutely refused to join the reconnaissance company, choosing instead to become a cook at the regimental headquarters. Otherwise, he might have been promoted by now, since every year after the division’s big competition, there were always a few promotion slots.

　　“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Following Chad, are you really afraid you won’t have a meal to eat?” Seeing Ethan Foster’s worried expression, Chad patted his chest. At worst, he could ask his dad to say a word and join the village construction crew for work—at least they’d have food to eat.

　　“Alright, I’ll just stick with you for now…” Ethan Foster nodded helplessly. The world was big, but in his life, aside from a few farmers at the foot of the mountain, the only people he could truly trust were Chad in front of him and his deceased Master.

　　“That’s more like it. Ethan Foster, pack up, we’re heading down the mountain today…”

　　Chad clapped his hands and jumped up, glancing around as he shouted, “You don’t really have anything to pack anyway. Let’s just go now. When we get to the foot of the mountain, I’ll have my mom alter a few clothes for you. That Taoist robe is way too conspicuous…”

　　“Don’t! Master said I still have three days before I’m supposed to leave the mountain. If I go down early, there’ll be a disaster of bloodshed…” Ethan Foster shook his head seriously. Having been fooled by the old priest, who claimed to be a descendant of Yuan Tiangang, since he was a child, he still believed in Master’s words to some extent.

　　“Come on, what kind of society do we live in now, and you’re still so superstitious?” Although he also grew up under the old priest’s influence, Chad was a complete nonbeliever in ghosts and gods, let alone fortune-telling—he didn’t believe in any of it.

　　Rolling his eyes, Chad put his hands behind his back, fiddled for a moment, then raised his wrist and said, “Today is July 6th. What day did your Master say?”

　　“April 26th. Isn’t today only April 22nd?” Ethan Foster leaned over to look at the watch on Chad’s wrist, scratched his head, and said, “Did I oversleep one day and forget to tear off the calendar?”

　　In this mountain temple, modern things were extremely rare. Aside from Ethan Foster’s old radio, there wasn’t a single electric appliance. The calendar was something Ethan Foster had traded for with herbs and farmers from the foot of the mountain, and he had to tear off a page every day.

　　“Is your calendar more accurate than mine?” Chad raised his head like a proud rooster, pointing at the watch on his wrist. “See this? It’s a name brand—Citizen, with a calendar. Cost me over seven hundred yuan…”

　　Although Chad didn’t have much money, he was ambitious. To buy this watch and narrow the gap between himself and city folks, Chad secretly ate plain boiled noodles in the security dormitory for a month, saving up just enough for the watch.

　　“It really does have the month and date…”

　　Ethan Foster stared at the watch for a while, then reached into his chest and pulled out a pocket watch attached to a gilded chain, glanced at it, and said, “My watch can tell the time, but it doesn’t have the date. Yours is more useful…”

　　“Huh? {The old Taoist} passed that watch down to you?”

　　Seeing the pocket watch Ethan Foster took out, Chad’s eyes suddenly lit up. He said, “Ethan Foster, that thing is an antique! If you take it outside, it could fetch a good price. When we get to the city, let’s ask around—maybe the two of us can get rich off it…”

　　Chad had seen this pocket watch since he was a child. According to the old priest, he got it when he was staying at a Taoist temple in the Eight Great Sites of Beijing during the time when the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded the city. It was supposedly given to him by a foreigner who broke into the temple.

　　Both Ethan Foster and Chad doubted the old priest’s story as they grew up. After all, when the foreign soldiers of the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing, they were all looting with green eyes—who would be so kind as to give the old priest a gold watch? Most likely, the old priest snatched it from that foreigner.

　　“Damn Chad, don’t even think about it…”

　　Before Chad could finish, Ethan Foster cut him off. After stuffing the pocket watch back into his pocket, Ethan Foster said, “This was left to me by Master. Even if I starve to death, I won’t sell it. You’d better drop that idea right now…”