The next day, the sky in the distance showed the white belly of a fish.
A convoy of vehicles drove away from Yangping Town and headed towards Lin'an County.
However, they did not take the main road, but another branch road.
Besides the main road, there were several branch roads between the two places that could also reach the County Town, although the road conditions were not great, but it was not a big deal, just a little more time would be delayed.
In addition, the branch roads might also attract some wild beasts, but the people in these teams were not ordinary people, and even if some ignorant wild beasts came crashing in, it would just be sending themselves to their deaths.
Lin Sheng followed at the back of the team, watching the carriages loaded with goods pass by.
The goods being escorted this time were a joint effort between Team 9 and Team 8, with a total of over fifty people from the two teams, plus some accompanying personnel and a small number of Zhenshan Tower guards, bringing the total number of people in the convoy to eighty or ninety.
Such a scale could be considered quite large, as in the past, convoys transporting goods to Lin'an County usually had no more than twenty or thirty accompanying people.
It was clear that such a large scale was also to guard against possible unforeseen circumstances.
Leading the team at the very front were Wang Sanyang and the captain of Team 8, Sun Ling, in addition to Qian Kai, a guard captain from the Zhenshan Tower. All three were Martial Artists in the Forging Tendons Initial Stage.
Having three Forging Tendons Realm experts leading the team also made the people in the team quite relaxed. Besides the three, among the seventy or eighty people in the team, there were more than a dozen Body Tempering Martial Artists.
Furthermore, nearly half of the team were equipped with bows and crossbows. For the hunters of the Hunting Beast Hall, bows and crossbows were indispensable during hunting, so their archery skills were quite proficient, no less than those of a regular army.
The combat power unleashed by such a team could be said to be quite formidable.
Even a Forging Tendons Late Stage Martial Artist would definitely not get any advantage against this, and might even lose their life if they were held up.
"Lin Team, do you think we'll encounter anyone ignorant enough to come looking for trouble this trip?"
Xiao Shi, who was beside Lin Sheng, looked left and right and couldn't help but ask.
Lin Sheng just shook his head slightly.
Lao Zhou, who was beside him, replied with a smile.
"With the quality of our transport team this time, who would be so ignorant as to dare to come looking for trouble?"
He had a crossbow on his back, a steel knife at his waist, and even the standard iron spear issued by the Hunting Beast Hall, so he was fully armed. Lao Zhou patted the crossbow on his back.
"If we do encounter them, it doesn't matter. With dozens of crossbows from us people firing a volley, even Forging Tendons Late Stage experts would have to retreat.
"That's true."
Xiao Shi nodded in agreement, which was actually the thought of most people in the team.
In their opinion, this trip was a good opportunity to visit their families in the County Town under the guise of a mission.
Lin Sheng did not think so in his heart. Thinking that there might be Blood Transportation Realm Martial Artists among the Black Wind Bandits, he dared not be careless.
Especially in the past few days, the Zhenshan Tower seemed to have not made much of a reaction to the robbery incident, which also gave him a bad premonition.
One must know that a major force like the Zhenshan Tower was far from something a group of Black Wind Bandits could provoke, not even if Black Bear had broken through to the Blood Transportation Realm.
The Zhenshan Tower Lord Ouyang Shan was a long-renowned top master in the County Town, having entered the Blood Transportation Realm many years ago, and his strength in the Blood Transportation Realm was absolutely top-tier, definitely not comparable to a Black Bear who had just entered the Blood Transportation Realm.
Lin Sheng could guess that the robbery might be related to the Black Wind Bandits, so it was naturally impossible for so many people in the Zhenshan Tower not to guess.
Since that was the case, they had not made any reaction, but instead greatly reduced the amount of transportation.
Such an action was clearly wrong. Lin Sheng could only think of one possibility.
That was the Zhenshan Tower's strongest combat power, Ouyang Shan. Either he was held up by something and could not act, or he was injured. In short, he should be temporarily unable to act.
That was why the Zhenshan Tower acted in this manner.
Regardless, the Zhenshan Tower's reaction would definitely embolden the robbers.
Therefore, this trip was not only unsafe, but quite dangerous. If it was really the Black Wind Bandits, what kind of waves could these people stir up?
If he hadn't later found out that the transport this time was divided into 5 teams in total, he might have asked for leave to rest.
They were just one of the five convoys.
The Zhenshan Tower claimed that the five types of goods were being sent to different places, but Lin Sheng did not think so. In his opinion, perhaps only one of the 5 convoys was actually carrying the goods that were truly to be sent.
To verify his thoughts, he approached the carriage beside him, extended his hand, and directly inserted it into the tarpaulin. Immediately, a string of information appeared before his eyes.
