Zhao Lin's surprise attack had landed. He wanted to move in for the kill, but he saw Diao Liu clutching a dagger, his bloodshot eyes daring him to come closer. Without a second thought, Zhao Lin turned and ran.
The man was on death's door and couldn't move anyway. There was no need to take a foolish risk.
Besides, Zhou Pao and Liang Song were outnumbered and needed his help. He had to eliminate the bandits' remaining forces as quickly as possible.
"You're courting death, kid!"
The bandit rushing Zhao Lin was a large, dark-faced man, brandishing a sabre with a ferocious expression.
Having just pinned Diao Liu to his horse, Zhao Lin's confidence surged. He drew the short axe from his waist and moved to engage.
The dark-faced man took advantage of his longer weapon, bringing his sabre down in a vicious chop. Zhao Lin raised his short axe to block.
But it was a feint. The sabre drew an arc in mid-air, changing direction to slash horizontally at his waist.
"Just as I thought—a total rookie. Putting all your strength into the first block. Now die!"
A vicious grin spread across the dark-faced man's face.
Zhao Lin knew he'd been tricked. Relying on his formidable strength, he forced himself to a dead stop and shifted five feet to the side.
The sabre sliced through empty air. The dark-faced man looked as if he'd just seen a ghost.
'Is that even a humanly possible move?'
Zhao Lin had narrowly dodged the blade, and he broke out in a cold sweat.
'I got careless.'
He'd taken out the bandit leader and figured the rest would be easy pickings.
He was only now realizing that brute strength wasn't enough. When it came to technique and actual combat experience, he was still sorely lacking.
'I can't fight him up close.'
The thought flashed through his mind. Zhao Lin retreated quickly, adopted a throwing stance, and hurled his axe with all his might.
WHIRRR...
The axe blade shrieked as it cut through the air. The dark-faced man saw a cold glint flying at his face. With no time to dodge, he instinctively raised his sabre to block.
CLANG! Sparks flew as the sabre snapped in two. The axe slammed heavily into the dark-faced man's chest.
The man felt as if he'd been struck by lightning. All the strength drained from his body in an instant. He staggered, looked down, and saw a gaping hole in his own chest...
While Zhao Lin dealt with the dark-faced man, Zhou Pao and Liang Song were locked in a chaotic melee with three other bandits.
Both Zhou Pao and Liang Song were Hunters. While they were skilled, their close-quarters combat abilities couldn't match the bandits, who were experts with sabres and horses. Outnumbered two to three, they were quickly forced onto the defensive.
After only seven or eight exchanges, Zhou Pao took a slash to the shoulder. If not for the thick, padded jacket he wore for the winter, he would have lost the entire arm.
He switched his blade to his other hand and continued to fight as he fell back.
"Finish him!"
The bandit with the goldfish-like eyes saw his chance. He called to his companion, and they closed in for a pincer attack.
Zhou Pao struggled to fend off attacks from both sides, and it was clear he couldn't hold out much longer.
Just then, two dark objects came flying through the air.
Goldfish-eyes swung his sabre casually at one, but with a loud SNAP, his blade was caught fast by some kind of iron device.
It was Zhu Dachun. Watching from the sidelines, he had grown so anxious that he'd ignored his own injuries, rummaged through his pack, and thrown two animal traps.
The other bandit's view was blocked by Zhou Pao. Not seeing the second trap on the ground, he stepped right into it. He let out a horrifying scream and collapsed, clutching his mangled leg.
Goldfish-eyes frantically looked around, stunned to realize only two of his men were still standing. The rest were dead or wounded. Even the man he'd sent after Zhao Lin was lying dead on the ground.
A violent shiver ran down his spine. He turned to flee, simultaneously letting out a sharp whistle. A crimson horse galloped toward him.
Goldfish-eyes vaulted onto its back, slapped its rump hard, and galloped off into the distance.
The bandit fighting Liang Song heard the hoofbeats. He glanced over and saw he was the last one left. Fear gripped him, and he turned to run.
Liang Song seized the opportunity. His hunting knife flew from his hand and buried itself deep in the bandit's back, piercing his heart.
"Don't let him get away!"
Zhou Pao snatched up a bow, intending to shoot Goldfish-eyes, but his injured arm prevented him from drawing the string. He yelled to Zhao Lin, who was running over.
If that bandit escaped to report back, they would all be doomed.
Mounted on his horse, Goldfish-eyes covered a great distance in just a few breaths. Confident he was out of danger, he turned back and screamed, "Just you wait! I'll be back before the night is over, and I'll slaughter every last one of you!"
WHOOSH!
A flying axe struck the horse squarely in the hindquarters.
Zhao Lin's aim wasn't perfect, but the man on the horse was such a large target that it hit home.
Goldfish-eyes cried out as both he and his horse crashed to the ground. Pinned beneath the animal, he began to scream in agony.
