With the Blade

In the days that followed, Shan Bing and the old eunuch once again experienced that perhaps there was some truth in what Du Chengfeng had said.

Just like Du Chengfeng’s daily routine these past two days—going to bed early and getting up early, maintaining a healthy and nutritious diet, and as for the rest of the time, Du Chengfeng chose to train himself—but this kind of training wasn’t like the usual notion of training. It was entirely different from what everyone typically understands as "doing a certain move multiple times" or "lifting this heavy thing."

He was trying to do all the things he found interesting.

"The key is the brain,"

When Shan Bing asked with doubt, Du Chengfeng, who was practicing chopping meat, put down the kitchen knife and pointed to his own head.

"Indeed, I am making braised lion’s head right now, but so what? It’s just like my technique of mincing meat. You have to cut all the sinews in the mince to ensure the right texture... Do you think if I used the knife to cut you now, it would be awkward?

Glancing at the knife, which still had some minced meat on it and gleamed coldly, Shan Bing swallowed a gulp of saliva and dared not speak.

Perhaps, maybe, it really was very nimble.

Shan Bing couldn’t quite imagine that scene.

Having asked all his questions, Shan Bing dared not disturb any further. Although the Little Giant in front of him was indeed easy to talk to, just looking at that enormous soup pot beside him, Shan Bing always felt like he could be chopped into pieces and would still fit inside.

But it wasn’t exactly a bad thing; at the very least, he had already learned some of the essence of how the strong become stronger.

After leaving the imperial kitchen, which had turned into a hellish kitchen, Shan Bing returned to his home. Today could be considered an early leave, yet Shan Bing no longer felt that sense of emptiness—he no longer needed to have a job in hand to barely hold himself together, as now he had some goals and directions of his own.

That is to become strong, to transform himself from an ant into an elephant.

So he would no longer be inexplicably trampled under the feet of some strong individual.

Of course, as for actually getting stronger, he did not have much direction, but this kind of problem wasn’t unfamiliar to him—it was just that this time, unlike the previous time, that Little Giant had at least given him a way to solve the problem. He only needed to imitate the strong, and he might also become strong.

"First, stop thinking..."

Recalling the words he had heard earlier, Shan Bing began his attempts at the path to become stronger.

Of course, stopping thinking didn’t mean completely giving up thought, as the Little Giant had made it quite clear that he needed to focus all his intellect on becoming stronger—of course, this would certainly make him relatively dull in other areas, but as the Little Giant had also said, once he was strong enough, thinking would become other people’s business.

And after this...

"How do you make a lion’s head again?"

Shan Bing started rummaging through those pots and pans that hadn’t been used for a long time.

Typically, the Commanders don’t need to cook for themselves. They have their own headquarters in the imperial city, and naturally, there’s also a mess hall. Although Shan Bing, as a captain, had a place to live in the city, most of the time he wouldn’t cook himself—which directly led to a layer of dust on the pots and pans in his home; it was better to buy new ones than to scrub them.

But he still earnestly scrubbed those kitchen utensils, preparing for cooking.

The reason was simple: the Little Giant did it that way too. Those thorough cleanings and that serious preparation for cooking, he had seen it all with his own eyes.

"Does this really have anything to do with getting stronger?"

Cold water splashed onto his hands, and the icy temperature momentarily pulled Shan Bing into contemplation.

But soon, he gave up on thinking.

He couldn’t think, no matter what, he couldn’t think. After all, he had just confirmed it—thinking must be abandoned, so how could he let his mind wander now?

He just needed to empty his mind and continue doing it, after all. That’s what the Little Giant did, and as the Little Giant grew stronger, if he did the same, he would naturally become stronger too.

"Just like those martial artists."

Shan Bing immediately found a suitable reason.

He had heard of the techniques used by some civilian commanders, which, although completely different from the straightforward killing methods in the military, were more flexible and had considerable merit—when not in a large-scale battle but rather in personal combat. Amid these various techniques, some martial artists mimicked animals.

Imitating a tiger with tiger fist allows them to strike with the ferocity of a tiger, mimicking a crane with crane fist gives them the grace of a crane, imitating a snake with snake fist allows them to strike with the venom of a snake, and mimicking a monkey with monkey fist makes them agile and nimble like a monkey.

"There is even one ranked in the thirties, skilled in Master Yuan’s Sword Technique, where Master Yuan refers to a white ape... No, what am I thinking!"

Realizing that his thoughts were wandering, Shan Bing slapped his forehead, splashing dirty water from the sink onto it.

He couldn’t let his mind wander, as he had emphasized several times that only those who think too much are weak, and would he really want to be weak forever? Would he really want to be an ant for life?

But the more he went on like this, the more Shan Bing found that he simply couldn’t do it.

The more he repeated to himself not to let his thoughts wander, the more his mind would gallop with thoughts—seeing the dirty water in the basin reminded him of the famous Water-Splitting Saber in Jiankang, looking at the raw meat reminded him of those arrogant monsters, the broken pots and pans reminded him of his life recently, and looking at the cutting board and knife, he couldn’t help but recall the hellish kitchen he had just seen.