"Prince Si!" Prince Li's voice was full of warning. "Does Prince Si want me to be a perfidious man?"
"Prince Li, you should know that those people are all traitors! If we let them go today, it's no different from setting tigers free back to the mountains. They dared to kidnap us this time. Who can guarantee what they'll do next time?" Xiao Hanzhi stared directly at Prince Li. His attitude was equally tough and even threatening.
"I have no objection if Prince Si wants to eliminate the roots, but I will never allow anyone to trample on my reputation!" Prince Li had now completely shown his attitude and stood on the opposite side of Xiao Hanzhi.
"Prince Li, since you understand the principle of eliminating the roots, I will never let those people go today!" Xuan Yuanjue walked up to a horse, grabbed the reins, and directly flipped onto the horse's back.
"Prince Li can rest assured. This is my own decision and has nothing to do with you. If anything goes wrong, I will never let you bear the responsibility."
"Since Prince Si has said so, then Prince Si may do as he pleases!" Seeing this, Prince Li led his subordinates to retreat to one side, making way.
"Those who want to go with this king to encircle and suppress those thieves, get on your horses and follow me! Those who can kill a thief will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver. Those who can capture the thief leader will be rewarded with a hundred taels of gold and be promoted two ranks!"
Xiao Hanzhi shouted with his arm raised while on the horse. Immediately, a group of imperial guards responded and got on their horses.
He scanned around and found that there were seven or eight hundred imperial guards gathered. He nodded in satisfaction, raised his whip, whipped the horse's belly, and galloped away in a cloud of dust.
Xiao Hanzhi took the lead. Xiao Jinnan and Xiao Luochi followed closely behind him. Along with hundreds of iron - clad imperial guards, they made a mighty force and chased in the direction where the black - clothed men had left.
True to his word, Prince Li didn't follow them but waited in place.
Shen Yi couldn't just let Xiao Hanzhi go like Prince Li. He had to lead more than twenty experts from the Night Shadow Division to chase after them.
He Yimeng was still worried about Xiao Luochi, so she also got on a horse and followed at the end.
"Miss He! Let's go together!" Shen Miao was worried about Xiao Hanzhi's safety, but she had been scared by those black - clothed men and didn't dare to act alone. At least He Yimeng had a few guards to protect her. If she went with He Yimeng, her safety would be somewhat guaranteed.
"Okay!" He Yimeng readily agreed without much thought.
The black - clothed men hadn't left for long. Xiao Hanzhi was full of anger and rode his horse very fast. Moreover, the terrain nearby was not complex and there were no forks in the road. After only a quarter of an hour, they saw the black - clothed men in the distance.
"My lord, the people from the Eastern Mausoleum Country are chasing after us!" A black - clothed man beside the masked one said to him.
The masked black - clothed man quickly turned around on his horse and looked back. He said resentfully, "These people from the Eastern Mausoleum are so cunning! I didn't expect the famous Prince Li, who is respected by several countries, to be such an untrustworthy and perfidious villain!"
The distance between the two groups was constantly shrinking. The imperial guards brought by Xiao Hanzhi were numerous and were gradually surrounding the black - clothed men.
"My lord, you go first. I'll lead some people to hold back these people from the Eastern Mausoleum!" At this time, a black - clothed man said to their leader.
Without waiting for the masked black - clothed man's reply, he led more than a dozen black - clothed men to suddenly turn their horses around and charged towards the imperial guards.
The other black - clothed men continued to ride forward to escort their leader to escape first.
"Ah! Charge!" More than a dozen black - clothed men rushed over. Xiao Hanzhi didn't even blink. He took out the bow on his horse's back and shot several arrows at the black - clothed men.
The imperial guards were numerous. Although those more than a dozen black - clothed men were skilled in martial arts, they gradually fell into a disadvantage when fighting against a group of imperial guards.
Xiao Hanzhi ignored these more than a dozen black - clothed men and continued to ride his horse to chase after the group of black - clothed men who were still running away in the distance.
Another dozen or so of the black - clothed men turned their horses around and were going to hold back some of the imperial guards. However, the number of imperial guards was too large. Those dozen or so of them couldn't hold them back for long.
"Keep chasing me!" After killing those more than a dozen black - clothed men, Xiao Hanzhi gave an order, and all the imperial guards rushed towards the remaining black - clothed men.
Many imperial guards were still shooting arrows, and another dozen or so black - clothed men fell.
"My lord, there's a dense forest ahead!"
The leading black - clothed man glanced at the forest and then turned to look at the enemies who were closely chasing. Without hesitation, he said to his remaining subordinates, "Get off your horses! Go into the forest!"
When they reached the front of the forest, the black - clothed men tightened their horse reins one after another, then jumped off their horses and ran into the forest.
"Chase!" Xiao Hanzhi dismounted first and gave the order.
"Fourth brother! The forest looks dangerous. Fourth brother, don't go in. Just let those imperial guards chase them!" Thinking of what had happened on the back mountain of Pufa Temple, Xiao Jinnan still had lingering fears. When he saw Xiao Hanzhi about to enter this strange dense forest, he immediately tried to dissuade him.
Xiao Hanzhi looked at the moving shadows in the forest and walked towards the forest with big strides while saying, "This is my business. I'll solve it myself!"
Xiao Jinnan and Xiao Luochi looked at each other. They both looked helpless and could only dismount as well.
Riding in a carriage was naturally slower than riding a horse. By the time Shen Yi and Shen Li arrived by carriage, Xiao Hanzhi was long gone. Only two people from the Night Shadow Division he had sent were still waiting for him outside the forest.
"My lord! The three princes have all entered this dense forest! Our people have also gone in!"
Hearing this, Shen Yi only gave a soft "hmm". After getting off the carriage, he turned around to help Shen Li. "Let's go! Let's go in and take a look!"
This place was less than twenty li away from the pavilion just now. The terrain was not complex, but it was located on a small hillside, so the forest seemed deep and dense.
Shen Yi and Shen Li had only been in the forest for less than a quarter of an hour when they heard the sound of fighting in the distance. After walking past a few trees, they saw the black - clothed men who were surrounded by the imperial guards.
There were originally more than sixty black - clothed men, but now only three were left, tightly protecting the masked black - clothed man sitting on the ground. There were a group of black - clothed men's corpses lying around.
Two more people walked out of the imperial guards and charged towards the black - clothed men. Immediately, a black - clothed man shouted and stepped forward to fight with them.