"The bandits must have found their comrades’ bodies."

Seeing this, Zhao Lin immediately guessed the reason.

Baiqiao Village was relatively close to town, and most of the villagers were Hunters, many of them skilled fighters. It was only natural that the bandits would be suspicious.

Zhao Lin hadn’t expected his spur-of-the-moment greed to cause trouble for Zhou Pao and the others. He couldn’t help but worry.

"Is everyone here?"

The bandits gathered everyone at the village entrance, had the village elder bring out the register, and started a roll call. At the same time, they sent men to search every house.

By the light of the torches, Zhao Lin saw Zhu Dachun, Liang Song, and Zhou Pao in the crowd.

The masked bandit leader shouted, "All men, roll up your sleeves and hold out both hands!"

The villagers looked at each other, not understanding why the bandits were making such a strange request, but Zhao Lin knew exactly what they were trying to do.

During the skin-tempering stage, the molting process causes the new skin to be lighter in color than the old, a change most noticeable on the hands. It takes several years for the color to return to normal.

If one successfully completed the skin-tempering and truly reached the First Layer of the Power Realm, a vertical cyan line would appear on their palm.

The bandits were trying to find anyone who practiced martial arts using this method.

Zhao Lin glanced down at his own hands. He had only gone through two moltings, so the color change wasn’t obvious. The difference was almost imperceptible.

A few bandits holding torches went forward to inspect everyone one by one. After a full round, they hadn’t found anyone suspicious.

Zhao Lin relaxed. He knew Liang Song was also in the middle of skin-tempering, but he had just completed his first molting, so it wasn’t visible on the surface.

’Even if they did find him, it wouldn’t matter,’ Zhao Lin thought. ’Diao Liu was at the Second Layer of the Power Realm, far stronger than someone who had just started skin-tempering. They must be looking for someone who has reached at least the First Layer of the Power Realm.’

Zhao Lin didn’t stick around to spy any longer, quietly melting into the darkness.

When he returned to Three Families Village, he saw that it was quiet and normal. The bandits hadn’t come to cause trouble, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

Perhaps the medicine he took at the apothecary was working, because Zhao Lin slept exceptionally well that night.

The next day, he woke up a little earlier than usual and hurried to Zhou Pao’s house to ask about the situation.

"What? You killed two bandits yesterday?"

Zhou Pao and Zhu Dachun were both stunned. "So that’s why the bandits were acting like madmen! It was you."

Liang Song’s reaction was different from the other two. "Brother Zhao, why didn’t you bring me along to kill bandits?"

"It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I won’t be so reckless again," Zhao Lin explained. "Since the bandits have found the bear’s carcass, let them take their time searching for the bear gall. We still need to be careful about how we spend our money."

"That’s true," Zhou Pao said with a laugh. "Luckily, we sold the bear gall in Songyuan County. It’ll take a lot of effort for the bandits to track it there."

With silver in his hands, Zhao Lin could finally focus on his training at the Liuhe Sect without worry.

During the skin-tempering process, a period of rest was required between each molting. Otherwise, striking and stimulating the newly grown skin would cause it to become red, swollen, and itchy, which was detrimental to progress.

Zhao Lin took advantage of this break to ask Yuan Cheng for a few days off—he had something important to do.

He wanted to unlock the second slot on his Spirit Beast Scroll.

The reason was simple: he wanted to increase his strength as quickly as possible.

Zhao Lin was constantly worried that the bandits would one day discover he was the "true culprit" and come looking for him to settle the score.

Although the Spirit Beast Scroll had transformed him, giving him physical talents that surpassed most people, even the greatest talent needed time to be honed. Some things couldn’t be rushed.

He wanted to obtain an additional ability.

’The Spirit Beast Scroll still has eight empty slots. What a waste,’ he thought. ’Whatever I decide to do later, using just one now can hardly be called extravagant.’

Zhao Lin had given a great deal of thought to what kind of talent he should absorb with this slot.

The key elements of combat were: strength, speed, technique, durability, and intelligence.

He already had strength, so that could be ruled out immediately.

Intelligence was also unnecessary. Humans were the most intelligent of all beings; there was no need to gain intelligence from a beast.

Technique was improved through constant practice and real combat. It required personal effort and couldn’t be reliant on external forces.

As for durability, Zhao Lin’s first thought was a pangolin.

But a pangolin’s "protective suit" was made of scales. Not only were they ugly, but they would also hinder his movement.

Zhao Lin didn’t know if absorbing a pangolin’s Essence Soul would make him grow scales. If that was the kind of durability it offered, he’d rather do without.

A turtle also had armor, but its shell was actually part of its skeleton, not its skin.

After analyzing all the options, the most practical and useful trait was speed.

When he thought of speed, the first thing that flashed into Zhao Lin’s mind was a cheetah.

The cheetah was the king of land speed. If he could hunt a cheetah and obtain its unparalleled speed, it would be a massive boost to his combat power.

However, after a conversation with Zhou Pao, he realized it was almost impossible.

The reason wasn’t that there were no leopards on Baitou Mountain. In fact, there was a species called the Golden Leopard, which ran like lightning and was also known as the Drilling Mountain Leopard.

The bandit, Drilling Mountain Leopard, had actually taken his name from this beast.

But the Golden Leopard was extremely difficult to hunt. The beast was extraordinarily vigilant and moved like a shadow, coming and going without a trace. No one ever went into the mountains specifically to hunt a leopard; you only ever heard about which Hunter had been attacked by one.

Leopards were masters of stealth and their movements were unpredictable. Even veteran Hunters couldn’t track them.

Zhao Lin was disappointed to hear this. He had to settle for his second choice. "Well, are there any antelopes on Baitou Mountain?" he asked.

He remembered from watching nature shows that antelopes were second only to cheetahs in speed, and their jumping and agility were also exceptional.

"What’s an antelope? Never heard of it." Zhou Pao looked completely blank.

’Don’t antelopes exist in this world?’

Zhao Lin’s heart sank. He borrowed a brush and paper and drew a picture of an antelope.

"It looks like a goat, but also a bit like a deer, with a pair of upright horns on its head. It runs exceptionally fast, second only to a leopard," Zhao Lin explained.

"Oh, you mean that thing."

Zhou Pao slapped his forehead and laughed. "I understand now that you’ve drawn it. We don’t call that an antelope. We call it a ’rock donkey.’"

"It’s bigger than a goat, looks like a small donkey, weighing in at a hundred, maybe two hundred pounds, and it likes to hang out on high mountain peaks."

"It can leap ten feet high and jump over thirty feet in a single bound."

"Its coat is reddish-brown with a white belly, and it has black stripes on its legs. There’s a tuft of black fur on its hind hooves, and its two horns are long, sharp, and have a curve in them."

As Zhou Pao spoke, he redrew the ’rock donkey’ he had just described.

Zhao Lin was overjoyed. "Yes, that’s the one! It’s fast, right?"

Zhou Pao nodded vigorously. "Fast? It’s like the wind. I saw one once when I was gathering herbs on a mountaintop. It was gone in the blink of an eye."

Zhao Lin asked, "Do you think they’re easy to catch?"

Zhou Pao shook his head. "Not easy at all. You definitely can’t catch one by hand, and shooting them with arrows won’t work either. They’re incredibly timid. It’s hard to even get close."

"Setting traps might work, but they live on mountaintops and can walk on sheer cliffs as if they were flat ground. We don’t have that kind of skill."

"I’d advise you to give up on the idea. It’s more trouble than it’s worth."