Zhao Lin walked over, retrieved his axe from the horse's flesh, and prepared to end the man's life.
"Wait! Let me be the one to kill him!"
Liang Song shouted as he ran over, a sabre in hand.
"Alright... he's yours."
Zhao Lin knew he wanted revenge, so he stepped aside.
"Mercy, hero! Spare me, sir, I'm begging you!..." Goldfish-eyes pleaded when he saw the murderous look on Liang Song's face.
Liang Song paid him no mind, hacking at the man's body a dozen times in a furious release of pent-up rage. Tears streamed down his face.
Goldfish-eyes was on the brink of death, his consciousness fading. Through the haze, he saw the young man's tear-streaked face and felt a flicker of confusion.
'Goddammit... I'm the one getting hacked to pieces. What the hell are you crying for...'
As Liang Song delivered the final blows, he killed the horse as well. The horse's Essence Soul began to coalesce above its corpse, and a thought sparked in Zhao Lin's mind.
'I already have an Essence Soul for strength. The next ability I need is speed.'
'Horses are built for running. I'll absorb its Essence Soul for now. If I find a faster animal or Spirit Beast later, I can always replace it.'
After a moment's thought, Zhao Lin made his decision. But when he tried to absorb the horse's Essence Soul, he found the Spirit Beast Scroll didn't react at all.
This meant he couldn't absorb the horse's Essence Soul.
'What's going on?'
Zhao Lin froze. He carefully searched his memories related to the Spirit Beast Scroll and quickly figured out why.
For the Spirit Beast Scroll to absorb a beast's Essence Soul, the beast's ability must not only surpass that of most other species, but there was another crucial requirement.
The new ability had to be superior to those of the beasts already in the scroll.
In other words, the horse had to be faster than the bear. Otherwise, absorbing its Essence Soul would be pointless.
In reality, even though the bear had been old and grievously wounded, its top speed was no slower than a galloping horse.
'It made sense, when he thought about it.'
'Strengthening the body and increasing its power would naturally lead to an increase in running speed as well.'
Therefore, absorbing the horse's Essence Soul would bring him no real benefit.
'Looks like only something like a leopard, or an even faster Spirit Beast, will work for me.'
Having figured this out, Zhao Lin abandoned the idea of absorbing the horse's Essence Soul.
...
After the slaughter, the group began to clean up the battlefield. They went to each bandit and, dead or not, drove a blade through their heart to make sure.
This was the first time Zhao Lin had killed anyone, but he felt no discomfort. It was mainly because these were vicious bandits; in his mind, he hadn't really considered them human in the first place.
When they got to Diao Liu, they found he was still breathing.
"None of you... will get out of this alive..."
A martial arts master was truly built differently. Despite his grievous wounds, he had somehow clung to life, still spewing vicious curses.
"Still talking tough, are you?"
Liang Song took up a bow and shot an arrow into Diao Liu's shoulder, then another into his thigh... torturing him slowly.
"Don't waste arrows," Zhao Lin said, stopping him. "Save them for the horses."
Five of the bandits' mounts were still alive, pacing restlessly near the corpses, seemingly lost.
Liang Song hesitated. "Shoot the horses? But they're fine steeds. It'd be a pity to kill them..."
Zhao Lin shook his head. "The bandits' mounts are sure to be marked. We can't leave them alive!"
Zhou Pao agreed. "Brother Zhao is thinking ahead. As the saying goes, an old horse knows the way home. It'll be a huge problem if one of them runs back."
Liang Song said no more. He put an arrow through the bandit leader's heart, then circled around behind the horse herd and began to shoot.
Zhao Lin followed behind him, delivering a quick death blow to each one to end its suffering.
As dusk began to fall, the men gathered to discuss what to do next.
"There's nothing to discuss. We destroy the bodies and erase all traces!"
Zhu Dachun, who had torn his wound open again when he'd thrown the traps to save Zhou Pao, grimaced in pain as he spoke.
"Destroying the evidence is a given."
Zhou Pao picked up the thread. "I'm familiar with the terrain around here. I know a few hidden pits we can use."
Liang Song glanced at the corpses of the bear and the other beast. "I don't think we should take these spirit beasts with us. If we do, the story will spread to all the nearby villages. If the other bandits hear about it, they'll easily connect it back to us."
"Right. So much for making a name for ourselves."
Zhou Pao sighed with regret. Seeing that Zhao Lin had been quiet, he asked, "Brother Zhao, do you have any suggestions?"
Zhao Lin had undoubtedly contributed the most to their narrow escape. He'd not only taken down the bandit leader but had also stopped Goldfish-eyes from escaping. He had built up a certain authority without even trying, and now all three men turned to look at him.
"We need to create an alibi," Zhao Lin said slowly.