This underground tunnel was far larger than Li Mu and the others imagined, and the four of them walked for more than an hour before they could be considered to have completed the patrol route.

"Big brother, it's really another safe day, let's go back, and we still have time to drink some hot wine. ”

The young soldier stretched his waist and yawned and said to the veteran beside him, this lap down, if it weren't for his half-step strength, it would be really tiring.

"You stinky boy, you think about drinking all day long, work harder to cultivate, your age plus the pill given by the city lord, the possibility of breaking through the Dan realm is very large, once you set foot on the immortal road, your status will be different, don't forget my uncle when the time comes." ”

On the way back, the two soldiers of the pro-guard team did not have the same seriousness as before, and their steps were obviously much faster, presumably in a hurry to return to the errand early.

This made Li Mu and Liu Long also breathe a sigh of relief, there was still about an hour left in the duration of Shadow Trace's skills, if these two people walked slowly and slowly, before they reached the stronghold, they might not be able to hide their figures.

In this underground tunnel, there is no place to hide, and once it is discovered, I am afraid that it will be necessary to start a fight in advance.

"Ouch, I'm finally back, hey, Lao Yang and they are still standing guard so seriously today, the sun is coming out of the west, shouldn't they have secretly gone to drink on weekdays?"

The four of them walked for another half an hour in the dark passage, and finally came to the end of the passage, and the scene in front of them changed suddenly.

The entrance to the cave was unusually wide, five people high, and at the entrance stood a huge rock, shaped like a bloodthirsty ghost, and it is not known whether it was the work of nature or the handiwork of later craftsmen.

The two soldiers of the pro-guard team also had standard spears in their hands, and the red armor on their bodies was shining in the reflection of the firelight, and the two of them were standing at the entrance of the cave in a standard posture at this time, which was completely different from the pro-guard that Li Mu had seen before.

"Come in, the lord of the city is coming. ”

The soldiers guarding the entrance of the cave saw that the two people on patrol looked like they were hanging out, and hurriedly reminded them, otherwise they would anger the city lord and everyone would not have a good life.

"Ah? The city lord is here, how can it be, I have the impression that the city lord is coming to this stronghold for the first time. ”

When the older soldier heard the news, he said in surprise, there are many, many such strongholds in the hundred-mile mountains centered on Lishui City, and the one they are responsible for guarding can only be regarded as medium-sized, and since it was built, Gongsun Qi has never been here.

The conscription orders and the arrangements for the escort mission were all conveyed by the commander, but today the city lord suddenly came to inspect, which made the veteran who was still boasting that he was the only one who knew the truth start to break out in a cold sweat.

"Uncle, aren't you ......?"

The young soldier was also a little weak at this time, and he knew that he was curious to ask again and again, and sure enough, he knew too much about everything, and the faster his life was lost.

"Don't think about it, probably not, let's go in, remember, stay calm, or none of us will be able to escape. ”

After admonishing his nephew, the veteran straightened his armor, nodded to the guard at the entrance to the cave, and walked in.

And Li Mu and Liu Long, who were behind him, exchanged glances, and then followed closely in the cave.

Gongsun Qi's appearance somewhat broke their plan, but after thinking about it, it was also an opportunity, and from the conversation of the two soldiers, they learned that there were many such strongholds for civilians, and it was obviously unrealistic for such a huge number of innocent lives to be saved by the two of them one by one.

If Gongsun Qi can be directly killed or captured here, and Liu Long can then transfer troops from outside the city into the city to take over power, he can find the strongholds one by one through the secret passages, and rescue the imprisoned people and loose cultivators.

The general plan has been agreed upon in a glance, although there is no time to plan the details well, but with so many fresh lives in front of them, Li Mu and Liu Long will not stand idly by no matter what.

After passing through the entrance of the cave, the scene inside made Li Mu and the others instantly shake up, the whole mountain seemed to be completely hollowed out, and the two of them were in a huge open space, surrounded by circular stairs spiraling upward, and on the cliff wall were cells locked by iron bars.

Every ten steps of the spiral staircase was a guard in red armor, and the torches at the door of the cells gave off a faint poking light, barely making it possible to see that there were a large number of prisoners in each cell.

Above the open space in the middle, there was a whole team of soldiers of the pro-guard team standing neatly in the horizontal nine vertical and ten verticals, and in front of the square stood a white-robed man, with starry eyebrows and sword eyes, rich and handsome, it was none other than the lord of Lishui City, Gongsun Qi.

At this time, Gongsun Qi was obviously about to say something to the soldiers in front of him, Li Mu and Liu Long, relying on the magic of the shadow cloak, actually stood directly on the side two steps away from the team, where everyone present could be seen.

