Tang Dynasty: To win Yang Guifei, they asked Emperor Xuanzong to die.

At this moment, on the other side of the mountain stronghold.

Li Mao and Guo Ziyi were searching anxiously.

Following the directions provided by Xianglan, they headed north until they reached the top of the mountain.

They dared not use tinder for light along the way, lest they attract the attention of the bandits below the mountain. Therefore, the mountain path was almost completely dark, with only a sliver of moonlight illuminating their way, making their journey extremely difficult.

"Be careful, Your Highness!"

"You too."

The two supported each other and were both safe and sound.

Finally, the two stopped in front of a bottomless pool of water.

The pool water was cold and dark, and a sinister atmosphere permeated the surroundings.

"Is this the Black Pool that Gao Chen mentioned?" Guo Ziyi asked in a low voice, a hint of unease in his tone.

Li Mao stared at the pool, feeling a little uneasy.

He nodded, partly out of intuition, and partly because he and Guo Ziyi had already thoroughly searched the mountain. The bandits, having become outlaws, operated mainly in the vicinity of this mountain; they wouldn't set up their strongholds too far away, since one mountain after another was likely already occupied by someone else.

Li Mao then said, "This is most likely the place. We need to find the entrance quickly; time is of the essence, and once it gets light, our whereabouts could be exposed at any moment."

"Yes," Guo Ziyi replied.

The two carefully circled the pool and finally discovered a hidden cave entrance behind a boulder. A pile of withered branches and fallen leaves lay in front of the entrance, clearly a deliberate attempt to conceal it.

"This is it."

As Li Mao spoke, he drew a dagger from his waist, gently pushed aside the pile of debris, and revealed a wooden door panel.

He suddenly felt a surge of tension, a sense of trepidation as he approached his hometown.

If Li Longji and the others were imprisoned here alive, that would be fine. But if he opened the door and found Li Longji and the others lying dead inside, the shock would be too great.

He disliked his adoptive father, but he didn't want a monarch to die in a bandit's den.

"Wait here for me, I'll go scout it out," Li Mao said to Guo Ziyi, turning back to him.

Guo Ziyi shook his head, firmly denying it: "I can't let you take the risk alone. Your Highness, let's go together."

Seeing this, Li Mao no longer declined and nodded in agreement.

The two of them exerted force at the same time and pushed open the wooden door, revealing a narrow and dimly lit passageway inside.

The passage was damp and cold, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The two men then lit a tinderbox to illuminate the path ahead. They tried to move as quietly as possible to avoid alerting any bandits who might be lurking nearby.

This place is probably guarded by quite a few people on a regular basis.

However, since the bandit leader was getting married today, most of the bandits went to beg for wine and food.

There aren't many people here now, but that doesn't mean there isn't a single person...

As Li Mao thought to himself, he indeed heard voices coming from ahead and shouted sharply, "Who is it?!"

Now it can't be hidden anymore.

Li Mao and Guo Ziyi exchanged a glance, and then both of them suddenly jumped up.

I ran toward the source of the voices and saw two people patrolling with lanterns.

Without a word, each of them snapped the necks of the two men. Although the two night watchmen were on guard, they were no match for two battle-hardened, well-trained generals.

Li Mao cautioned, "Let's be careful; there might still be patrolling people like this around."

The two walked through a long passage until they reached the door of a spacious stone chamber, without encountering any more patrolling bandits. The chamber was empty, but faint whispers could be heard in the air, as if people were talking amongst themselves.

"There are people here," Li Mao said in a low voice.

Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps came from the stone chamber.

Li Mao and Guo Ziyi immediately hid behind the stone wall, ready to deal with any possible dangers at any time.

"Damn it, what's wrong with these guards? Why haven't they changed shifts in so long?" A tired-sounding voice yawned.

It turns out these people were guarding the secret passage, and the two people they just killed were there to relieve them.

Li Mao understood and nodded slightly, signaling Guo Ziyi to prepare for action. As the bandits drew closer, they also braced themselves for attack. After confirming that the two of them could handle the enemy's numbers, they leaped out from behind the stone gate and, taking them by surprise, subdued them in one fell swoop.

"Ziyi, spare their lives," Li Mao said.

These men were not valiant warriors, but merely bandits and outlaws. They were unlikely to be loyal to the one-eyed king, and keeping them alive would be useful for their search for Li Longji and for eliminating the bandits.

Guo Ziyi immediately understood and said coldly, "Speak! Where are the men you stole earlier? Where is the 'big fish' you mentioned? And where is the woman who looks to be around thirty? Tell me, and I'll spare your lives!"

Li Mao and Guo Ziyi acted swiftly and decisively, subduing the four bandits with almost no effort.

The bandits were completely convinced of their abilities and begged for their lives, crying out repeatedly.

Guo Ziyi asked in a cold voice, "Tell me one by one, and I will not kill whoever speaks the best."

Upon hearing this, the bandits immediately rushed to speak, fearing that falling behind would mean certain death.

“I, I’ll tell you! There’s this old guy who claims to be a very wealthy merchant from Chang’an, saying he can pay a lot of ransom! The boss said he’s a ‘big fish,’ so he should be treated better and it would be easier to extort money later. But the letters demanding ransom have been ignored. The boss is getting a little unhappy and said that if there’s still no news after the wedding, he’ll kill the old bastard.” The tall, thin bandit spoke first among the four.

Another round-faced bandit quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes, he said he has many children and grandchildren and can pay a large sum of money to redeem himself. The boss saw that he was old and didn't make things difficult for him, locking him in this stone chamber. He's sleeping right now. Heaven and earth bear witness, we haven't mistreated him at all!"

Li Mao listened to their story with a furrowed brow, but did not interrupt them.

"However, that young pretty boy didn't get such good treatment." After the two finished talking about the old man, the bearded bandit immediately brought up another leader from the previous group: "That guy was arrogant and looked like a son of an official. The boss didn't like him. Coincidentally, a construction site was being built in the south, and he and several other strong men were sent there to do hard labor."

The last bandit who hadn't had a chance to speak hurriedly added, "There's also... there's a woman in her thirties. She wasn't hurt either. She's currently living in the first room on the left side of the compound. We're waiting for the boss to get married so the underlings can enjoy her together and have some fun with him."