The sounds and the faint scent of blood lingered in the air. From the moment the self-proclaimed "Lei Feng" scion spoke, to when he produced the crossbow and pulled the trigger, few were prepared. The action was just too fluid. Almost as the sneer formed on the victim's face, the arrow was at his eyes. The half-formed scoff became the last sound he would ever make.

As the body fell, the scion said calmly, "Next." Someone dragged the corpse away, and two others plucked a Liangshan soldier from the crowd and shoved him onto the chair. The crowd finally reacted, seething with anger. The soldier's hands were already bound, but he rose and roared, "You want to kill me? Then kill me!"

Before he could finish, a heavy weight landed on his shoulders. The scion had suddenly lunged forward, slamming him back into the chair with both hands. His ferocious, indifferent eyes were inches away, stunning the soldier into silence. The crowd, startled by the sudden movement, quieted down. The scion stared at him, and just as the soldier began to react, trying to headbutt him, the scion released him, straightened up, and scanned the crowd.

"Out of concern for your lives, I still want you to hear me out," he said coldly. "I want to destroy Liangshan. Can you... tell me all the Liangshan intelligence you know?"

The same cold, direct question brought an even greater silence than before. The crowd watched the scion, but they were really watching the soldier in the chair. The soldier gritted his teeth, slowly lifted his head with defiance, and met the cold gaze.

*Thwack.*

The arrow pierced his forehead, and the body fell.

"Bastard!"

Someone in the small square shouted, and then a roar of voices erupted.

"You dare kill people..."

"Just wait until I get out..."

The voices surged and boiled like a pot about to overflow. Such an action was bound to provoke fierce resistance. Even Zhu Long, watching from a room on the side, wanted to rush out. "How can he kill people like this? There will be trouble." But Zhu Chaofeng held him back.

The scene was intense. From the moment they were brought here and gathered, to the scion's arrival, the changes came too fast to follow. Now, with two men killed as easily as stepping on ants, the rising voices were mixed with a cold command: "Ready." Several people in the center and at the edges of the square immediately stood up. "Go ahead and kill me if you have the guts!"

A man in the middle stood up and shouted, "Brothers, he's trying to make us..." *Thwack.* An arrow pierced his throat. Lanterns swayed on the flagpoles around the square, casting light. The scion in front fired the arrow with one hand still raised, his left hand already pointing across the field of vision. Someone on the edge of the square shouted, "Brothers, let's..."

"Him." A finger pointed, and an arrow shot out. Then: "Him, him, over there, grant his wish..."

The crossbow string twanged with hardly a pause. Blood, bits of flesh, and arrows blossomed in the crowd. A burly man in the very front suddenly stood up and charged towards Ning Yi, his hands already free of their bonds. "Aaaaah, Lei Feng, I'm going to..."

"You dare curse Lei Feng!"

The angry roar drowned out his words. In the flickering lamplight, the scion tossed the crossbow behind him, slipped a steel finger sheath onto his right hand, and charged forward with a booming voice. A straight punch roared out, striking the man's face. Skin and flesh flew, and his body spun through the air, landing back among the prisoners. Half his face was smashed, and he convulsed, spitting out blood.

Now, the crowd's uproar was simply the result of fear and panic suddenly erupting. However, before anyone could utter truly inflammatory words, six or seven bodies had already fallen among them. The stench of blood spread, and the noise level dropped sharply. From the back of the crowd, Qin Ming and a few others still shouted curses: "If my brothers break into this manor, they'll never forgive you!" The loudest of these was the stout "Cleaver Demon" Cao Zheng. A butcher by trade, he had a fiery temper, and now he was still roaring, "Come over here and kill me if you dare! I'll fight you to the death!"

As the curses continued, the scion, after punching down the charging soldier, pulled off the finger sheath and walked to the back, picking up a leftover brick from the construction near the house. He walked straight to Cao Zheng and smashed it on his head, then again.

Qin Ming and the others were beside themselves with rage, roaring, "You dare hurt my brother..." "What kind of heroic act is this..." "Release me, and I'll duel you..."

Cao Zheng was stout, and his head was taking a beating, blood spurting out. He struggled mightily, his hands still tied behind his back. Ning Yi just kept smashing the brick down, again and again. The other four roared, and Cao Zheng's body slumped to the ground. Soon after, Cao Zheng suddenly roared, and his hands broke free of their bonds,

lunging towards him. In the night wind, there was another loud bang, and the two seemed to collide heavily. Stone chips and dust flew up. The brick shattered in two, spinning through the air, and Cao Zheng was kicked back to his original spot.

