I planted the spiritual roots for my people, and they bestowed upon me a body inscribed with incense

Seeing Li Daqiang's resolute attitude, Li Yuan stopped talking and silently began to eat. Zhang Shi and Li Tong had witnessed what happened that afternoon and knew the seriousness of the situation, so they remained silent.

Looking at the Li family, which was just beginning to improve, Li Yuan made up his mind that he would never let his father face all of this alone.

However, before that, we need to send my mother and younger brother Li Tong to the Wang family first.

Li Yuan wasn't worried about the Wang family in the village at all, because his father had once saved Wang Tiezhu's life in the mountains. Also, one year during a blizzard, the Wang family had run out of food and no one in the village was helping them. It was his father who brought food to the Wang family, allowing them to survive the ordeal.

Soon, the family finished their meal. Li Yuan, carrying two pieces of smoked meat, led his mother and Li Tong towards the Wang family. Li Yuan planned to send his mother and younger brother to the Wang family and then return to help.

The Li family's residence was only about a mile away from the Wang family's residence, and soon Li Yuan led the two of them to the Wang family's residence.

"Uncle Tie, that's how it is. I have to go back and help." After saying that, Li Yuan prepared to leave the courtyard.

At this moment, a burly middle-aged man grabbed Li Yuan; this man was Wang Tiezhu.

"Xiao Yuan, you stay here. Your Uncle Wang can go and help."

"Those damn Gou family, if they dare to touch Brother Daqiang, I'll fight them to the death!" After saying that, Wang Tiezhu grabbed his hunting machete and stepped out the door.

Seeing that he couldn't stop them, Li Yuan followed after them with his machete.

Li Daqiang sat in the yard for a while when there was a knock on the door. Li Daqiang thought that the Gou family couldn't wait any longer before it got dark.

Li Daqiang cautiously opened the courtyard gate and saw Wang Tiezhu standing at the door, with Li Yuan, who was panting, following behind him. He immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Li Daqiang's expression soon turned serious.

"Brother Tiezhu, what brings you here?"

After saying that, Li Daqiang glared fiercely at Li Yuan.

Seeing this, Wang Tiezhu spoke up:

"Brother Qiang, you didn't even tell me about something this big? You're really not treating me, Tie Zhu, like a human being!"

Li Daqiang shook his head, then said:

"This is no small matter; one wrong move and you could lose your life. What will happen to your children then?"

Wang Tiezhu paused for a moment, then spoke:

"Brother Qiang, I'm going to get involved in this no matter what. I don't believe that the Sishui Gang is that powerful."

Seeing that he couldn't persuade them, Li Daqiang then let Wang Tiezhu and Li Yuan into the room.

While the two were talking, Li Yuan had already slipped into the courtyard. Although Li Daqiang appeared serious, he was still pleased with his son's actions.

In fact, even if the Sishui gang really came, Li Daqiang was not afraid. The power of the cleaver was already evident, not to mention the horse-slaying sword that he was good at.

Li Daqiang was afraid that these people would take his wife and children hostage, which is why he asked Li Yuan to take everyone away to avoid any complications.

Now that you're here, Brother Tiezhu, we'll use the signal we used when we went hunting in the mountains. You can take Li Yuan and assist us from the side. Besides, I'm already a third-rate martial artist, so I can handle a few thieves by myself.

Wang Tiezhu nodded, and then said:

"Don't worry, Brother Daqiang, Xiaoyuan is by my side and will definitely not let him get hurt."

Li Daqiang nodded, and then the three of them sat quietly in the courtyard without saying anything more.

Midnight.

Li Daqiang opened his eyes, but Li Yuan, who was beside him, opened them first. Wang Tiezhu followed suit; clearly, all three had noticed the commotion outside the courtyard gate.

Soon a knock came at the door, and at the same time a voice that was neither male nor female came from outside.

"Farmer's house, is anyone home? We are hunters who have been out hunting in the mountains and would like to rest here."

