"Tomorrow, come over to practice with your spear. I'll introduce you to the two Hunters who will be going into the mountains with us."
Zhou Pao said to him just as he was leaving.
"No problem. What are they like?" Zhao Lin asked.
'In teamwork, the relationship between members is crucial. It's best not to be stuck with people who are difficult to get along with.'
"Don't worry, they're both solid guys," Zhou Pao pounded his chest and guaranteed.
Zhao Lin said no more. Taking advantage of the remaining daylight, he crossed several mountain ridges and took a shortcut back to Three Families Village.
"Father, Mother, I've got a lead on my brother's situation."
Zhao Lin said the moment he walked through the door.
"So soon?"
"What did they say?"
His father put down his pipe, and his mother rushed out from the kitchen.
"The man's cousin is a bailiff in the yamen who's in charge of this sort of thing. He said they can get my brother out by reporting that he's gravely ill."
To put his parents at ease, Zhao Lin decided not to reveal the truth, shamelessly spouting the lie he had prepared beforehand.
"We'll have to give them money, won't we? How much?" his father asked, a little worried.
Zhao Lin said, "He hasn't said yet, but since we've found the right connection this time, it probably won't cost too much."
His father went back into the room, pulled out a wooden box from under the bed, and handed it to Zhao Lin. "This is the money you had me save for you. Do you think it's enough?"
Zhao Lin pushed the box back. "No rush on the money. It takes time to grease the wheels. I reckon they'll release him in ten days to half a month."
"Our eldest can get out!"
"That's wonderful!"
Tears welled up in the old couple's eyes, and they were overcome with emotion...
「The next day.」 Zhao Lin went to town and bought some food—grain, oil, meat, and eggs—then carried it all to Zhou Pao's house.
Before the operation, he would be living and eating at Zhou Pao's house. He couldn't just use the man's resources without contributing.
"Younger Brother Zhao, you're being too formal! Your brother here isn't lacking for anything, heheh..."
Zhou Pao's words were polite, but the look on his face showed that he was very pleased with Zhao Lin's gesture.
'Character is revealed in small things. I can feel at ease working with someone like this.'
Zhao Lin ate something to tide himself over, then stretched his limbs in the courtyard to warm up, preparing to practice his spear work in a bit.
"I'll go get those two."
Zhou Pao said before heading out.
Before long, the sound of conversation drifted from outside the courtyard gate, occasionally punctuated by Zhou Pao's hearty laughter.
CREAK...
Zhou Pao led two men into the courtyard. They carried bows on their backs and had hunting knives at their waists.
"Brother Pao," Zhao Lin walked up to greet them.
Zhou Pao grunted in acknowledgment and introduced them to each other.
The two newcomers were both Hunters from Baiqiao Village. One was named Zhu Dachun, and the other was Liang Song. They were cousins.
Zhu Dachun was around forty years old. He was tall, nearly half a head taller than Zhao Lin, with a rugged face and dark, stubbly chin.
Liang Song was much younger, not even twenty by the looks of him. He had a square face and thick eyebrows, giving him an air of maturity beyond his years.
Zhao Lin said, "Brother Liang, Brother Zhu."
He had just turned sixteen, so he had to call everyone "brother."
"A pleasure," Liang Song replied politely.
Zhu Dachun, however, looked astonished. He turned to Zhou Pao and said, "This is the expert you invited? And he gets a thirty-percent cut?" His tone was thick with dissatisfaction.
Zhou Pao didn't answer him, instead smiling and asking Zhao Lin, "Younger Brother, why'd you stop practicing your spear?"
Zhao Lin understood. He knew Zhou Pao wanted him to show off his strength. He picked up the iron spear from the ground, took a few steps back, and suddenly roared, "KILL!"
Liang Song and Zhu Dachun heard only a sharp whistle of air splitting beside their ears. A figure flashed, and the iron spear became a streak of black light.
When they focused their eyes again, Zhao Lin was already seven paces away, the hundred-plus-jin iron spear held steady at his chest.
The shock on their faces was impossible to hide. They had known Zhou Pao for years and had handled this iron spear before, so they naturally understood its weight.
To lift something so heavy as if it were light, as Zhao Lin did, was something they could never hope to accomplish.
Zhou Pao chuckled. "So? What do you think? No matter what kind of beast it is, if it takes a hit from that spear, it's going to be in for a world of hurt."
"Incredible skill!" Zhu Dachun gave him a thumbs-up in praise.
Zhao Lin gave a cupped-fist salute in the air, his face showing no hint of pride.
