The two of them traveled quickly for just an hour before leaving the capital. While resting, Shadow said:
"Prince Lu, I thought about it and found that the name Shadow is a bit inconvenient to say. I thought of a name for myself. My surname is Li, and I am the fourth in my family. Prince, please call me Li Si!"
Lu Zifeng was speechless after hearing this. What a perfunctory name. He nodded.
"When you were at home, didn't your family give you a name? Didn't they just call you Li Si?"
Li Si sat aside for a long time before speaking softly.
"I was born in Huzhou Prefecture in the south. My family has been farming for generations. My parents gave birth to four brothers, and I am the youngest. My eldest, second, and third brothers all have names. However, in our place, names are usually given after the age of ten because many children die young. They are afraid that the names will not be kept, so they usually give formal names after the age of ten. However, when I was seven, my parents and brothers were killed by bandits from the mountains. I started wandering around since I was a child, and was eventually chosen to be trained as the Emperor's shadow guard."
After hearing Li Si say this, Lu Zifeng finally knew Li Si's origins. Although Lu Zifeng sympathized with him very much, such things were not uncommon in this era. This was the way things were in the great era, and Lu Zifeng had never thought about changing anything. The development of history had its inevitability, so he just had to let it take its course.
"Alright, let's get going! Situ Hao still has no idea what's going on. Also, do you have anyone in Ganzhou Prefecture? We'll be in the dark there, so we'll need help."
"Don't worry, my lord! We have people there too, but they're not as skilled as you and me in martial arts, so we're only there to protect Prince Jing's safety."
Lu Zifeng nodded, jumped on his horse and continued to gallop towards Ganzhou.
It took the two of them three days to reach Ganzhou, where they met the emperor's shadow guard. Li Si approached him and had a conversation with him before returning.
"Prince Lu, it has been confirmed that Prince Jing has entered the deep mountains. He should still have our people with him, but there are too many people chasing them. Those of us who came later haven't caught up yet, so Prince Jing is still in great danger. I don't know how many of our people are still protecting him."
Lu Zifeng frowned when he heard this. According to what Li Si said just now, the shadow guards chased after him, but they were still looking for Prince Jing. They only knew that he was in the deep mountains, but his whereabouts were still uncertain. He thought about it.
"Li Si, let this shadow guard take us in now to find Prince Jing. We must be quick. I'm afraid that too many of your shadow guards will be killed by then, which would be even more dangerous for Prince Jing."
Li Si also thought of this and nodded, "Okay, let's prepare some dry food and set off in an hour."
An hour later, Lu Zifeng and others left their horses with the shadow guards at the foot of the mountain, and the remaining dozen people went into the mountain together.
According to the marks drawn by the shadow guards along the way, Lu Zifeng and his group quickly entered the mountains, but when they arrived here, they no longer saw the marks left by the shadow guards before.
Looking at the towering mountains, Lu Zifeng expanded his mental power to the surroundings, but found no trace of Situ Hao and the others.
"Prince Lu, there are signs of a fight here. It looks like there must be quite a few people involved!"
Lu Zifeng walked over quickly, looked at the scene carefully, and then used his mental power again, and he really found a clue. He found a piece of rag on a branch. Lu Zifeng walked over calmly and said to Li Si.
"Li Si, do you recognize this piece of cloth here?"
Li Si walked up and took the rag off the branch, and looked at it carefully.
"This must belong to some assassin, because we Shadow Guards have never used this kind of fabric."
After hearing this, Lu Zifeng said, "Put this piece of cloth away. It may be the most important physical evidence to verify the assassin's identity in the future."
Li Si knew what Lu Zifeng meant, so he didn't say anything, but stuffed the cloth into his arms.
After Lu Zifeng carefully inspected the Dou County, they quickly ran into the mountains based on the terrain. After another hour of running, they finally found the marks left by Situ Hao and others.
Lu Zifeng used his mental power all the way and finally saw the traces of Situ Hao and others after an hour. Situ Hao was injured at this time, but it didn't seem to be serious, and they were just superficial injuries.
Lu Zifeng saw it with his mental power, but the other shadow guards still didn't hear it because they were at least a mile away.
Lu Zifeng didn't know where it was directly, so he had to speed up.
"It should be right there in front. Hurry up, I heard the sound of fighting."
After Lu Zifeng finished speaking, he quickened his pace. Li Si and the others were very confused because they did not hear any fighting sounds. However, since Master Lu said so, it must be true. So they did not say anything and followed Lu Zifeng to run. Sure enough, in less than a quarter of an hour, they looked at everything in front of them and had to admire Lu Zifeng's strength.
Not only was he the first to hear the fighting here, but he was also the first to rush over and rescue Situ Hao and the shadow guards. When they arrived, the ground was already full of men in black who came to assassinate Situ Hao.
"You are such a poor kid with so many misfortunes, aren't you?"
Situ Hao looked at Lu Zifeng and smiled bitterly. This was the second time Lu Zifeng had rescued him. He never expected that it was the emperor's uncle who asked Lu Zifeng to come this time.
"Well, no matter what, this mission is finally 80% completed. As long as I hand over the things in my hands to my uncle, it will be considered completed."
Lu Zifeng bandaged the wounds on his body.
"Okay, you can still walk. If not, we will carry you out of the mountain."
Situ Hao shook his head. "No need. I'm not that bad. This little flesh wound isn't a big deal. I'll just bandage it up and it'll be fine."
Now that Situ Hao has been found, the only thing left is to go back. With Lu Zifeng's presence, many men in black came, but in the end they all survived.
Lu Zifeng's actions shocked the shadow guards. They also realized that the martial arts skills of the Duke Dingguo's prince were so high that they were no match for Prince Lu.
That night they still couldn't get out of the forest and had to sleep in the woods temporarily. Li Si arranged for a few people to hunt, while his own people started to make a fire. Although it was April and the weather had begun to warm up, it was still quite cold at night.
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