"Ladies and gentlemen, everyone is the absolute elite of the Pro-Guards, so I chose you to guard this stronghold, as everyone guessed, this is indeed the biggest secret of our Lishui City. ”

Gongsun Qi's image at this time returned to the state of a conscription speech, and the gentle words made all the soldiers of the pro-guard team like a spring breeze, and their eyes were full of energy, and even their standing posture was a little erect.

"You must be wondering why the people detained here are being arrested, indeed, any conscription and the like are just excuses I use to reassure the rest of the city, and I order you to arrest these civilians, and even the Sanxiu, it is indeed a special purpose. ”

Gongsun Qi's words made the eyes of the soldiers present move slightly, they were in charge of the operation of this stronghold, it was impossible to say that they had no doubts, it was not only the veterans who Li Mu and they had followed before who felt strange, but no one dared to express their doubts.

Unexpectedly, when the city lord came today, he took the initiative to mention the matter, and looking at the city lord's expression, it seemed that he had made an extremely difficult decision.

"Brothers present, you are all the mainstays of Lishui City, what has our prosperity relied on over the years? It is the wealth brought by the refined iron veins and the fair trade environment that our pro-guards have exchanged for blood again and again, and the senior of you should still remember how the three major chambers of commerce of the empire treated us in the past. ”

"They treat us as farmers who don't know anything, and use our blood and sweat to create wealth for them, if it weren't for me to lead everyone to rise up and resist, we would still be living a life without dignity. ”

"You, and you, you two I remember, when I negotiated with the three major guilds, I directly drew my sword and killed all their guards, and exchanged my heads and blood for a fair trade contract, and you were also present in that battle, well, you are the heroes of Lishui City. ”

Gongsun Qi's voice became more and more excited, staring at the two soldiers in front of the square team and shouting, that kind of emotion seemed to be contagious, the two soldiers who were named were actually excited to tears, the green tendons on their necks burst out, trembling all over, and responding to Gongsun Qi's praise with their eyes.

"But after all, our Lishui City is located in the middle of nowhere, except for the mineral vein accident, other resources needed for life are extremely scarce, all of which need to spend a lot of money to buy from outside, and with the expansion of the city and the increase in population, our pressure is increasing. ”

"And while most of us are paying for the continuation of the city, there are people in the city, who are selfish, or greedy, or lazy, who use the resources that others have created, but who do not bring anything to the city. ”

"Look at the people in these cells, who use poverty as an excuse, they are all middle-aged laborers, but they don't want to make a living with their own hands, they will beg all day long, and those who are casual cultivators, who have no skills, but go to steal ores, these scumbags are really trampling on the blood and sweat we have paid, brothers, can you bear it?"

Gongsun Qi's words obviously resonated with the soldiers of the guards present, and his brainwashing speech made these soldiers glaring angrily at the cells on the cliff wall, already agreeing from the bottom of their hearts that these prisoners were moths in Lishui City.

"Only by getting rid of all these moths can our Lishui City truly unite as one, and we can be called the real main city-level existence of the empire. ”

"So I put these prisoners here, and then take a batch of them with them regularly, and let them fight the bandits and robbers in the mountains, and fight the demon beasts, I know that this may be a bit dehumanizing, but this is also the only way for us to go further in Lishui City, as the city lord, this sin should be borne by me. ”

Speaking of the end, Gongsun Qi almost choked up, as if he was being tormented by this guilt every day, and his eyes became red all over, so infectious that the soldiers present were excited.

"City Lord, you're not wrong, it's these scum and moths who are wrong. ”

"City Lord, we absolutely support you, whoever dares to say that you are wrong, we will kill him. ”

Among all the people present, only the pair of patrolling soldiers knew that what Gongsun Qi said was a lie, but they naturally did not jump out to clarify this matter, but followed the others to shout at Gongsun Qi with interest.

"Brothers, thank you, if Lishui City can become the main city level one day, it must be because of your existence, history will remember the name of each of you, and the descendants of Lishui City will sing your praises from generation to generation. ”

Looking at the soldiers of the pro-guard team who were completely crazy in front of him, Gongsun Qi directly took out a cloth bag, all of which contained that blood-colored pill, and the thick bloody aura made Li Mu on the side frown, this smell was too familiar to him, it was clearly the breath emitted by Fang Yan after taking the Blood Demon Pill.

"This is the Blood God Pill, it is an elixir that I personally hunted and killed the fourth-level demon beasts and refined them with their blood, you should also know its efficacy, the brothers present today, each of them can get five. ”

First mental brainwashing, and then great benevolence, Gongsun Qi's methods made Li Mudu, who traveled from the 21st century, exclaim, this level on the earth, can definitely become a top success master.