Upon hearing Li Nian's description, Lin Yu couldn't help but click his tongue in amazement.

"What a powerful item... Did you go to the 'Gray Domain' in your last dungeon?"

Lin Yu asked, but Li Nian shook her head.

"Not at all... Sister Zhu Ming, since when do the items in my hands require me to personally go to that world to acquire them?"

Hearing Li Nian's words, Lin Yu was momentarily stunned, then nodded, not particularly surprised.

"That's true."

It seemed this item of Li Nian's was stolen from someone else again.

Probably some player who offended her in the last dungeon.

After answering Lin Yu's question, Li Nian turned around and asked Lin Yu one of her own.

"Earlier, I saw you looking around left and right. What were you thinking about?"

Lin Yu didn't hide it from Li Nian either, directly voicing his speculation.

"I think this escort convoy has problems. Judging from the reactions of the Dart Head and these dart masters, the appearance of such a large number of Mountain Demons doesn't seem to be a normal occurrence."

"They might suspect we have problems... If you aren't carrying anything that attracts demons and monsters, and that Flying Knife doesn't have anything similar either, then it can only mean... the goods this convoy is escorting this time are abnormal."

Lin Yu said in a low voice. Li Nian narrowed her eyes.

"That's right. Getting attacked by so many demons and monsters right from the start; if I hadn't obtained the Limit-Breaking Jue, it really would have been hard to handle..."

"Such an abnormal occurrence feels more like a reminder to us that this 'escort convoy' has issues."

Lin Yu nodded: "Moreover, if we want to clear this stage and reach Willow Town through a relatively normal route, following this convoy should be the safest choice."

"No matter how much of his original skills that Flying Knife has left, his current mindset and condition mean he's probably going to be hard-pressed to become useful combat power—the shadow of what he encountered in the last dungeon might just be too great."

"So, even if this convoy has something strange about it, it's still better for us to follow this team... Solving the convoy's 'problem' is better than wandering aimlessly in the wilderness."

Lin Yu spoke in a low voice. Li Nian looked at him.

"Sister Zhu Ming, I actually have a method to quickly determine what exactly the goods they're escorting are..."

"The method you're about to suggest better not be 'try stealing it to find out'."

Lin Yu looked seriously at Li Nian.

Li Nian spread her hands: "Then I have no method."

Then, after a few seconds, Li Nian couldn't help but ask again: "Really not possible? I think this method is pretty good, absolutely won't be exposed."

"Your stealing process indeed might not get exposed, but what if it explodes upon contact with air or something after you take it out," Lin Yu said gravely. "The goods in these three carts are definitely not simple."

One piece of circumstantial evidence is that even Lin Yu doesn't know what's inside them right now.

Under Old Zheng's guidance, Lin Yu had developed a relatively mature method of spiritual sense detection, yet he still couldn't sense the situation inside the compartments of those three large carts.

It was likely someone intentionally used talismans or something similar to isolate them from any possible detection.

Hearing Lin Yu's tone, which didn't sound like a joke, Li Nian also nodded afterwards.

"Alright then, we can only take it one step at a time... How passive."

Lin Yu lifted his eyes to look at the mountain cliffs on either side of the convoy and shook his head.

"It won't be passive for too long."

By now, the convoy had advanced quite a bit, deep into Fuyuan Mountain and far from the location of the earlier ambush.

However, one only needed to look up to see that those Mountain Demons atop the cliffs were still following the convoy's progress.

This was also why the dart masters remained uneasy.

Logically, Li Nian alone had already caused them to lose nearly half their numbers; they should have been scared out of their wits by now.

In fact, the Mountain Demons' behavior did show they feared Li Nian—otherwise, they wouldn't just be staying far away on the cliffs, not daring to come down.

But precisely because of this, Yue Zhenqiao and the other dart masters felt even more uncertain.

So what was it that made these Mountain Demons, fully aware of Li Nian's terror, insist on continuing to follow?

This was what Lin Yu was curious about as well.

Especially since he could sense that the mental state of these Mountain Demons was still stable. Although their emotions were very tense, they definitely hadn't been manipulated or had their minds confused into not leaving.

Continuing to track the convoy was clearly their own spontaneous behavior.

This also led Lin Yu to rule out the possibility of "other players" influencing the Mountain Demons.

Thinking of this, Lin Yu couldn't help but start muttering to himself.

"If we analyze based on this point, there really are only two possibilities: either changes in Fuyuan Mountain itself forced these Mountain Demons to act this way, or this convoy indeed possesses some extremely special characteristic..."

Lin Yu still preferred to believe the latter—after all, if Fuyuan Mountain had anomalies, apart from their strange behavior, their condition should also show some clues.

Yet, although it was currently the height of summer, those Mountain Demons still appeared energetic, with smooth fur and robust builds, not looking like desperate creatures forced into a last-ditch fight.

"Could the target of this transport be their leader or something?"

Lin Yu looked at those three huge, tightly sealed compartments with even the windows locked shut, feeling it was indeed possible they contained three enormous, living demons or monsters.

And right at that moment, Old Zheng's voice rang out.

"Boss, be careful... the boss of these baboons is coming."

Ever since he started teaching Lin Yu to use spiritual sense, Old Zheng rarely directly told Lin Yu what he perceived, instead guiding Lin Yu to sense and discover things himself.

As a teacher, Old Zheng was clearly a very serious, responsible, and highly qualified type.

However, at this moment, Old Zheng broke his previous principle and routine, directly alerting Lin Yu again.

The reason was naturally because... this piece of information was extremely urgent!

"The Mountain Demon leader?" Lin Yu received Old Zheng's information, unable to help but lament that his just-formed hypothesis was already being overturned. "Location, distance, condition."

"Coming fast from the right rear, about one minute and twenty seconds away. Condition is brimming with fighting spirit."

Old Zheng quickly reported to Lin Yu, who nodded.

"Understood—one more nosy question, how is this Mountain Demon leader stronger than the ordinary ones? Bigger size, greater strength, any special abilities?"

"About four to five times stronger than ordinary Mountain Demons. No special abilities, just a super-sized baboon."

Old Zheng answered again.

Lin Yu let out a breath: "Okay... then one last question—will it be a bit smarter than ordinary Mountain Demons?"

Old Zheng responded as if it were obvious: "Of course."

"That's truly wonderful news," Lin Yu laughed, then raised his voice to speak, "Everyone, be careful! These Mountain Demons are about to launch another attack!"