Destination and Curse

"This is the 'dart'?"

Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, the Snowy Owl, the Seagull, and the Gao Shan all seemed somewhat incredulous, revealing expressions of shock.

"The caravan was escorting a corpse... no, not even a corpse, just a mutilated corpse," Gao Shan said with some surprise. "Why is that?"

After a closer look, the Seagull was the first to realize the extraordinary nature of the thing behind Lin Yu.

"How strange... Could this thing be alive?"

Having been trained by the Great Shaman of the Black Marsh World, Seagull is indeed quite skilled.

Lin Yu nodded. "Yes, this thing is alive."

"Even if it's alive, even if there's something strange about it," the Snowy Owl said, still somewhat puzzled, "How did this thing get involved with Willow Town and the spider Yaomo?"

"I don't know about that," Lin Yu said, shaking his head. "But I did find out some things about its origin from the NPCs."

As Lin Yu spoke, he untied the mutilated body from his back, held it by the arm, and displayed it to the three men. "This mutilated body belonged to a martial arts Native nicknamed 'Knife Demon' named 'Xie Chong'..."

Then, Lin Yu briefly recounted the story of Xie Chong that he had heard from Chen Yuanye to the three of them.

Upon hearing Lin Yu's retelling, all three understood.

"What a convoluted story!" Seagull remarked. "Although Xie Chong is Demon Lord, he's still quite a character."

"Who told you to listen to stories?" The Snowy Owl glanced helplessly at the Seagull. "Focus on the key points—think about why Xie Chong is involved with Willow Town and the spider Yaomo?"

"How could I possibly have come up with that?"

Seagull curled his lip. "This story sounds like just a tale of love and hate among martial arts masters, without any elements related to Willow Town or Yaomo."

Li Nian sighed, "It seems that none of the three of you have deep roots or much activity in Prison Mountain, and you're not very familiar with the various situations in the Prison Mountain Realm..."

Although experienced Player have a basic understanding of the various worlds and [Instance] in the Ten Realms, they usually only have a deep understanding of the one or two worlds where they have the strongest foundation.

Of the Six Realms, most Player are typically involved in one realm with deep ties to others and are quite familiar with two other realms.

Few Player are intimately familiar with every world—someone like Xie Chong, although relatively famous in the Prison Mountain Realm, was only active twenty years ago, and after a difficult comeback two years ago, he died not long after. He was a Native expert known only within a specific circle and scope, and ordinary people would hardly know him.

Just like Arter Mercury of the Barren Realm —a big name in the City That City That Never Sleeps, but if you post a question on a forum, you probably wouldn't find many people who could answer who he is.

"If only Old Zhou were here."

Li Nian couldn't help but sigh.

Someone familiar with the situation in the Prison Mountain Realm might know more about Xie Chong and the martial arts world here, and might be able to deduce useful information directly from the existing information.

However... it's clear that none of the current six people have that ability.

Even with the addition of the three newcomers, their understanding of the Prison Mountain Realm remained limited.

"But at the moment, we probably can't piece together any useful clues from this information," Gao Shan said calmly, demonstrating the excellent qualities of a frontline police officer. "We need to collect more information and conduct more investigations."

Lin Yu nodded. "That's right, that's why we're heading in this direction—even if we haven't seen the commotion you've caused, we're still going to move in this direction."

"Based on the information we obtained, we infer that... this 'remains' are somewhere northwest of Double Saw Mountain, and there's probably another one, likely inside a building resembling Daoist temple."

Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, the three Seagull exchanged bewildered glances.

"Daoist temple? It seems we actually found one!"

"It's not far from where we first started our mountain stronghold."

As the Seagull spoke, Lin Yu said with some surprise, "There really is one—do you remember where it is?"

After all, Lin Yu could only determine the general direction; the Map was from a hundred years ago, so its reliability was questionable.

If someone could lead the way, the efficiency would undoubtedly be greatly improved.

The Seagull shook its head.

The Snowy Owl looked around at the Spider Silk and spiders, and its expression also showed difficulty.

"Well, without these damn things, I might still be able to find my way... but now, I don't know."

However, Gao Shan, standing to the side, gave an affirmative answer.

"I think I still remember the way, but it's a long way, and if I want to get there..."

He looked at Li Nian, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke normally, "Um, 'Master Thief' lady, how long can your [Mermaid's Elegy] last?"

This time, Li Nian glanced at the sculpture in her hand and gave a direct answer.

"Oh... well, not long from now."

"How long is 'not long'?"

The Snowy Owl frowned and asked.

"It's... five, four, three, two, one..."

Li Nian suddenly started counting down, and then--

The sculpture's light suddenly dimmed, and the singing abruptly stopped.

The invisible barrier vanished, and Fei Dao cried out in alarm.

"How could it all just disappear like that!"

The spiders, which had been relentlessly attacking the barrier and being blocked outside, suddenly lost their resistance and surged towards the six people inside the barrier along with their pale white Spider Silk.

Damn it!

The Snowy Owl cursed under its breath, then drew its longsword and swung it in a slash.

"Whoosh--!"

The long sword sliced through the air, and the chilling aura condensed into a tangible blade of light that suddenly severed most of the spider and its Spider Silk.

The chilling blade of light was clearly less effective in the Fire Hell, but even so, it still managed to repel most of the Yaomo once again.

However, the Snowy Owl didn't seem to be in bad shape either. After it made its move, dense black thorn patterns appeared on its arm, and a thin layer of blood oozed out along the patterns.

Lin Yu watched this scene, Old Zheng spoke up.

"Wow... she has a high-level curse on her. No wonder you were ranked in the Tier 3, which looks quite formidable. It turns out her strength was reduced."

"Considering this little girl comes from the Night Watcher, this curse might very well have been instigated by that guy 'Adler'."

"The good news is that in this [confrontational] Instance, she should only be able to utilize at most half of her strength."

"The bad news is, it seems you no longer need to fight against her; you've become her teammate."

Old Zheng spoke quickly, Lin Yu sighed.

"Indeed, if she were a powerful 'Tier 3' in top condition, she wouldn't have been so badly injured by these spiders and their Spider Silk."

"It seems that only I can make a move now."

Lin Yu turned to look at Li Nian and extended his hand.

Give me the sculpture you're holding.