“This is all I got for three hundred jin of firewood. Look how harshly they exploit us—just half a jin of salt. This isn’t enough to eat. I’ll have to come again tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow I’ll have to trade for some oil. You don’t need to come.”

Samuel Bennett knew this was the rule of Kongtong Mountain, not something he could change, so he asked, “If you come again tomorrow, will they give you trouble, senior brother?”

“I just won’t go to Xuanhu Palace. I’ll go to Beitai Qingniu Temple or Baiyang Temple—it’s all the same.”

Samuel Bennett nodded silently. Ethan Clark pointed to a large stone nearby and said, “Let’s sit down and rest for a bit, have some water!”

The two of them sat down. Ethan Clark handed the water gourd to Samuel Bennett, who took a few gulps and then passed it back to his senior brother.

“Senior brother, do you plan to be a Taoist priest your whole life?” Samuel Bennett asked.

Ethan Clark smiled slightly. “Except for our eldest senior brother, the three of us have never studied a single scripture. How could we stay Taoist priests forever? When the time is right, Master will let us leave the mountain and go out into the world.”

“What do you want to do in the future, senior brother?”

Ethan Clark thought for a moment and smiled. “My dream is to become a famous assassin like Jing Ke or Yao Li.”

Ethan Clark gazed at the sky, his eyes full of longing, and slowly recited, “The Zhao guest wears a Hu tassel, the Wu sword gleams with frost and snow; a silver saddle shines on a white horse, swift as a shooting star; every ten steps, one man falls, a thousand miles without pause; when the deed is done, he brushes off his clothes, hiding his name and body deep… This is a poem Master taught me, and it’s also my lifelong dream.”

……

At dusk, the two returned to Qingxu Palace. Samuel Bennett was surprised to see second senior brother Olivia Clark kneeling in front of Master’s door, a small bundle on his back, as if he were about to travel far.

“Master, your disciple is leaving. Please take care of yourself!”

“You talk too much nonsense. Hurry up and go!” came Edward Wood’s impatient voice from inside.

Olivia Clark kowtowed three times with tears in his eyes, then got up and came to Ethan Clark and Samuel Bennett. “Fourth brother, I’ll be counting on you to take care of Master from now on.”

Ethan Clark asked enviously, “Will you come back, senior brother?”

“Maybe I’ll come back in a few years, maybe I won’t. Master said it depends on our own fate.”

Olivia Clark patted Samuel Bennett on the shoulder. “Little junior brother, take care!”

With that, he strode down the mountain.

Samuel Bennett watched his figure disappear into the distance and asked in confusion, “Where is second senior brother going?”

“Master let him leave the mountain. Sigh, when will it be my turn?” Ethan Clark sighed with longing.

……

That night, Samuel Bennett couldn’t fall asleep, still replaying the day’s events in his mind.

He never would have thought that after only a month of chopping firewood, he could knock Zhang Huer down with a single punch. Of course, part of it was because Zhang Huer underestimated him, but more importantly, his own movements were fast, his punches quick, and his strength had clearly increased.

But… it’s only been a month! Just learning two techniques and footwork from fourth senior brother couldn’t possibly have such great results. Could it be because of daily meditation? Or did he eat some kind of magical elixir?

Thinking of magical elixirs, Samuel Bennett suddenly remembered something: the food he ate every day seemed different from what his senior brothers ate. Eldest senior brother always scooped a big bowl of black mush for him from a separate small pot.

Could the reason be here? He felt restless, like a cat scratching at his heart, wanting to ask fourth senior brother, but found he was already asleep.

Lost in thought, Samuel Bennett eventually drifted off. He had a dream in which he accidentally discovered a deep cave, with the words ‘Lingji’ written above it. Inside, golden light shone everywhere, and the cave was filled with all kinds of gold, silver, and jewels.

……

At the fifth watch, Samuel Bennett got up as usual to meditate and recite scriptures. Using a unique breathing rhythm, his mind entered a meditative state. But instead of thinking about the path of immortality, he thought about the universe, his body soaring endlessly, flying out of the solar system, roaming freely in the Milky Way.

After meditating for an hour, his senior brothers all got up. Samuel Bennett felt refreshed, his mind and body in peak condition.

At that moment, eldest senior brother Charles Clark came over and said to Samuel Bennett, “Go to the bamboo grove. Master is waiting for you there.”

“Got it!”

Samuel Bennett didn’t even bother to wash up, put on his shoes, and hurried toward the bamboo grove.

The bamboo grove was about two hundred steps from the temple, covering more than ten mu. The bamboo was lush and the place was quiet and secluded. In front of the grove was a small vegetable patch, and Thomas Wood had been waiting there for some time.

Chapter 0007: The Choice to Learn Martial Arts

Samuel Bennett quickly stepped forward and saluted. “Greetings, Master!”

Edward Wood smiled slightly. “Take the basket and come with me into the grove to dig bamboo shoots!”

Only then did Samuel Bennett notice two bamboo baskets at Master’s feet, each with a hatchet inside.

He picked up a basket and followed Edward Wood into the bamboo grove.

A thick layer of bamboo leaves covered the ground, making it very soft underfoot. In just a short while, they found more than a dozen tender shoots.

“Do you know how to dig bamboo shoots?” Edward Wood asked with a smile.

Samuel Bennett nodded. “A little!”

“Then I won’t teach you. Dig them yourself!”

Digging bamboo shoots is actually quite simple: just loosen the soil around the shoot and pull it out whole. But if it’s late April, you have to be selective—leave the strong ones to grow into new bamboo.

Before long, Samuel Bennett had pulled up more than a dozen tender shoots, brushed off the dirt, and put them in the basket.