When the dust settles, all is vanity; even the wicked will find a good one to help them.

Hua Rong thrust out his spear, and a sharp sound seemed to echo through the air.

One of the wicked servants was caught off guard and shot in the throat. The gun barrel pierced through his throat, and blood splattered everywhere, terrifying those around him who trembled with fear.

They had never seen anyone so fierce before. They were used to bullying the kind-hearted, and only today did they realize that their meager skills were nothing in the eyes of this person!

Hua Rong shouted and drew his gun, charging at another man!

Pang Wanchun didn't hesitate to yield, and took out a steel knife!

With a whoosh, the blade sliced ​​through the air, and the wicked servants were harvested clean like withered grass!

Lai Wu was dumbfounded. He never expected that in just one exchange, six or seven of his men would fall!

Seeing that the two men were far too fierce, two of the wicked servants attacked Song Jiang. Song Jiang smiled and shook his head, saying, "Do you think you've picked an easy target?"

Having said that, he charged forward unarmed!

Although his body was a bit weak, the offensive skills he had learned during his five years of military service in his later life were not to be underestimated!

Dodging one man's dagger, Song Jiang seized the man's hand and dislocated his arm, while simultaneously kicking another man!

He then grabbed the man's dagger, slashed it with his backhand, and sent the wicked servant into the cycle of reincarnation. The other man, seeing that things were not going well, tried to run away!

Song Jiang was even faster, throwing his dagger like a dart. The man felt a chill down his spine and collapsed to the ground, howling in pain!

Song Jiang stepped forward to ease his pain, shaking his head and saying, "Remember this from now on: never judge a book by its cover!"

Lai Wu panicked completely. All his men were dead except for that old bastard Lao Wang. He was the only one left. Facing the three killing gods, his legs trembled uncontrollably like a leaf.

Song Jiang approached Lai Wu and said, "You! Remember, be a good person in your next life!" After saying that, he waved his hand, and Pang Wanchun swept out with his knife, decapitating Lai Wu, who fell to the ground!

Lai Wu was dead, and the old man hurriedly knelt on the ground, saying, "I have also hated Lai Wu for a long time. Today, the brave man has rid us of this villain. Congratulations!"

Song Jiang didn't want to listen to his nonsense, nor did he care what his purpose was. Hua Rong fired another shot, ending his life!

Song Jiang said to the two men, "See if there are any survivors; leave none alive!"

At this moment, Ruan Xiaoqi walked over with her mother and a young girl!

When the girl saw Pang Wanchun, she rushed up to him, tears welling in her eyes, and said, "Brother, I thought I would never see you again!"

Pang Wanchun held his younger sister's hand and said, "Me too! It's fortunate we met Brother Gongming today, otherwise we wouldn't be able to see each other again!" He then pulled the girl over and said, "Brother, this is my younger sister, Pang Qiuxia!"

Song Jiang looked at Pang Qiuxia; she had bright eyes and white teeth, and delicate features. Although she was not old, she was a real beauty!

Ruan Xiaoqi knelt on the ground and said, "Brother, thanks to you today, we were able to save Mother!"

Song Jiang helped Ruan Xiaoqi up and said, "We brothers don't need to mention thanking each other again. Search the place, take all the valuables, then put the bodies together and burn this place down. Don't leave any trace!"

After a long while, outside, several people gathered together. Pang Wanchun spoke up, "Brother, we have fifty shi of grain, some wine and meat, three thousand taels of silver, some jewelry and calligraphy! We also have some silver wine vessels and bowls and chopsticks! And quite a bit of silk!"

Song Jiang waved his hand and laughed, "Load everything up, let's head to Liangshan!"

A raging fire broke out, illuminating the entire island. Perhaps tomorrow the island will also be engulfed by flames and cease to exist!

On the open ground of Liangshan, several people gathered together. Song Jiang looked at Pang Wanchun and his sister and said, "Brother Wanchun, what are your plans for the future?"

Pang Wanchun sighed and said, "The world is so big, yet I feel like there's nowhere for me to go! I already have a murder case on my hands, and I can't go to the bustling city anymore, otherwise the news will leak out and implicate Qiuxia. Now I don't know where to go!"

At this moment, Hua Rong spoke up: "Brother Wan Chun, you are also a good man. Why not follow my brother Gongming? Your future will be limitless, and your skills will not be buried in the world!"

Pang Wanchun said, "Brother, you have been kind to me, and I have been thinking of doing the same, but I don't know if Brother Gongming is willing to take me in! I, Pang Wanchun, am willing to go through fire and water to serve you!"

Song Jiang laughed and said, "At this time, Liangshan is in a stage of development and is in dire need of talent. I am grateful that you brothers have not abandoned me, and I will certainly live up to your expectations!"

After a busy night, the group was quite tired. Song Jiang left Pang Wanchun and his sister, Liu Tang and Ruan's mother to rest at Liangshan, while he would take the three Ruan brothers and Wu Yong and others to Liangshan in the next few days!

Previously, they had packed some bedding, pots and pans at Lai Wu's house, which they would use for the time being. Everyone knew that Ruan's mother had been kidnapped, so it was not convenient for her to show herself at the moment. They could only stay at Liangshan for the time being, with Pang Qiuxia by their side to keep them company and keep them company, so they wouldn't be too lonely!

"Brother, I never imagined you were so skilled! Those two were no match for you!" Hua Rong exclaimed excitedly on the boat after seeing Song Jiang display his prowess at Lai Wu's house.

