At night, on a high mountain peak in the Taihang Mountains, a simple and crude hall was brightly lit.

  Li Ming-tang paced back and forth in the hall, occasionally rubbing his palms together, looking extremely anxious.

  A crowd of subordinates stood below, and even the air did not dare to breathe a word. They all knew why their usually affable leader would suddenly become like this.

  Today, the younger brother of the great leader led a thousand horses down the mountain to rob, but unexpectedly fell into the ambush of the Black Flag Army, resulting in more than 90% of the casualties, and less than 100 people were able to escape back.

  The great leader lost his parents at a young age and relied on his only younger brother for survival, the two brothers went through thick and thin together for decades. It can be said that their fraternal bond was deep. Now, suddenly hearing the sad news, how could he remain unmoved?

  "Who provided this intelligence and why did the southern merchants turn into Black Flag Army?" Li Ming Tang's thunderous voice kept reverberating in the hall.

  The crowd below was silent as cicadas in winter, afraid that if something went wrong, the leader would vent his anger on them.

  "Big Head, this news also comes from the people of Caesar. They have an irreconcilable feud with the Black Flag Army and shouldn't deceive us, but I'm afraid they might be kept in the dark as well."

  A subordinate finally stood up and bowed his head.

  This man was obviously quite prestigious among the mountain bandits, so although Li Mingtang was furious at this time, he still suppressed his anger and only slapped the table heavily, saying: "These useless things, I want to skin them alive."

  That man frowned and advised: "Great leader, this is not the time to pursue responsibility. Since the second leader has been captured, we should think of a way to respond."

  Li Mingtang looked at him and asked with hope: "Do you have a way to rescue Er Di?"

  That man let out a bitter laugh and said: "There are many Han troops in Wudang Castle, wanting to rescue the two leaders from their predicament, but I fear... I fear..."

  Li Mingtang let out a deep sigh and slumped powerlessly into his chair, this principle he was well aware of, only in his heart still holding onto a thread of luck.

  That man saw that Li Mingtang was no longer in the same furious state as before, and knew he had calmed down. He then stepped forward and said: "Great leader, since the second leader has been captured, I think this mountain stronghold is also unstable."

  Li Ming Tang suddenly raised his head and said angrily: "Second brother is not that kind of person, even if he died, he will not leak a single bit."

  That man nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes... yes... I don't doubt the Second Leader. Think about it, how many brothers were captured along with the Second Leader? The Second Leader is indeed a hero of our time, but what about the others?"

  Li Ming Tang's expression eased slightly, and he asked: "So what do you think we should do?"

  That man suggested: "First, let's evacuate the elderly and weak from the back mountain, and also send someone to inform other mountain heads. If the Black Flag Army really comes, we'll just lead them in a circle here."

  His words immediately won the approval of everyone in the hall.

  Although the terrain here is treacherous, no one has suggested defending it by taking advantage of its dangers.

  The name of the Black Flag Army is there, and even Lin'an City was taken down by them. How can this small mountain stronghold be compared to Lin'an? Their only way out is to rely on the geographical advantage in the mountains to hold back the Black Flag Army.

  Li Ming Tang's thoughts were in turmoil, and it wasn't until half a moment later that he said: "Alright, everything will be done as you said."

  However, they did not know that at this time, thousands of black-clad and armored soldiers had already arrived at the foot of the mountain, advancing stealthily to the foot of the hill.

  All the sentries and outposts along the way were quietly removed by them. It seems that the newcomers are very familiar with the terrain here.

  "General, the things have been placed long ago and should be effective now." Xu Haifeng jumped to Jiang Kongming's side, clapped his hands casually and said: "Time has passed, can we take action?"

  Jiang Gongming looked up at the sky and said, "It's about time, Your Excellency can give the order now."

  Xu Haifeng nodded slightly, placing his right thumb on top of his middle finger and rubbing them together lightly.

  This action, which can often be seen in the future, has appeared here ahead of time.

  After a faint sound, countless figures moved in an orderly manner along the mountain path.

  The entire mountain village was as if it had fallen into a dead silence, everyone sank into a deep sleep, they had never slept so soundly before, even if someone made noise beside their ears, they couldn't wake them up.

  Narcotic, this is exactly what Jiang Kongming collected chronic anesthetic.

  According to the confession of Li Hongzhi, the second leader, Xu Haifeng had figured out all the sentry posts and shift change rules in the mountain stronghold, as well as the location of the seven water storage tanks on the mountain.

  With the chronic anesthetic provided by Jiang Kungming, Xu Haifeng poured the anesthetic into several water tanks before dinner. Relying on his master-level spiritual awareness and top-notch physical skills, he entered and exited the mountain stronghold multiple times, as if no one was there.

  The extraction of the anesthetic was not easy, Jiang Kung-ming did his best, it took years, and he couldn't get much out. Fortunately, these few pools of stagnant water were not living water, otherwise, this little thing would really not be enough to use.

  Jiang Kung Ming's anesthetic did not take effect immediately, but only after several hours, slowly showing its effects. By then, the sky was already dark, and even if people felt uncomfortable, they would only think it was due to fatigue, at most going to bed a little earlier. It was just unexpected that when they woke up from this sleep, they had become prisoners of war.