【Beast Name: Rock Sheep】 (Already Integrated)
Without stopping, he quickened his pace to catch up with the carriage in front, and while no one was paying attention, he inserted his hand into it.
The information that appeared was the same as before.
"As expected..."
Seeing this, Lin Sheng was basically certain of his guess.
What was loaded on the carriage was not valuable beast materials or meat, but merely ordinary Rock Sheep.
With such a large formation, yet the carriages were loaded with nothing more than ordinary Rock Sheep, this situation was clearly wrong.
"Are we pawns to create confusion?"
Lin Sheng shook his head and smiled, his mind already made up.
If they, this group of people, were to really encounter Black Bear among the five convoys, they could only consider themselves unlucky. At that time, he would definitely directly integrate with the Black Tiger Ape and run away.
He thought that as long as Black Bear didn't relentlessly pursue him, his chance of escaping was high.
Although he felt a little relaxed in his heart, he was still cautious. While talking with the people beside him, he also paid some attention to the surrounding environment. At this time, he was integrated with the Horned Owl.
The two points of perception increase allowed him to detect abnormalities one step ahead.
The team slowly drove towards the County Town, and soon more than half a day had passed. At noon, the sun was high in the sky, casting golden rays that felt quite hot.
At this time, the convoy had already traveled more than thirty li. At this speed, it was estimated that they would reach Lin'an County by early the next morning.
When it was time for meals, the team did not stop, but only slowed down a little, allowing people to eat while walking.
Lin Sheng took out a piece of dried meat from his satchel, put it in his mouth, and chewed slowly.
He seemed to be focusing all his attention on the dried meat in his hand, but no one noticed that his other hand had quietly turned dark green.
It was as if his palm had been painted with dark green dye. If one looked closely, they would find that the dark green on his palm seemed not to be fixed, constantly moving on his skin. In a short while, the color faded, and the dark green seemed to be absorbed into the muscles, completely disappearing, and the skin of his palm returned to normal.
"Finally, I have successfully integrated the highly toxic poison of the Human-faced Spider with the other two poisons."
Feeling the changes in his body, a faint smile appeared at the corner of Lin Sheng's mouth.
Yesterday, after he brought the Human-faced Spider back, he immediately integrated with it.
The integration boost effect it brought was also quite good.
【Beast Name: Human-faced Spider (Mortal Grade)】
【Human-faced Spider, six eyes and eight legs, moves like the wind, extremely agile, likes blood food, contains highly toxic poison, the poison is gloomy and lingering, stronger in the evening than in the morning, a Mortal Grade High-Rank exotic beast.】
【Integration Requirement: None】
【Integration Effect: Agility Boost 2, Gloomy Poison Enhancement 2】
These were the integration attributes of the Human-faced Spider. Although it only had 4 points of attributes, which were inferior to the Black Tiger Ape, its preciousness lay in the two points of Gloomy Poison Enhancement.
One must know that whether it was the Mortal Grade High-Rank Black Tiger Ape or the Green Spotted Python, the poison enhancement they brought was only one point, but the power they displayed was already quite good.
Therefore, the two points of poison enhancement from the Human-faced Spider were even more valuable.
Yesterday, he had already tested the effect of the Human-faced Spider's Gloomy Poison Enhancement 2, and he was extremely satisfied.
Just this Gloomy Poison Enhancement 2 alone was comparable to the effect of his previous corrosive poison and cold poison combined.
Having such a strong poison enhancement effect also proved that the Human-faced Spider's poison indeed surpassed that of the Black Tiger Ape by a significant margin.
Therefore, for the entire day yesterday, after he returned, he was basically engrossed in cultivation, using the Human-faced Spider's poison sac and corpse to successfully integrate this gloomy poison with his own blood qi.
And then he tried to integrate it with the other cold poison and corrosive poison, until just now, he finally succeeded in the integration.
After reaching this step, he also felt that his physical fitness seemed to have improved slightly, although the improvement was not significant, it was tangible, and it was even stronger than the boost effect brought about by successfully cultivating the first layer of the Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm.
Clearly, this was the true Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm.
"Counting the days, my money should be coming back soon."
He suddenly remembered Mu Niu.
The other party had promised to have results within ten days, and now more than half of that time had passed.
Thinking of the current situation in Lin'an County, he also had some more thoughts.
Although his strength had improved very rapidly now, this Zhenshan Tower seemed to have been drawn into some kind of vortex, as if an invisible large net had already entangled this behemoth of Lin'an County. He wondered if this behemoth could break free from the net.
He felt confident in protecting himself, but Lin Hong and Xie Guilan were still in Yangping Town.
