"I'm not jealous at all!" Samuel Bennett also turned to look at Henry Clark, retorting without backing down, "I'm just afraid you'll get yourself killed if you go!"

"Heh heh..." Ethan Brooks was amused by the two young men and laughed, "Gentlemen, please don't joke. The martial and literary competitions at the Young Heroes Gathering are just for friendly exchange, not life-and-death duels. Especially the martial contest—it's always just to test skills, never to the point of harming anyone's life."

At this point, Ethan Brooks seemed to remember something, paused, and added, "Oh right, Young Master Huang, you are also among those invited to the Young Heroes Gathering. We sent a letter to the Huang family a month ago. I suppose you had already left home by then, so you didn't know you were invited?"

"Really?" Samuel Bennett had been away from home for several months, so he truly didn't know. "Ha! That's great, I was just thinking of going to check it out." As he spoke, he nudged Henry Clark, who was sitting next to him, with his elbow. "Brother Clark, since that's the case, you should come too. If it comes down to it, I can protect you."

"Get lost! You think I need your protection?" Henry Clark scoffed, "I can take care of myself."

Squire Clark, seeing his son and his old friend's son suddenly getting along as if they were lifelong buddies, was a bit puzzled, but figured it was a good thing.

He thought for a moment and said, "Hmm... letting him go broaden his horizons isn't a bad thing."

"Father, let's just do it." Henry Clark, seeing his father still a bit hesitant, said, "Aren't you confident in me? It's just a trip to Luoyang, nothing will happen."

Henry Clark wanted to go to this gathering for a few reasons: first, being praised by Ethan Brooks earlier had made him a bit giddy; second, he heard Samuel Bennett was going and wanted to join the fun; and third... after living in this world for over a decade, he had hardly ever left Hangzhou, so he wanted to see more of the world.

Squire Clark, seeing his son so eager, thought that although his son was illiterate and not skilled in martial arts, he was clever enough, and with the Huang family's son accompanying him, he shouldn't suffer too much. So he agreed.

And so, the matter was settled. But since there were still some days before the Mid-Autumn Festival, they weren't in a hurry to leave.

Master Brooks was busy with affairs and would leave the next day, but Samuel Bennett had nothing urgent, so he decided to stay at the The Clark Family for a while and then head to Luoyang together with Henry Clark. He would just send a pigeon post home to let them know.

That night, everyone feasted and drank at the The Clark Residence.

Before the banquet, Squire Clark had already read the letter Samuel Bennett brought. Seeing his old friend's handwriting put him in a great mood, so he drank a few extra cups and, unable to hold his liquor, retired early. Near the end of the hour of the dog, Ethan Brooks also took his leave and returned to the inn.

So, at the table, only Henry Clark and Samuel Bennett were left.

At last, the two of them could finally talk about things only "transmigrators" could discuss.

"Damn, I thought I'd never see anyone from the old world again in this life. If I'd known you transmigrated too, we could've met up sooner." Samuel Bennett had also had a few drinks by now, but the alcohol of that era, due to the distillation techniques, wasn't very strong.

"Ah, it's all good." Henry Clark said, "Now that we've met, we can hang out together again. Besides... with our skills, we'll definitely make a name for ourselves at this Young Heroes Gathering, right?"

"Pfft—" Samuel Bennett immediately spat out his wine. "Brother Clark, are you kidding me?" He shot Henry Clark a look of disdain. "I could tell the moment you sat down today—you don't know any martial arts, do you?"

"Nonsense!" Henry Clark insisted, "Of course I've learned!"

"Nonsense!" Samuel Bennett shot back, "I'm the one who's actually trained, so I can tell at a glance you don't have a shred of internal energy."

"What the hell?" Henry Clark raised his voice, "There's internal energy in this world?"

"No shit! You just figured that out?" Samuel Bennett said.

Henry Clark's eyes darted around, but instead of answering, he asked, "So you have internal energy?"

"Of course I do." Samuel Bennett replied as if it were obvious. "Hey, I finally made it to a world with martial arts and secret techniques, and I have the means to learn—why wouldn't I train hard?"

"Great!" Henry Clark slapped the table. "Since that's the case, your brother here is in trouble—shouldn't you pass me, say, ten years' worth of your internal energy so we can share the benefits?"

"Get lost! Pass it to your sister!" Samuel Bennett said. "I started training at five, and it took me a year just to learn how to circulate my breath through all my meridians and start generating internal energy. After all these years, I've only got about ten years' worth of internal energy, and you want me to give you eight or ten years? Are you even human?"

"Fine, not ten years—let's split it, five years each, okay?" Henry Clark started bargaining.

"Go to hell!" Samuel Bennett took another swig. "First off, I don't even know how to do 'external transfer of internal energy.' Even if I did, someone like you, who doesn't even know the basic breathing techniques and whose meridians are all blocked, couldn't accept it. If someone tried to pour a bunch of internal energy into you, you'd just explode on the spot, got it?"