With a swift movement, he activated his “Treading on Snow Without a Trace” lightness skill, drifting toward the mountainside’s primeval forest like a wisp of cotton. His speed was astonishing—only a blur could be seen before he appeared dozens of meters away. With a few more leaps, he landed on a branch deep within the forest.

In recent years, because Samuel Bennett had been practicing lightness skills, hidden weapons, and acupoint techniques—and his “Yijin One-Element Skill” had reached the fifth level, allowing him to sense everything within a hundred-meter radius—the animals near the mountaintop had suffered greatly. Now, within a two-hundred-meter radius of the summit, there were basically no large animals left. These days, if Samuel Bennett wanted to hunt, he had to venture deep into the primeval forest.

Standing on a tree branch, Samuel Bennett closed his eyes and circulated the “Yijin One-Element Skill” within his body. Everything within a hundred meters seemed as clear as if he could see it with his own eyes: where there was a sapling, where a rabbit was running, even how many ants were under a fallen leaf—he knew it all.

Of course, this effect only occurred when he fully activated the “Yijin One-Element Skill.” Normally, if he wasn’t consciously using it, he could only sense about ten meters—equivalent to his body constantly running the fourth level of the skill. If he reached the sixth level, he’d be able to sense a thousand meters when using the skill, and a hundred meters even when not deliberately activating it.

“There’s actually a wolf! Tonight’s dinner will be roast wolf meat.” Samuel Bennett sensed a wolf behind a bush, drooling as it stared at a rabbit not far ahead.

Samuel Bennett quietly drifted toward the wolf’s location. Why say “drifted”? Because he seemed weightless, like a falling leaf—no, more accurately, like a leaf equipped with an engine. In a few moments, he was on a tree beside the bush.

“Whoosh... whoosh... whoosh...”

Three pebbles struck three of the wolf’s acupoints. With no one else on the mountain except himself and his master to experiment on, Samuel had to use his acupoint technique on animals.

Leaping down, he saw that the wolf wasn’t dead—it just couldn’t move or make a sound. It maintained its original posture, but its eyes were filled with terror, not understanding why it suddenly couldn’t move or cry out. Samuel Bennett nodded in satisfaction at the result, then flicked another pebble to end the wolf’s life. As for the rabbit ahead, it didn’t react at all and just kept nibbling on the grass.

Samuel Bennett slung the wolf over his shoulder and left, not even glancing at the rabbit. When he was young, Samuel Bennett could only deal with small animals, and rabbits were the easiest. He’d eaten rabbit for years—roasted, grilled, stir-fried, stewed, boiled—every flavor imaginable, and now he had no interest in rabbit meat.

He came to a stream in the forest, took out the small knife at his waist, skinned the wolf, removed the bones and innards, cut off the head, and kept only the meat—his movements were skillful and practiced.

Picking up the wolf meat, he leapt up and disappeared in an instant, soon reappearing at the cave entrance atop the mountain. He set up a spit, cut many small slits in the wolf meat with his knife, rubbed in spices and salt, then lit the fire—now all that was left was to wait and eat.

Suddenly, he felt a sense of alertness—someone was approaching. Activating the “Yijin One-Element Skill” to sense, he realized it was his master returning up the mountain.

“Master, you really have perfect timing! I just got the fire going and you’re back!” Samuel Bennett said as he walked toward his master.

“Being early isn’t as good as being lucky! Wow, there’s roast meat to eat,” Franklin joked as he walked over to Samuel Bennett. Franklin knew that being alone on the mountain was lonely, so whenever he had time, he’d chat with him, always using a casual tone, worried that Samuel Bennett might not adapt to the outside world in the future.

“Master, today I finally mastered the last move of the ‘Dharma Sword Technique’—‘Soaring Crane Ascends to Heaven.’”

“Oh, not bad, not bad! That means you’ve achieved great success, haha,” Franklin replied, though his eyes were fixed on the roasting wolf meat.

Samuel Bennett’s roasted meat was truly exceptional. In all his decades of traveling across China, Franklin had never tasted anything better. The seasonings were all foraged from the primeval forest and uniquely blended. Just a sprinkle, and the aroma was incredible—spicy and delicious, with a first-rate texture. No wonder—Samuel Bennett had been making barbecue on the mountain for nearly ten years, and with his martial skills, he controlled the fire perfectly. How could it not be delicious?

“Master, stop staring at the roast meat—it’s not going to fly away. Are you even listening to me?”

“I’m listening, I’m listening—what! You said you mastered ‘Soaring Crane Ascends to Heaven’?” Franklin snapped back to attention, asking in surprise.

“Yes, I’ll show you with the sword right now.” With that, Samuel Bennett ran back to his room and fetched his sword.

Standing in the clearing atop the mountain, he performed the sword forms, starting from the first move of the Dharma Sword Technique, each move flowing into the next, faster and faster, until only afterimages could be seen. At the end, he soared into the air—it was the move “Soaring Crane Ascends to Heaven.”

“Good, good! You achieved it even earlier than I expected. I thought you’d only master this move next year. Looks like I underestimated your talent,” Franklin laughed heartily, not even glancing at the roasting meat.

“Thank you for your praise, Master,” Samuel Bennett said, a little embarrassed by his master’s compliments.