This struck Eric Bennett right at his weak spot, and for a moment he didn’t know how to respond. Suddenly, a young monk with clear, handsome features sitting diagonally ahead smiled and said, “'Pungent foods' refers to strong-flavored things like onions and garlic, not just meat. But in the past hundred years, people have often used 'pungent' to mean meat. It’s normal that you didn’t know, junior brother.”

Eric Bennett nodded gratefully. The young menial monk continued, “In our Buddhist sect, we originally only forbade killing and pungent foods, not meat itself. Later, out of compassion, we gradually banned meat as well. But our Shaolin is the leading school of martial arts, and our disciples often need to strengthen their bodies. If we lack meat and don’t have spiritual herbs or elixirs to make up for it, our bodies would suffer. So the 'Shaolin Precepts' say that before opening the meridians, disciples should follow the original intent and only abstain from pungent foods, but must not kill.”

So, that means it’s fine as long as lay disciples or farmers from the foot of the mountain do the slaughtering? Eric Bennett more or less understood what was going on. As a martial Buddhist sect, Shaolin had to consider the physical needs of disciples in their body-tempering stage, so they used the original Buddhist intent to make an exception.

Seeing that this young menial monk spoke with such clarity and order, Eric Bennett felt a liking for him and smiled, asking, “May I know your Dharma name, senior brother?”

“Thomas.” The young menial monk’s wooden chopsticks didn’t pause at all.

Eric Bennett continued to ask, “I am Matthew, may I ask, senior brother, what does ‘opening the meridians’ mean?”

He was taking advantage of his young body, so he could easily claim he hadn’t been taught by his family yet to force an explanation.

Thomas laughed heartily and pointed at the wooden table with his left hand. “You’ll know in time. For now, focus on eating.”

Following his finger, Eric Bennett saw that more than half of the seven or eight large bowls of food on the table were already empty!

Damn! These bastards didn’t wait for me at all!

Cursing inwardly, Eric Bennett picked up his chopsticks and joined the scramble for food.

……

After finally eating his fill, Eric Bennett wiped his mouth and, like taking a post-meal stroll, walked back toward the meditation room with Ethan.

“Sigh, honestly, the quality of this meal was still a bit lacking. I think the food tasted good at first mostly because I was too hungry.” Eric Bennett rubbed his belly, burped, and commented on tonight’s dinner.

Ethan thought seriously for a moment. “Everything I’ve eaten before was worse than this, but since you think it’s lacking, senior brother, then it must be lacking.”

“Ah, you trust me that much?” Seeing how logical Ethan was, Eric Bennett felt there might be hope for him, so he curiously followed up.

Ethan raised his hand and rubbed his bald head, a little embarrassed. “I think you’re a good person, senior brother. You’re not like the others who dislike me, so I trust you.”

The title “On the Relationship Between Childhood Experiences and Psychological Disorders”... For some reason, this popped into Eric Bennett’s mind.

Just as he was about to brag a bit more and establish his shining image as a senior brother, William waddled over with his belly sticking out. “Hey, you two, go clean up the courtyard. Later, I’ll broaden your knowledge of the martial world.”

Broaden our knowledge of the martial world? Eric Bennett was instantly interested. After asking where the brooms were kept, he called Ethan and headed to the utility room in the corner of the courtyard.

As a menial monk, you had to be ready to be assigned chores at any time. Eric Bennett didn’t mind this, as long as it wasn’t too much or targeted at him specifically. It was just like when you were in school or at work and the teacher or boss assigned you to do a big cleaning—nothing unusual.

Swish, swish, swish—the brooms swept over the gray stone floor, raising dust and clearing away fallen leaves.

With their not-yet-developed bodies, Eric Bennett and Ethan found wielding the brooms a bit of a stretch, but it was still fairly easy. After all, the courtyard was cleaned often and wasn’t very dirty.

As they swept, Eric Bennett suddenly had a strange and amusing idea. He grinned and put on an old man’s voice: “Little junior brother, does this make us the Shaolin Sweeping Monks?”

Tsk, the path to becoming a great master.

“Mm, sweeping monks.” Ethan kept his head down and continued sweeping.

Eric Bennett’s smile froze on his lips. He sighed inwardly, “It’s no fun if you don’t get the joke!”

Shaking off the feeling, Eric Bennett worked with Ethan to finish cleaning the courtyard before dark. Then they saw several gray-robed menial monks carrying benches from the dining hall into the courtyard, each placing them in an orderly but casual manner and sitting down.

“So practiced…” Eric Bennett wondered if William often broadened everyone’s knowledge of the martial world.

When night fell, William, his face shiny with oil from dinner, waddled out of his meditation room. Immediately, several menial monks went up to him—some setting up benches, some lighting lamps—all very attentive.

“Senior brother, what is ‘knowledge of the martial world’?” The wooden and awkward Ethan seemed a bit interested.

“Well, well, it’s a long story. Wait until Uncle William tells it, then I’ll explain it to you slowly.” As a newcomer, Eric Bennett had no intention of explaining such a “complicated” term to Ethan. He sat quietly on a bench, waiting for William to begin.

William looked around, satisfied to see the eager expressions, then coughed and said, “Today I’ll continue telling you all about the great battle I experienced in Jiangzhou City.”

“Let me tell you, that ‘Flying Yaksha’ Yan Wuo and ‘Ice Fairy’ Ye Yuqi are both famous figures on the Earth Ranking. That battle turned a hundred miles to scorched earth, the great river froze over. Out of compassion, how could I bear to see the people suffer? So I chanted the Buddha’s name, intending to resolve their personal feud…”