'There's nothing to be proud of. My great strength is all thanks to my special ability. When it comes to experience or brains, I'm not necessarily better than anyone else. It's best to stay humble and cautious.'
Zhou Pao, Liang Song, and Zhu Dachun set up a low table in the courtyard, lit a brazier, and sat around it to discuss the plan to kill the bear.
The three of them went back and forth, their discussion heating up.
When Zhao Lin got tired of practicing, he would listen from the side without interrupting. After all, they were the professionals.
He wanted to learn some hunting techniques; they might come in handy later.
The Spirit Beast Scroll gained abilities by absorbing the Essence Souls of beasts. That meant he would inevitably be dealing with wild beasts, and perhaps even Spirit Beasts, in the future. It couldn't hurt to master more hunting methods.
Two days passed like this. Zhao Lin's spear-thrusting form grew more and more practiced.
Spear techniques were difficult to master. Although the thrust was a single move, it had extremely high requirements for Body Technique and footwork. Mind and body had to be perfectly coordinated, or a tiny error could lead to a massive failure.
The more Zhao Lin practiced, the more addicted he became. He was constantly thinking about how to build up power and regulate his breathing. Even when eating or sleeping, he found himself unconsciously mulling over the motions of the spear...
Meanwhile, Zhou Pao's group had more or less finalized their discussion.
The general plan was for Zhao Lin to inflict the initial injury with his iron spear. Once the bear emerged from its cave, Zhou Pao and the others would launch a second attack with bows, arrows, and large, pre-set traps.
Their goal wasn't to kill the bear outright, but to reduce its mobility.
The strategy was to fight and retreat, avoiding a direct confrontation with the bear, and wait for an opportunity to strike when its stamina was depleted.
There was one critical point: all weapons would be coated with a potent poison to increase their lethality. Furthermore, before waking the bear, they would throw a large number of venomous insects into its cave to weaken it as much as possible.
Zhou Pao took a sip of tea and said to Zhao Lin, "Younger Brother Zhao, you must land a heavy blow on the bear before it's fully awake. Otherwise, no matter what other tricks we have, they'll be useless. Our only option then would be to run."
Zhao Lin nodded in agreement and asked, "Could we throw something poisonous and flammable into the cave first and smoke it out with toxic fumes?"
Zhu Dachun answered for Zhou Pao, "I'm afraid that's not a good idea. Bears are light sleepers during hibernation. Any significant disturbance could wake it up."
Liang Song chimed in, "It would be extremely agitated then. It would be much harder for you to get in close and stab it with your spear."
"Then we'll stick to the plan. We'll focus on wearing it down and avoid a head-on clash."
Zhou Pao concluded.
Zhao Lin nodded. "I understand. The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue."
The three men all turned to look at him. Zhou Pao clapped his hands and said, "Brilliant! Perfectly said!"
Zhao Lin grinned. 'I can't take credit for summarizing such a brilliant tactical doctrine,' he thought to himself.
With the plan decided, everyone was assigned their tasks.
Zhu Dachun was in charge of buying the poison.
They chose a mixture of arsenic and wolfsbane. Both were highly toxic, and purchasing them from an apothecary required registering your name, with a daily sales limit.
Zhu Dachun's task was to visit every apothecary in the various villages and towns of Qinghe County to buy the poison.
Zhou Pao and Liang Song were responsible for gathering venomous insects. They would search under rocks and in crevices for hibernating scorpions, centipedes, and poisonous spiders...
Zhao Lin also had a task: to gather firewood nearby to keep the heated kang bed in Zhou Pao's house constantly burning.
Once the room was warm, the captured insects would slowly wake up, ready to give the bear a big surprise.
The days were full and busy.
In two days, Zhou Pao and Liang Song caught several dozen venomous insects, which they kept in a few iron cages in the kitchen.
The venomous insects from the mountains were especially large—centipedes half a foot long, scorpions with enormous poisonous pincers. The sight of them was enough to make one's skin crawl.
Out of curiosity, when no one else was around, Zhao Lin took out a scorpion and crushed it under his foot.
He could see the scorpion's Essence Soul, but the Spirit Beast Scroll didn't react at all.
Zhao Lin felt a little disappointed. 'A scorpion must have a specialty, and that specialty is its potent venom,' he thought. 'The reason I can't absorb its Essence Soul is probably because our body structures are too different.'
'If only I could use poison too. I remember a martial art in novels called the Poisonous Sand Palm…'
...
That evening, the four of them were sitting around eating together when Zhou Pao suddenly said, "Spring is almost here. We've been able to see the sunset glow for the past two days, which means the next few days should be clear. Why don't we make our move the day after tomorrow!"