Samuel Bennett was truly curious—could this be the legendary practice of cultivating inner energy?

He watched for a while, but soon couldn’t hold back his urge to relieve himself. He quietly got out of bed, opened the door a crack, and slipped outside.

Stepping out, a wave of cold air hit him, making all the pores on his body contract. His eyes widened as he saw the entire mountain peak shrouded in thick, white fog.

Samuel Bennett didn’t dare go far. He relieved himself beside the house, but by then, he had lost all desire to go back to sleep. The mist, like a fairyland, strongly attracted him.

He felt his way along the wall toward the courtyard. In just a moment, his hair and clothes were damp, and droplets formed on his face, running down his neck—the mist was just too humid.

Samuel Bennett soon realized he was lost. In the milky fog, even the buildings had disappeared, so he could only grope his way forward with extreme caution.

“If you go any further, you’ll fall off the cliff.” Suddenly, Edward Wood’s voice came from behind.

Samuel Bennett shuddered all over, as if he’d been hit by a freezing spell, not daring to move a muscle.

“Master, I can’t see anything!”

“Turn around and walk in a straight line!”

He slowly turned around and walked straight ahead. After a few steps, he could just make out his master’s figure.

“Come with me!”

Samuel Bennett closely followed Edward Wood’s silhouette and soon entered a room.

The room was very simple, but tidied up neatly. In the corner was a brick fireplace with a fire burning inside, casting a red glow over the room.

“Sit down and warm yourself by the fire. If there’s one thing we never lack here, it’s firewood.”

Edward Wood smiled and pointed to a tree stump. Samuel Bennett sat down on it, and the warmth washed over him, quickly making his whole body feel cozy.

“Are your senior brothers all up?” Edward Wood asked as he sat nearby.

“They’re all meditating. Master, are they… practicing inner energy?” Samuel Bennett asked cautiously.

Edward Wood laughed. “Their meditation does have the effect of strengthening the body, but it’s not really practicing martial arts. They’re doing their daily lessons. Every day at dawn, all the Daoists on Kongtong Mountain get up to meditate and do morning lessons. It’s the same as monks chanting scriptures—every Daoist is striving to cultivate the art of ascension.”

“How… exactly do you cultivate?”

“Every household is more or less the same. You silently recite scriptures, clear your mind of distractions, and focus all your attention on ascending with your thoughts. One day, you’ll find yourself leaving your mortal body and flying to the immortal realm of the Three Pure Ones. That’s when your cultivation is complete.”

Samuel Bennett was speechless. The art of immortality really was simple.

“Can meditating and chanting scriptures really strengthen the body?”

“Meditating and chanting alone isn’t enough—there are some secrets to it. Otherwise, how could every Daoist on Kongtong Mountain move so nimbly up and down the mountain?”

Samuel Bennett thought that made sense. His master was already over sixty, yet still had white hair and a youthful face, full of energy, climbing the mountain as if walking on level ground. Whether his master knew martial arts, he didn’t know, but his robust health was a fact.

For Samuel Bennett, building a strong body at eighteen was one of his main goals in becoming a Daoist.

He suddenly remembered the conversation between his two senior brothers. After hesitating, he cautiously asked, “Master, why did you choose me?”

Edward Wood smiled slightly. “You can’t figure it out yourself, can you? A thin, weak child that no one else wanted—why did I treat you like a treasure?”

Samuel Bennett nodded. He really couldn’t figure it out.

Edward Wood said calmly, “Looking at your situation, it’s clear your family is poor, yet you can write calligraphy with at least twenty years of skill. From what I know, that’s impossible. I really can’t understand the reason, so I can only guess that you have a talent beyond ordinary people.”

Samuel Bennett fell silent. This old Daoist really had sharp eyes.

“Master, how should I cultivate?” Samuel Bennett changed the subject.

“Your cultivation is simple. Starting today, you’ll be responsible for chopping firewood every day. Then I’ll teach you the art of meditation and immortality. After a month, you’ll be in charge of foraging and chopping wood. In a few years, you’ll have to fetch water and barter for goods. Time passes differently in the mountains—just live your life quietly like this.”

Edward Wood didn’t press Samuel Bennett about his calligraphy skills. He was clear-minded—he knew his disciple must be hiding some unknown secret.

Chapter 0004: Secrets in the Mountains

In the blink of an eye, Samuel Bennett had already spent half a month at Qingxu Temple.

His days were very ordinary. He got up at dawn every day, meditated with his senior brothers, and practiced a special breathing method taught by Edward Wood, which involved switching between rapid and slow breaths. The formula consisted of seventy-two long breaths and seventy-two short breaths, alternating in a very complex pattern.

However, Samuel Bennett found that he was indeed very talented. He only had to read the “Daily Morning Ritual Sutra of the Mysterious Gate” twice before he could recite it word for word.

As for the obscure breathing formula, he actually memorized it after hearing it just once. After three days of practice, he could meditate and chant scriptures with his senior brothers, and the complex breathing became completely automatic.

On the first day, he was out of breath after chopping ten logs, and after fifty, he collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. But no one helped him—he had to chop at least three hundred logs every day before he could sleep.

But after ten days, he found he could chop thirty logs in one go, and could chop five hundred logs a day.