At Flying Knife's hoarse and desperate command, Li Nian finally spoke with a smile.

"Alright, orders received!"

Then, she jumped down from her horse, a pair of white jade-colored gloves materializing on her hands.

Next... Li Nian's figure became ghost-like, swiftly weaving from the middle of the convoy to its edge.

She passed by the dart masters engaged in combat on the periphery, her body as light as a swallow, nimbly leaping onto the right cliff face and hooking her hand onto a protruding rock.

She had precisely leaped... right into the midst of the swarming horde of demonic Mountain Demons!

"Everyone, I'm here to help you!"

Li Nian said with a laugh, then stood up straight on the cliff face.

On the cliff face with an incline of roughly seventy to eighty degrees, nearly vertical, Li Nian actually stood as steadily as a mountain goat.

Below, Yue Zhenqiao looked up, watching the young girl who had abruptly appeared in the demon horde, his expression changing slightly: "What is that girl doing?!"

Although these people's origins were unclear and whether they were colleagues of the Golden Fortune Escort Agency was still debatable, seeing the other party in such peril, Yue Zhenqiao couldn't help but feel a pang of alarm.

Those Mountain Demons, sensing a living human suddenly appear beside them, naturally wouldn't let this opportunity slip by either—several Mountain Demons that had been poised to leap down the mountain twisted their bodies in mid-air and then pounced toward the spot where Li Nian stood!

"Damn it!"

Seeing this scene, Yue Zhenqiao couldn't help but curse under his breath, then steeled his resolve.

He was, after all, still a "good person" at heart, unwilling to watch an innocent young girl die in vain!

"Wu Qi, cover me!"

Yue Zhenqiao said, raising his sword as if to charge out and rescue the girl in the demon horde.

However, just as he was about to launch himself forward, he witnessed a scene that left him utterly shocked.

The five Mountain Demons pouncing toward the girl in mid-air suddenly seemed to lose all ability to move, all going limp and collapsing, their bodies tumbling down the cliff face toward the valley floor!

Yue Zhenqiao halted his steps—he clearly saw that on the backs and chests of those Mountain Demons, there appeared a bloody, gaping hole that went straight through.

Shifting his gaze slightly upward, Yue Zhenqiao then saw the completely unharmed young girl.

In that girl's hands, she was holding five still-beating, blood-drenched, purplish-red hearts!

Each heart was about the size of three fists, covered in blood vessels resembling ox intestines, with streams of blackish-red blood gushing out.

Without a doubt, this girl had used some kind of secret technique to seize the hearts of these Mountain Demons that had lunged at her in the blink of an eye!

"Such a method... she's definitely no ordinary wandering martial artist, she must truly be a Fangshi with a proper lineage!"

Yue Zhenqiao was inwardly shocked, feeling that his earlier guess was not mistaken.

To be able to pluck the hearts of five Mountain Demons in an instant, this was certainly no martial artist's technique!

In fact, if this woman had achieved this through martial arts, that would be even more terrifying—to precisely pierce through the chest cavities of five demons on a cliff face and pluck their hearts, all while those five demons were leaping through the air to pounce on her...

If she were a martial artist, then she would undoubtedly be a more fearsome existence than any martial arts master he had ever seen, someone who could be called a Grandmaster of Martial Arts, a true terrestrial immortal.

And considering she looked to be at most just over ten years old, that would truly only be explainable by an immortal descending to the mortal world or a Martial Saint reincarnating!

Therefore, Yue Zhenqiao preferred to believe she was a Fangshi from one of the renowned observatories under heaven.

Thus...

Yue Zhenqiao couldn't help but lower his sword and retreat back into the convoy.

Since the other party had such methods, what was there for him to rescue?

Her leaping into the demon horde wasn't some sudden madness or placing herself in danger; it was purely because she had something to rely on.

"...Wu Qi, cover that female warrior over there."

Yue Zhenqiao changed the command he had just given.

"Understood, Dart Head!"

From within the crowd, Wu Qi's reply came.

Yue Zhenqiao retreated into the convoy, then, after silently hacking down a Mountain Demon with his sword, looked up again to survey the battle situation around him.

On the cliff face, the young girl darted and weaved, the scent of blood on her attracting large numbers of Mountain Demons who chased after her, running all over the place.

And during this process, Mountain Demons continuously fell, turning into corpses that tumbled down the mountainside.

Then, Yue Zhenqiao silently turned around, moving from the right flank back to the left flank.

Clearly...

This side of the battle line had that female warrior holding the fort; it didn't need him to reinforce it at all.

If not for worrying about the reputation of the Golden Fortune Escort Agency's Gu Town branch, Yue Zhenqiao might have even wanted to call Wu Qi away too!

And it wasn't just Yue Zhenqiao; even Flying Knife below, watching this scene, couldn't help but be dumbfounded.

"What kind of technique is this?!"

He had heard Li Nian introduce herself, knowing she was a Second-Tier Thief, and also knowing she was probably that Master Thief from the Free Alliance.

But...

He was also Second-Tier!

Is this really the combat power level a Second-Tier should have?!

Although Flying Knife knew that if he were at his peak, with his items still intact, he could also preserve his life or even remain unharmed if dropped into this demon horde.

Many Second-Tier Players could also kill quite a few Mountain Demons.

But... to simultaneously manage to land in a Mountain Demon horde, remain unharmed under siege, and also kill so many Mountain Demons so quickly—that was an extremely rare feat.

One must know that each of these Mountain Demons was thick-skinned and tough, moved swiftly, and when they knew how to cooperate, they could produce an effect greater than the sum of their parts.

Most importantly, Flying Knife didn't see this Master Thief using any items.

In other words, this should be this Master Thief's relatively normal combat power—even if it were a skill with a cooldown time or an item, it should be something usable in every game, not a permanent consumable.

At this moment, Flying Knife suddenly had a thought.

"These three thousand points... were really quite worth it!"

And Lin Yu beside him was also watching Li Nian's performance.

Looking at Li Nian's battle achievements, he couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

"She seems to have become stronger than last time."

Although Li Nian had displayed a similar technique last time—on the train, she had also restricted robot movement by stealing their cores—Li Nian had explained back then...

This move of hers could only work on "non-living things," so in a sense, it was her special attack against "mechanical constructs" and "mechanisms."

But now... it was clear Li Nian's technique had expanded to be effective against living beings as well.

After all, these Mountain Demons were undoubtedly living creatures!

And Lin Yu could clearly sense that Li Nian had not been lying back on the Despair Train.

In other words, Li Nian truly could not use this move on living creatures at that time; she had "upgraded" her ability during this period.

Thinking of this, Lin Yu couldn't help but become more wary of Li Nian.

"Doesn't that mean she could pluck my heart out anytime she wants?!"

Lin Yu thought with vigilance.

And Old Zheng's voice rang out: "Don't worry, her ability probably isn't that exaggerated—this move is essentially an extended application of the Thief's basic abilities, a technique specifically for bullying weaklings and clearing out mobs."

"Because this move still has a 'wind-up' period for activating the ability, so as long as you can 'see through' the moment she activates her ability, detect that she's preparing to use it, you should be able to nullify this move."

"And coincidentally—if you raise your spiritual perception to a proficient level, you can easily deal with this move."