In my dream of returning to the Tang Dynasty, I snatched Wu Zetian from my lap.

The raid was thus essentially successful.

The pirate crew's stronghold remained undiscovered.

Li Yuanchang left ten men at the cave entrance, quickly changed them into pirate clothes, and continued to stand guard in the same spot. They could provide support while also serving as a point of attack for a sudden attack.

Immediately afterwards, Li Yunchang led his team to delve deeper into the area.

The secluded cave was covered in moss, with the constant sound of dripping water, and torches burning on the stone walls on both sides.

"This way."

The one-eyed man kept pointing in the direction.

The main path of the cave gradually branches out, like a spider's web, and anyone unfamiliar with the terrain will surely get lost.

Li Yuanchang didn't trust this one-eyed man very much, and gave him a cold warning as he walked.

"You'd better not try anything funny."

"Otherwise, your fate will be dire!"

The one-eyed man trembled: "Yes, yes, yes!"

"I will take you to where the Great Chief is now, so that we can bypass more guards."

"That would be best."

As Li Yuanchang spoke, his hand never left his neck; it remained gripping the back of his collar.

Under his leadership, they indeed rarely encountered pirates. The only two groups they did encounter were overheard by Li Yuanchang beforehand, and he subsequently killed them all.

Thirty people wandered through the bottomless cave, constantly dodging and weaving, completely unaware of where they were.

However, every so often, Li Yuanchang would have someone leave a mark on the wall with a knife so that he could easily return the way he came.

Suddenly, the one-eyed man stopped in his tracks.

This is a spacious cave, dimly lit.

"I... I need to activate the mechanism and go through the secret passage."

Li Yuanchang squinted. "A bunch of islanders actually know how to build mechanisms and secret passages?"

It's important to know that secret passage mechanisms were top-tier technology in ancient times.

"Where is the headquarters? Send my men there."

The one-eyed man panicked instantly, visibly so, his forehead covered in sweat.

"Someone's there!"

He exclaimed in surprise.

The tense crowd all turned to look, including Li Yuanchang.

In that instant, the one-eyed dragon, who had been holding back all the way, suddenly erupted, using all his strength to leap out and break free from Li Yuanchang's grasp.

By the time Li Yuanchang realized what was happening, it was too late to grab on, so he could only chase after them.

Snapped! !

One-Eyed Dragon slammed his fist into the stone wall with a crack. There was indeed a mechanism, but it wasn't a highly sophisticated secret passage mechanism.

Instead, it was a huge iron cage that fell from the sky.

"Your Highness!"

"Wilderness!" Cui He exclaimed in surprise.

boom! !

Li Yuanchang braked at the last second, narrowly avoiding being hit by the edge of the iron cage.

A tremendous sound echoed continuously in the cave, and the guards were terrified. None of them had expected that there would be such a thing above their heads.

Li Yuanchang and everyone else were trapped in this rusty iron cage.

"Hahaha!"

The one-eyed man who escaped laughed loudly, his face showing both smugness and ferocity.

Instead of leaving, he approached and provocatively said, "You think you can take us down?"

"Pooh!"

"I've been lying to you for so long just to lure you into this place. Now, just wait to die!"

"I will collect every single debt I've incurred these past days, bit by bit!"

Li Yuanchang's expression was cold, almost calm.

"Are you so sure you can trap us?"

He glanced at the iron cage; although sturdy, it was rusted and corroded by seawater for who knows how many years.

Moreover, the hardness of ancient copper and iron, due to their quenching techniques, was generally far inferior to that of later periods.

The one-eyed man's smile faltered for a moment, a strange unease creeping over him.

"Do you think you can get out?"

Li Yuanchang sneered: "We'll see."

Having said that, he took a step back.

Huang Tu then stepped out, his tall body resembling a small mountain, his bulging muscles like a rock. His gaze was cold, his hands like iron pincers reaching out, then he assumed a horse stance and pulled with all his might.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

The iron cage immediately began to groan under the strain.

The steel, as thick as a baby's arm, began to bend.

Upon seeing this, the one-eyed man was horrified, his pupils dilating in shock. Was this even human?

It wasn't until a large gap was forcibly pulled open in the iron cage that he realized something was wrong and turned to run.

bass!

Li Yuanchang leaped up, his muscular body bursting with explosive power, and darted out through the gap.

He rolled twice on the ground, then took a running start and leaped into the air.

boom! !

With a powerful kick, he lashed out through the air with a crackling sound like a whip, striking the one-eyed man directly in the chest.

"ah!"

puff……

The man coughed up blood, lost his balance, and slammed heavily against the wall. He then rolled on the ground in agony, screaming in pain.

By this time, the iron cage had been torn apart by Huang Tu and his men, leaving it riddled with holes, and everyone walked out one after another.

Li Yuanchang's footsteps were like those of the Grim Reaper as he arrived in front of the one-eyed man, looking down at him.

He said dismissively, "You're as ridiculous as your iron cage."

"No, no!"

"Don't kill me! I'll take you there! I'll take you there!"

"I won't run anymore, please, please!"

With nowhere to retreat and tears welling up in his eyes, the one-eyed man frantically kowtowed and begged for mercy.

If I had known earlier, I would have run sooner; maybe there would still have been a chance.

"Beg me?"

Li Yuanchang chuckled, showing no emotion whatsoever.

"I've said it before, trying to pull tricks will lead to a terrible end."

"In your next life, be a good person."

"No!!"

"Big brother, save me!!" The one-eyed man uttered his last words.

puff! !

Blood splattered everywhere, and heads rolled all over the ground.

At this point, the cave was no longer peaceful.

The loud noise of the iron cage falling earlier attracted many pirates to come and investigate, and the one-eyed man's screams finally sounded the alarm for the pirate crew.

"quick!"

"quick!"

The sound of hurried footsteps and shouts of Japanese pirates grew louder and louder.

Li Yuanchang turned around with his knife in hand, followed by thirty guards standing like a forest of bloodthirsty tigers and wolves.

He had no intention of running away; he came here to fight his way in, so why would he run? Besides, with the one-eyed man dead, his only guide was gone.

To move correctly inside, new survivors are needed.

Just ten breaths later, a large number of pirates arrived.

Their first reaction upon seeing Li Yuanchang and his men was one of bewilderment. They couldn't recognize who they were, nor did they expect the Tang army to come here in such terrible weather.

Until Li Yuanchang pointed his knife with one hand, Huang Tu and the others rushed out in afterimages, their shadows reflected on the wall were no different from those of the mountain lord.

boom!

Click!

"ah!!"

Heart-wrenching screams and desperate cries erupted, filling the cave.

In the narrow, dimly lit space, blood gushed out continuously. These pirate warriors were as fragile as paper, and were slaughtered as soon as their faces were touched.

The front row was wiped out, and the back row reacted, swinging their knives to slash, but were grabbed along with their knives and slammed hard against the wall.

With a hand as big as a palm leaf fan, he smashed the pirate's head. Huang Tu and his gang were synonymous with violence and bloodshed.