Just as the sound came from outside the door, two men in black climbed onto the roof from the back of the courtyard. However, they stopped moving while climbing on the back of the eaves and did not see the three people sitting in the courtyard.

Clearly, the two men's purpose was to kidnap Li Daqiang's family.

Seeing that the time was ripe, Li Daqiang picked up his horse-slaying saber and went straight to open the courtyard gate. Before he could even speak, he slashed at the person knocking on the door, who was none other than Huang Lie in disguise.

Huang Lie, a third-rate martial artist, had no chance to defend against this blow. Before he could even react, he was cleaved in half by the blade.

Gou Xun, who was hiding behind the door waiting for an opportunity to strike, was also caught off guard by the sudden slash. By the time he reacted, Huang Lie had already been cut in half.

"You have the nerve to kill someone from the Sishui Gang?" With that, he swung his knife at Li Daqiang.

Seeing that things were not going well, the two people on the roof jumped down to help. However, as soon as Sun Ming jumped down, Li Yuan took advantage of the moment before he landed and swung his machete at him.

Sun Ming glanced at Li Yuan as he slashed at him, a slight smirk playing on his lips. He swung his sword to block the attack, never imagining that the weapon held by a country boy was a peerless divine weapon from the mortal realm.

With a "crack," the long sword Sun Ming was holding snapped in two, followed by a cleaver that struck Sun Ming directly. Unsurprisingly, Sun Ming was cut in two at the waist. As he lay on the ground, Sun Ming tried to say something, but no sound came out.

Xu Feng, who landed next, was stunned by the scene before him. However, since the group had done plenty of robbery and plunder, Xu Feng quickly recovered.

Xu Feng then looked at Gou Xun, who was struggling with Li Daqiang, and noticed that Gou Xun was like a stray dog, dodging Li Daqiang's attacks everywhere.

This scene chilled Xu Feng's heart even further. Even Gou Xun had no chance of winning. Looking at Li Yuan and Wang Tiezhu approaching him, Xu Feng chose to lay down his weapon.

This scene made Gou Xun curse. "Xu Feng, what are you doing? Those two clearly don't know martial arts; what's impressive is the weapon in that person's hand."

Gou Xun truly deserves his position as the hall master; he guessed the reason in an instant.

However, Xu Feng remained unmoved and instead looked at Gou Xun and said:

"Shut up! I've been with you for three years now. You're either cutting our pay or lying to us. Do you think I'm stupid?"

Having just vented his anger, Xu Feng looked at Li Yuan and the other man with a fawning expression:

"Brothers, no, gentlemen, I was misled by this scoundrel and did such a ridiculous thing. Please, gentlemen, spare my life."

After saying that, Xu Feng threw his weapon on the ground and knelt down to approach the two men's feet.

Li Yuan initially thought the man was genuinely surrendering, but when he got within two meters of Li Yuan, Li Yuan realized something was wrong; he could see that the man was hiding a short blade in his sleeve.

Seeing this, Li Yuan waited for him to crawl over on his knees. Before he could even speak, Li Yuan directly beheaded him with a cleaver.

Seeing this scene from afar, Gou Xun, who was hiding, did not rejoice, but instead cried out in sorrow:

The third brother's expression was one of profound grief, a stark contrast to the two who had just died.

Then, Gou Xun stared with a manic look at Li Daqiang, who was charging towards him.

"Fool, if you kill Xu Feng, your village will be slaughtered!" After saying that, Gou Xun began to laugh maniacally.

Ignoring Gou Xun's words, Li Daqiang continued his fierce attack on Gou Xun, who could only dodge and soon followed in the footsteps of the three.

Seeing the bloodstains all over the ground, Li Daqiang did not delay. After instructing Li Yuan and Wang Tiezhu to clean up the house, he took the horse-slaying knife and went out.

After a moment's thought, Li Yuan guessed where Li Daqiang was going: the Gou family at the east end of the village.

At this moment, Gou Fanggang had just coaxed the irritable Zhou Cuier to sleep, unaware that death was approaching.