  Only such a potion can avoid arousing people's vigilance.

  Even the vigilant mountain bandits felt dizzy and fell into a state of half-dreaming and half-waking.

  If it weren't for this, wanting to eliminate so many overt and covert sentinels at once without anyone noticing would not be an easy task.

  This trip was brought by the sea breeze, and there were only four people: Andrew's three brothers and Lin Changkong.

  The rest of the top masters stayed in Wudang City. Zhebie and Qinyong did not follow the army either.

  Zhebie wanted to stay and command the remaining Blood Wine Warriors, but it was a difficult task. Qin Yong's size was too big, and taking him would increase the risk of exposure, so he had no choice but to give up.

  The capture operation went very smoothly. One thousand Black Flag soldiers searched room by room according to their prior training, and as soon as they saw someone on the bed, they immediately tied them up with five flowers and stuffed a handkerchief into their mouths to prevent them from waking up and calling out unexpectedly.

  Jiang Kung Ming's arrangement was very scientific, they started from the outer courtyard and gradually pressed into the inner courtyard. Those who lived in the outer courtyard were mostly ordinary mountain bandits, these people had low martial arts skills and slow reactions, several thousand people were caught, not a single one escaped.

  However, the good fortune of the Black Flag Army came to an end here.

  The Black Flag Army soldiers are all blood-and-iron warriors; it's not hard to get them to charge forward, but getting them to do this kind of sneaky stuff is a thousand times harder.

  Their actions were extremely rough; if it weren't for all the mountain bandits being unconscious, they would have already caused a commotion.

  Once arrived at Zhongyuan, encountered a master among the mountain bandits.

  Since it's a hypnotic drug, its potency can't be too strong. The fact that ordinary people can't resist doesn't mean that those with internal strength can't resist either.

  Besides, so many people don't necessarily eat dinner on time.

  A woman was so grief-stricken over her husband being ruthlessly beheaded by the Black Flag Army today that she had no appetite. She cried for half a day, then forced herself to get up and go to the toilet.

  Walking into the central courtyard, I saw people swarming around, but their attire made it clear that they were not from the mountain village.

  Living under such conditions, her vigilance was naturally extremely high, and she immediately judged that these people were enemies.

  Although it is unknown how these people evaded the sentries and arrived at this place, she did the last thing in her life.

  "She opened her throat and shouted loudly: 'Thief!'"

  A shrill cry pierced the silent night sky, and a group of good hands led by Li Ming Tang were startled. Although they were still in their dreams, they suddenly woke up.

  A dark and slender software-like serpent pierced into the woman's throat, blocking her unfinished scream in her throat.

  The scream seemed to be cut off by a sharp blade and stopped abruptly.

  Li Mingtang's dull mind suddenly cleared, and he immediately realized that someone had climbed up to the stronghold. He sprang out of bed like a bird in flight, shook his head, and still felt dizzy and lightheaded.

  He knew he had been outsmarted, and suddenly saw a pot of tea water in the room. He picked it up and poured it over his head.

  The cold tea water flowed down his face and into his collar, causing him to shudder involuntarily, but his mind was now completely clear.

  He casually picked up the steel knife beside him, jumped out of the door, and saw countless black-clad men swarming up outside. However, those who could walk out of the door to resist were very few, and everyone's footsteps were staggering, looking weak and powerless, with only 30% of their skills being exerted. In the short confrontation, most people died on the spot.

  Li Mingtang only felt a blackness in front of his eyes, and with one glance, he knew that everyone in the village had fallen into a trap. The enemy had come prepared, and today was destined to be a complete defeat. Thinking that years of hard work would be destroyed overnight, his heart was in agony.

  With tears in his eyes, he let out a loud roar, swung his sword and leaped down, even though he knew he would surely die, he could not bear to live a life of shame.

  This knife was launched with anger, and it had the power to cut off Mount Hua.

  However, a black flag soldier who came face to face with him did not dodge or yield, and directly stabbed his chest with a spear, rendering his powerful and unparalleled knife useless.

  Li Ming Tang was shocked, these black-clad men were so ferocious, completely disregarding their own lives. With such audacity, it's enough to make one's heart skip a beat.

  His eyes locked onto the target, his body suddenly twisted in mid-air, barely avoiding the fatal shot. At the same time, his large knife had already chopped down on his opponent's arm, the powerful force tearing it off at the shoulder.

  But what happened next chilled him even more - the soldier didn't even glance at his severed arm.

  Abandoning the short gun that couldn't be used with one arm, he wiped his remaining right hand on his waist and pulled out a dark blue dagger, stabbing it into his chest once again.

  Li Ming Tang took a step back, and as a top-notch master, he was actually being forced to retreat by an obviously unrefined soldier. It was an unbelievable thing, but at this moment, it happened unconsciously.

  The gap between them was too great after all. Li Ming Tang's large knife swung forward, instantly cutting off the remaining arm from the middle.

  But the soldier did not faint, instead he threw himself forward, opening his big mouth and revealing a bloody basin-like mouth that bit towards his throat. A row of white sharp teeth reflected eerie light in the firelight.

  Li Ming Tang let out a loud roar, flew back, and swung his large knife. The head with the open mouth rose into the air, splashing out a bellyful of hot blood.