The mountain path was rugged and overgrown with thorns. Shiyi had abandoned his horse at the foot of the mountain early in the morning and was now walking briskly through the dark forest.

Following the route Ling Feng had given him, Bai Rishi found the place where Qing'er had fainted and followed the wheel tracks into the mountains.

The tire tracks on the path at the foot of the mountain suddenly disappeared, as if someone had intentionally concealed the traces.

Eleven carefully searched around the broken wheel tracks, and soon found the Yunwang Mansion carriage, which had been well covered with grass and branches, in the thatch of a nearby path.

There were signs of trampling on the weeds near the carriage. Following the direction of the tracks, Eleven was certain that the group that had kidnapped Mu Jin was somewhere on this mountain.

The bandits were very cunning. Although they would set up their strongholds in these dense forests for cover, they would still move their hideouts from time to time to avoid being hunted down by government troops.

Eleven ran nonstop along the way, constantly blaming herself for not killing Shen Qianqian and Guangfu when she first learned that they wanted to harm Mu Jin. Mu Jin wouldn't be in this predicament today.

But then he thought, Mu Jin demanded that the two be handed over to the authorities for investigation, how could he disobey? He could only blame himself for being so careless as to fall into Guang Fu's trap and drink that bowl of poisoned soup.

Fortunately, Guangfu was unaware of Eleven's special physical condition. Ordinary poisons wouldn't harm him for long. During the day, Eleven looked sickly, but now his face showed no signs of illness. He always recovered from injuries several times faster than ordinary people, something Guangfu had noticed since the first time Mu Jin saved him.

Thinking of Mu Jin's uncertain fate, Eleven's heart began to pound rapidly, as if it were about to leap out of his chest. He clenched one fist tightly and gripped the sword in the other, but this could not alleviate his inner panic. He was so panicked that he even forgot about the martial arts Mu Jin knew.

After nearly an hour of searching, Eleven finally spotted some sparse lights on a mountaintop not far away. He quickened his pace and ran towards the lights like a wolf.

Mu Jin kicked Zhao Dahu, who was kicking his legs and glaring at her angrily, several times. Fearing that his constant commotion would attract other bandits, she knocked Zhao Dahu unconscious with a chop to the neck.

After stuffing the unconscious Zhao Dahu under the bed, Mu Jin quietly went to the window and glanced out at the outer courtyard. She found that Zhao Dahu's door was still unguarded.

Mu Jin looked back at Zhao Dahu's room, wanting to find some clothes to wear and disguise herself so that it would be easier for her to escape from this bandit's den. However, looking at Zhao Dahu's stinking clothes, Mu Jin thought that it would be easier for her to fight her way out than to put on these clothes.

Thinking of this, Mu Jin opened Zhao Dahu's door, took advantage of the night to go out, and walked towards the main room.

Inside the main room, there were about 20 bandits. They were eating meat and drinking wine, and talking about Zhao Dahu and Mu Jin in a vulgar way.

At this moment, one of the bandits said to the person next to him, "Hey, Second Boss, I saw it during the day. The Princess Consort of the Yun Prince's Mansion is a hundred or a thousand times more beautiful than the courtesan in the brothel. Her skin is so tender you could squeeze water out of it. You deserve a lot of credit for this. Why don't you invite the First Boss to come over and join us?" He chuckled, his lewd intentions obvious.

The second-in-command certainly knew how beautiful Mu Jin was. They were all desperados who used to follow Zhao Dahu's father and occasionally managed to capture a few women to bring to the mountain stronghold for fun. But after Zhao Dahu's father died, they followed this good-for-nothing Zhao Dahu. Not to mention women, they were constantly on the run and their lives weren't very good.

Until a month ago, Guangfu spent two thousand taels of silver to find an intermediary, Li Dashan, to get rid of Mu Jin.

Li Dashan was also a bandit, but when he heard that the person to be robbed and killed was the princess of the Yunwang Mansion, he was afraid of getting into trouble with the government and dared not take on the task. However, he was reluctant to part with Guangfu's two thousand taels of silver. In this bad world, those two thousand taels of silver would have been enough for his bandit den to spend for one or two years.

Just as Li Dashan was worrying about how to handle this tricky business after receiving the two thousand taels of silver from Guangfu, he encountered Zhao Dahu and several bandits who came to the brothel for entertainment.

Upon seeing Zhao Dahu, Li Dashan had an idea. He immediately picked up his wine glass with a smile and went to Zhao Dahu's table, declaring that he would cover all the drinking expenses for Zhao Dahu and his brothers that night.

Zhao Dahu knew Li Dashan. The two groups usually kept to themselves, but Zhao Dahu was a little flattered by Li Dashan's sudden praise.

When Li Dashan pulled Zhao Dahu into the side room and told him about the ambush of Mu Jin, Zhao Dahu immediately said he dared not accept the task. Since his father died, he had been living off the wealth his father had left him, and he dared not take on such a big job right away.

At the time, Zhao Dahu's second-in-command was also there. When he heard that it was a big job, he asked how much silver he would get for it. When he heard Li Dashan say that the boss had offered a thousand taels of silver, he and Zhao Dahu's eyes widened in surprise.

A thousand taels! Zhao Dahu had barely scraped together a few dozen taels of silver from the entire mountain stronghold. They usually made a living by robbing defenseless passersby. A thousand taels of silver was a huge temptation for them.

The second-in-command thought this way, and Zhao Dahu understood this principle, but...

Seeing Zhao Dahu hesitate, the second-in-command immediately asked Li Dashan about the plan to intercept Mu Jin this time.

When the second-in-command heard that Princess Yun was not favored and usually only had a maid and a coachman with her, and that the plan was to find a few people to kill the three of them in a secluded place, and then the money would be in their hands, the second-in-command immediately encouraged Zhao Dahu to take on the job and establish his authority in the stronghold. After all, life in the stronghold had been getting worse day by day since he took office.

Seeing Zhao Dahu hesitate, and with Li Dashan constantly talking about how Mu Jin was not favored and that even if she died, the Prince of Yun might think it was a good thing and wouldn't pursue the matter, Zhao Dahu gritted his teeth and accepted the business.

However, they were unlucky. Their first attempt to ambush Mu Jin failed, and they lost five brothers. This incident also caused the people in the stronghold to lose trust in Zhao Dahu, and some even intended to promote the second-in-command to the top.

Zhao Dahu knew what the other bandits in the stronghold thought, so when Guangfu gave him another two thousand taels, he accepted it without hesitation and even personally led the charge to successfully rob Mu Jin.

The second-in-command deserves much credit for securing this job with Mu Jin. The bandit's words struck a chord with him, and he gave the bandits a wicked smile.

"If the boss is willing to give me that princess to play with, I definitely won't forget the rest of us. We'll all go together then, we'll eat meat together, drink wine together, and do women together!"

As soon as the second-in-command finished speaking, all the bandits in the room started to flatter and fawn over him.

Mu Jin originally intended to leave quietly, but upon hearing the filthy and vulgar words of the bandits inside the house, she narrowed her eyes and looked at the pile of firewood under the eaves.