"Ha, my good brother, I am also a martial arts enthusiast, and I practice my skills in my spare time!" Song Jiang said with a faint smile. In fact, he was relying on the fact that the two of them underestimated him, and that what he had learned in his later life was engraved in his bones and had long become a habit that he could not possibly forget.

"But I've never seen that kind of skill before. He subdued that wicked servant with a single reverse motion. That's quite impressive!" Hua Rong gestured and said.

"This is something I've figured out over time. If you're interested, I can tell you about it!" Song Jiang wasn't secretive at all; if his brothers wanted to learn, what was wrong with teaching them?

This time, Lai Wu's matter wasn't too difficult, but it wasn't as easy as imagined either. Thanks to Song Jiang's side having two sharpshooters, they killed several gatekeepers and then caught them off guard!

In truth, a direct confrontation would be no match for Hua Rong; Liu Tang alone could wipe out their entire army. But they couldn't withstand the enemy's crossbows! Besides, if they couldn't win, couldn't they just run away? If they really scattered like birds and beasts, Liu Tang couldn't possibly chase after them one by one!

This time, Song Jiang caught them off guard, rendering their crossbows useless and wiping them out in one fell swoop. This was the real victory. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to defeat them, and the presence of hostages hidden in the shadows would have been a real headache!

Song Jiang has now gotten blood on his hands. Although he feels somewhat uncomfortable, he thinks that such situations will inevitably occur many times in the future, and it is a process to get used to it in advance!

Song Jiang was reluctant to shed blood or take lives, but this was not a society with a sound legal system like later generations.

With officials protecting each other and the impending chaos, the lives of ordinary people are as worthless as grass, forcing Song Jiang to do things he was previously unwilling to do!

Meanwhile, in a rather grand and luxurious room in Jeju Prefecture, a woman was crying and making a scene!

The man in the room was already agitated, and the incessant noise only made him more irritable. He shouted, "Enough! All this crying and wailing, isn't it annoying?!"

The woman threw a tantrum, saying, "I don't care! If you don't avenge him, I'll kill myself!"

The man angrily retorted, "We don't even know if he's dead or not, and besides, the government will investigate. How can I take revenge if I don't even know who did it?"

The woman persisted, bursting into tears again, muttering, "My poor, unfortunate brother, who killed you!"

The man said helplessly, "I told him a long time ago not to be arrogant and domineering, and to be low-key and humble, but he just wouldn't listen. Now look what trouble he's caused!"

After hesitating for a moment, he continued, "I'll go to Shijie Village to check things out; maybe I'll find some clues! It's possible he's not dead!"

The news of Lai Wu's death had already spread throughout Shijie Village. At this time, villagers were gathering in twos and threes to discuss Lai Wu's death.

Meanwhile, Song Jiang had already returned to Songjia Village with Hua Rong, while Ruan Xiaoqi went to meet up with her brothers before preparing to return to Shijie Village!

"Reporting to Your Excellency, there are a total of twenty-four corpses, none of them alive!" A yamen runner stepped forward and said to Liu Lu, the magistrate of Dongping County.

Shijie Village is under the jurisdiction of Dongping County. The fire burned all night last night. At dawn, some villagers got up early and found that the fire was so big and the thick smoke was so thick that it was impossible to look directly at it.

Some villagers, upon discovering that the fire originated from the small island where Lai Wu lived, pretended not to see it and secretly hoped that the fire would spread further.

Lai Wu's reputation was infamous, and word spread like wildfire. Before long, the entire Shijie Village knew that a fire had broken out where Lai Wu lived. Some even hoped that Lai Wu was inside and had been burned to ashes. As for helping to put out the fire? No way! Not a single person had such a thought!

However, some kind-hearted people went to inform the village head. Although the village head didn't like Lai Wu either, he still reported it to the authorities. But with such a big fire, even if the county magistrate came, there was nothing he could do. It was impossible to put out the fire. Not only could the fire not be extinguished, but if some of his own yamen runners died while trying to put out the fire, he would be the one to suffer the consequences!

The fire eventually went out on its own because there was no more fuel, but Liu Lu himself did not want to go to the island, so he called a few yamen runners, took the coroner, rented two fishing boats and rowed over!

Upon arriving at the scene, the horrific scene was beyond description. The coroner, enduring the pain, completed the examination of the body and then ordered the constables to take the body back to Shijie Village. However, the fishermen refused to use their boat to transport the body. The coroner had no choice but to threaten them with a large sum of money before they reluctantly agreed. It took several constables more than a dozen trips to finally lift the charred corpse onto the boat!

The group was unwilling to share a boat with the corpse, so they had two fishermen go ashore first. Then they found two more fishermen to ferry them back to the other side, where they lifted the corpse off the boat.

Liu Lu waved his hand, signaling the constables to drag the body away directly without showing it to him!

"Magistrate Liu!" A voice came from behind. Liu Lu turned around and saw that it was Huang An, the militia commander of Jizhou Prefecture!

Huang An was also troubled. His wife insisted that he come to Shijie Village to avenge Lai Wu. He thought that this brother-in-law had caused him a lot of trouble in the past, so it would be better if he died!

But he absolutely couldn't say such things to his wife. On the way here, he was also thinking that although the fire was huge, could Lai Wu still be on the island? But when he thought about how such a big thing as burning the island had happened and Lai Wu hadn't come looking for him, he figured that he was probably dead on the island. Otherwise, given his vengeful nature, he would never have swallowed his anger!

He had seen the constables carrying the body, so he called out to Liu Lu to see what was going on!