"Perhaps I should move the two elders first," he mused to himself. As for himself.
He joined the Zhenshan Tower for two reasons: martial arts techniques and Yangping Mountain.
After learning that these major forces were extremely strict in controlling martial arts techniques and even left behind some countermeasures, he had basically given up on the idea of obtaining techniques from this aspect.
However, Yangping Mountain still held great attraction for him. After all, there were many exotic beasts on the mountain, and even powerful existences like Spirit Beasts.
His current progress was not unrelated to joining the Hunting Beast Hall.
Therefore, unless it was absolutely necessary, he did not want to give up this treasure land.
Especially with the beast tide of Yangping Mountain, although the beast tide was dangerous, it was also a time when various exotic beasts frequently appeared, and even Spirit Beasts were not uncommon.
He had already experienced the effect of integrating with a Spirit Beast. Although it was just a young Spirit Beast, the effect was far from comparable to ordinary exotic beasts.
If he was lucky, it was not impossible to fish in troubled waters during the beast tide.
"Let's take it one step at a time..."
Thoughts flashed through his mind one by one, and Lin Sheng stopped his wild thoughts and stuffed the remaining dried meat in his hand into his mouth.
And just at this moment, he seemed to sense something, suddenly turned his head, and his gaze fell upon the bushes not far from the convoy.
There seemed to be something in the bushes, causing the half-person-high bushes to shake slightly, but they quickly stopped.
Lin Sheng narrowed his eyes and suddenly shouted loudly.
"Who's there!?"
This loud shout immediately startled the people around him. Everyone's eyes looked over, following Lin Sheng's gaze, and fell on the bushes not far away.
"What's wrong, Lin Sheng?"
Wang Sanyang, Sun Ling, and the other two rode their horses over.
"There was something there just now, but it's gone now."
Lin Sheng raised his head to indicate.
"Something?"
Before Wang Sanyang could speak, Qian Kai had already motioned to the guards beside him.
Several guards immediately gripped their weapons and walked to the bushes, but they soon returned, looked at Lin Sheng with some suspicion, and spoke to Qian Kai.
"Reporting to Captain, there's nothing there."
"Are there footprints?"
"No, there are no traces at all," the guards said with certainty.
Hearing this, Qian Kai frowned and his gaze fell on Lin Sheng.
"Don't be so jumpy and affect the marching speed. If you want to show off, pick the right time."
He didn't really believe there was anything there in the first place.
As guards of the Zhenshan Tower, these people were the true elites of the Zhenshan Tower. Whether it was equipment or resources, they were much stronger than the precarious hunters of the Hunting Beast Hall, and their strength was naturally greater.
As a guard captain, although he was in the Forging Tendons Initial Stage like Wang Sanyang and Sun Ling, his strength was much greater than theirs, and he was close to entering the Late Stage.
Moreover, he also knew the purpose of this operation.
Along the way, he had basically focused all his attention on the surrounding environment, guarding against potential threats.
He did not believe that an abnormality that he himself had not detected would be discovered by a young Martial Artist who had just entered the Body Tempering Realm.
After speaking, Qian Kai clearly had no interest in saying more and rode his horse back to the front of the convoy.
"Don't be too nervous, nothing will happen."
Wang Sanyang also patted Lin Sheng's shoulder, and he and Sun Ling returned to the front of the team.
This little interlude quickly passed, and the team continued to move forward.
Basically everyone thought that Lin Sheng had seen incorrectly and didn't pay much attention.
However, Xiao Shi leaned forward and asked in a low voice.
"Brother Lin, did you really find something just now?"
Hearing Xiao Shi's words, Lin Sheng was slightly surprised.
"You believe it?"
"I believe you, Brother Lin. You wouldn't be mistaken. If you say there's something, then there definitely is."
Xiao Shi had a smile on his face and his tone was quite certain.
He greatly admired Lin Sheng and could be said to have blind faith in him.
"I also believe in you, Lin Team."
Lao Zhou, who was beside him, also spoke up.
They had been following Lin Sheng into the mountains to complete missions before, and they had great confidence in Lin Sheng's ability, as he was almost never wrong.
"There was indeed something. Be careful later. If something really happens, I'll call you, and you follow me."
Lin Sheng said in a low voice.
Xiao Shi and the other also agreed.
Finally, his gaze fell back on the surrounding bushes. He was certain that someone had been there just now, but after his loud shout, they quickly left, moving very fast.
Moreover, being able to leave no trace clearly indicated that the other party's movement technique was excellent.
Someone like that would not be weak.
"Is it a passing expert or..."
He pondered in his heart, already preparing for the worst.