“According to Old Man Walker, the biggest difficulty in blood replacement is emptying the mind, thinking of nothing at all. When David Miller underwent blood replacement, he wasted at least dozens of pots of medicinal liquid just on this step…”

　　……

　　People’s thoughts are chaotic; even in dreams, there’s never a moment of peace. Without long-term training, it’s simply impossible to control.

　　In the warm, even somewhat scalding medicinal liquid, Samuel Bennett was thinking to himself, but silently recited a phrase.

　　“Refine!”

　　Buzz～

　　In the next instant, he once again arrived inside the Cauldron of Gluttony.

　　“I wonder if this will work…”

　　As soon as the thought arose in Samuel Bennett’s mind, he saw that on the dark cauldron wall, besides the progress bar for ‘refining the broken blade’,

　　there was now another faint glow.

　　【Blood Replacement Progress: (0/100)】

　　“This works too?!”

Chapter Twelve: Surviving the Cliff Fall?

　　……

　　“Medicinal bath?”

　　In a corner of the alley, catching a faint scent of herbs, a tall, thin man in white frowned:

　　“William Walker really has his eye on this kid?”

　　After hesitating for a moment, he turned and left.

　　He moved quickly, avoiding passersby, and after passing through several alleys, turned into the backyard of a large three-courtyard residence.

　　“What are you doing here?”

　　Inside the courtyard, an elderly man leaning on a cane and watering flowers frowned.

　　“Matthew Bennett!”

　　The tall, thin man in white gave him a cold glance: “You messed this up. When the deputy helmsman returns, think about how you’re going to explain.”

　　“Messed up?”

　　Matthew Bennett struck his cane hard, half in disbelief: “With your skills, you couldn’t kill that brat? The outer city is in such chaos now—was there really no opportunity?”

　　“He’s moved into the inner city, and it’s not far from the alley where William Walker lives.”

　　The tall, thin man’s face was expressionless. He didn’t mention the medicinal bath, but said:

　　“William Walker is a ruthless character. I don’t want to risk my life against that brat.”

　　“This matter is no small thing. If you don’t handle it, how am I supposed to explain to the deputy helmsman? And you think you can?”

　　Matthew Bennett was getting agitated, somewhat regretting his involvement with the Liansheng Sect.

　　Over the past year, he hadn’t gained much, but had paid quite a price.

　　“That’s your problem, not mine.” The tall, thin man replied casually, about to leave.

　　“Wait!”

　　Matthew Bennett called out to the man in white: “If we can’t touch that brat for now, so be it. But there are still vacancies for Black Mountain City prison guards.”

　　The tall, thin man frowned at this: “You families already agreed on the targets. Aren’t you afraid they’ll settle accounts with you later if you do this?”

　　“Heh heh～”

　　With a heavy thump of his cane, Matthew Bennett sneered:

　　“Everyone sweeps the snow from their own doorstep. If I can’t get through this, what future is there? I can’t worry about that much anymore.”

　　“I can help.”

　　The tall, thin man didn’t bother asking more, raising his index finger: “Give me another hundred taels, right now. No silver coins, only banknotes!”

　　“One hundred taels…”

　　Matthew Bennett’s face twitched, but he gritted his teeth and agreed:

　　“Fine!”

　　……

　　“This works too?!”

　　Samuel Bennett was both shocked and delighted.

　　He had long known that, unless the ‘Cauldron of Gluttony’ turned completely black again, he couldn’t absorb a second ‘ingredient.’

　　He’d eaten a lot of ‘stones’ these past few days, but refining them also consumed energy. Back and forth, he was just barely maintaining a balance.

　　The appearance of the blood replacement progress bar was an unexpected surprise.

　　This also meant that, relying on the ‘Cauldron of Gluttony,’ he had easily crossed a threshold that David Miller hadn’t managed to pass in several months.

　　The progress bar wouldn’t speed up his blood replacement, but with it, he could keep track of his progress.

　　And plan more reasonably.

　　What surprised him even more was the phrase ‘one blood replacement’ before the progress bar.

　　If there’s a first time, there’ll be a second, a third…

　　“How much medicinal material will this take…”

　　Samuel Bennett muttered, feeling a bit of a headache.

　　By his estimate, even a single successful attempt would cost over two hundred taels of silver. If he failed the first time, the cost for the second attempt would multiply.

　　And this was just for one blood replacement…

　　“Money, oh money…”

　　Samuel Bennett sighed, picked up the broken blade, and began to practice.

　　With day and night of training, his mastery of blade techniques had grown deep. Though progress slowed as he advanced, he was gradually approaching the end.

　　The refining of the broken blade was about to be completed.

　　……

　　“Whew!”

　　Letting out a heavy breath, he stepped out of the now murky and cold medicinal liquid, stretched his body casually, and immediately felt a surge of energy.

　　“It seems easier and faster than Old Man Walker said…”

　　Samuel Bennett thought, half-squinting.

　　In theory, the stronger the body, the faster the blood replacement. For example, David Miller seemed to have learned some external hard skills to speed up the process.

　　But according to Old Man Walker, even so, after each medicinal bath, David Miller needed two or three days to recover. For normal people, once every ten days was standard.

　　Yet Samuel Bennett didn’t feel tired or fatigued at all. In fact, the feeling was so good that he was a bit intoxicated by it.

　　It was just that, with no rejection reaction in his body, after soaking all night, his skin really couldn’t take much more.