At this moment, he recalled that while David Miller was indeed tall and burly, Charles Harris was also a strapping man, yet he was beaten by David Miller like a child, unable to fight back at all.

And David Miller, weighing two hundred jin, was lifted up with one hand by Old Man Walker. He had been surprised at the time, but now it all made sense.

So it was blood exchange.

“Senior brother, how can one exchange blood?”

Samuel Bennett asked.

“You want to exchange blood? Do you know how many medicinal herbs it takes? My dad slaughtered pigs for thirty years, and I’ve been at it for over ten, and even so,

just one blood exchange almost left us destitute. And you…”

David Miller shook his head repeatedly:

“Poor scholars, rich warriors—you think it’s just talk?”

Samuel Bennett said nothing, only squeezed the stones in his pocket.

No herbs… maybe stones would work too?

“All right, all right, you’d better ask the old man about these things.”

Seeing that Samuel Bennett was about to ask more, David Miller felt a headache coming on, waved his hand, and left the alley.

“Blood exchange, blood exchange…”

Samuel Bennett chewed over these two words again and again, a great longing rising in his heart.

In times like these, relying on others is nothing compared to relying on yourself.

If he were strong enough, would those ruffians like Charles Harris dare to prey on his family?

…

As evening approached, after seeing off David Miller, who had only eaten a few bites, Samuel Bennett closed the door, picked up a cloth bag, and went to the kitchen.

He set a pot to boil, then poured several bags of carefully selected ‘stones’ into the pot to steam.

He washed them over and over, finally drained the water, scooped them out, packed them up, and carried them back to his room.

“Isn’t it just eating stones?”

“Eat!”

Samuel Bennett shut the doors and windows, lined up the steamed stones bag by bag at his bedside, then lay down fully clothed and closed his eyes.

Gritting his teeth, he summoned the ‘Gluttonous Cauldron.’

“Refine!”

Chapter 7: Rapid Progress!

After eating stones for a year, Samuel Bennett certainly knew that once swallowed, the stones would be absorbed by the Gluttonous Cauldron and wouldn’t stay in his stomach.

Only a stream of warmth would spread through his body, replenishing his strength.

But stones were still stones—the taste was terrible, they scratched his throat, and anyone who could enjoy them surely wasn’t human.

So, even knowing it was to activate the Gluttonous Cauldron, Samuel Bennett had always felt a strong aversion.

But now, lying in bed, his face expressionless, he ate a whole bag of stones as if munching on fried beans.

He ate until his whole body felt hot, then closed his eyes.

Buzz~

Light and shadow shifted, and Samuel Bennett once again found himself inside the pitch-black cauldron.

Unlike the first time, seeing the progress bar on the cauldron wall, he felt calm, a great sense of security flowing through him.

“Practicing sword techniques outside seems to affect the progress bar too…”

Looking at the decimal point on the progress bar, Samuel Bennett pondered.

Without wasting time, he picked up the only item in the cauldron—a broken blade—and began swinging it according to the memories in his mind.

Again and again.

Soon, he was completely absorbed, forgetting the passage of time.

Samuel Bennett found that with a foundation, his ‘refining’ became much faster, and in less than a night, he had already awakened.

This meant he had refined one-fifth of the broken blade.

“The old man really isn’t some great master…”

Samuel Bennett woke up slowly, glanced at the sky about to brighten, and thought to himself:

“What Old Man Walker said was true. The essence of sword technique is really just ‘steady, accurate, ruthless’—maybe add ‘fast’ too?”

After slowly eating half a bag of stones, Samuel Bennett got up, tidied up a bit, then started the fire, washed rice, and cooked.

When dawn broke, he informed his grandmother, then set off for the inner city.

At the yamen, Samuel Bennett requested a long leave. Getting up so early, he was naturally heading to Old Man Walker’s place.

After a night of refining, his mind was still sharp, and with enough stones eaten, his strength was abundant. The only downside—

His throat was hoarse.

Stones were still stones; even boiled, they hurt his throat.

“You little brat, here so early?”

Hearing the knock, William Walker cursed and shouted, “Wangcai, go open the door!”

“Squeak squeak squeak~”

The old monkey, its fur half white, jumped down from the tree to open the door, bared its teeth and claws at Samuel Bennett for a while, then returned to the tree.

Samuel Bennett gave a wry smile and entered.

Old Man Walker, yawning, cursing, and draped in clothes, came out. Seeing it was Samuel Bennett, he wasn’t surprised, and pointed to the kitchen:

“Go press the tofu in the kitchen, and remember, make it thin.”

“Yes.”

Samuel Bennett replied hoarsely. In his year as an apprentice, though he hadn’t come often, he had pressed tofu before.

It was one way to practice ‘steadiness.’

He hadn’t liked doing this before, but now he realized how wrong he’d been.

If your blade isn’t steady, no amount of sword practice is useful.

“Don’t use the kitchen knife.”

Old Man Walker suddenly spoke, pointing to a large blade outside the woodshed. “Use that one.”

“Huh?”

Samuel Bennett was dumbfounded.

That blade wasn’t for chopping wood, but for David Miller to practice his strength. It must weigh thirty to fifty jin.

Use that to cut tofu?

“What? Scared?”