Ning Yi threw away the broken brick, found another one, and continued to beat Cao Zheng on the ground. He bent down, and Cao Zheng reached up and grabbed his collar, but he was too weak to do anything else. Ning Yi grabbed the fingers of that hand, snapped one with a *crack*, then held the hand down and smashed it twenty or thirty times. The square gradually fell silent, and when Qin Ming and the others stopped speaking, Ning Yi looked at them, his gaze softening, and patted Qin Ming's shoulder, softly comforting him, "Live to tell the tale."

Then, he turned and walked back to the front of the square, now half covered in blood, rubbing his fingers. He stood before the crowd for a moment, thought for a while, pulled up the chair facing the crowd, and sat down.

"Everyone saw that," he said, looking at the crowd, his tone even and direct. "There was a little accident, but it's all right now. No need to be nervous. Of course, if my gentle tone gave you the wrong impression, I apologize. Now everyone understands. It's simple. Let's continue... Come on, next."

The third man was dragged to the chair, trembling all over. He kept looking back at his companions, then back here. Ning Yi went over, bent down, and patted his shoulder. "It's okay. We always have to face our problems to move towards a better future. I ask you, are you willing to tell me all the Liangshan secrets you know?"

"I, I..." The man trembled, hesitating, and looked back at the crowd. Before his head could turn all the way, *swipe*, a flash of blood.

"Next."

Someone tossed the body aside, and the fourth man was dragged over. This man tried to spit, but Wang Shanyue killed him with a single stroke. So it went until the fifth man came up. After sitting down, he nodded frantically. The scion in the square jumped up and personally untied his ropes, then grasped his hands. "Good brother! A truly loyal brother! Quickly, take him over there to eat and drink! We have good things for him!"

"Over there" meant a few tents pitched not far away, visible to everyone. As soon as the nodding man sat down, good wine and meat were served. Over two hundred people were staring at him.

The sixth man did not nod, and wanted to shout, "Eighteen years later..." He didn't finish before he was killed, and his body was thrown aside.

The seventh man was also hesitating. Ning Yi was about to strike when someone suddenly spoke. It was the second leader of the Wolf Raiders, a middle-aged man with scars all over his face, said to be Wang Shanyue's martial arts instructor, a man of wide knowledge. Ning Yi looked at him. "What?"

"I recognize this man. He's from the Twin Blades Sect of Shanxi, named Liu Fu. He's a bit famous."

"So, we can find his family, then?"

Ning Yi smiled and waved to the side. "Hey, you there, write this down, write this down. Liu Fu of the Twin Blades Sect. We'll have the authorities investigate this name later." He looked at Liu Fu with a smile. "You'll die today, but I guarantee arrest warrants will be issued nationwide. I'll definitely hold a grand funeral for your entire family. Come on, kill him."

The person next to him raised a crossbow, and Liu Fu shouted, "No! Wait, I'll help you! I'll help you! I'll help you!"

Ning Yi clapped his hands together, and the crossbow was lowered. As the man went to the side, Ning Yi put his arm around his shoulder, patted his chest, and said sincerely, "You should cherish your family... Next."

In the hooked moonlight, the wind blew across the courtyard. The lanterns swayed on the flagpoles, casting orange-yellow, somewhat faded light. The mechanical, cold, and simple questioning continued. One body after another was piled up in front of the square, starting to grow into a heap. The stench of blood spread. After that, more and more people surrendered.

After asking about twenty-some people, Ning Yi, who had been asking one by one, clapped his hands. "Alright, the demonstration is good enough. Everyone is smart, and you should understand now. I have things to do, and I don't have time to play with you here. Next, go into the rooms in the back, and say everything you need to say. They will record it for you here, and then compare and cross-examine. It doesn't matter if you make things up, as long as you're clever enough. Next..."

He waved his hand. "Trouble the brothers from Zhu Family Manor to split them up and scatter them. No talking. Anyone caught whispering or passing information will be killed on the spot... Take things slowly. You can even take a nap. Tonight..."

Before everyone's eyes, Ning Yi smiled. "... is still very long."

The night was destined to be long.

Leaving the courtyard, Ning Yi took a deep breath and turned to look in the direction outside the manor. Beyond the field of vision, the battle was still raging.

For the Liangshan forces, everything probably seemed to be proceeding according to plan, advancing with the force of a great wave, gradually crushing everything in its path. The resistance of the Dulong Gang had originally caused the enemy many troubles, but now it seemed like a few wooden thorns in front of a rolling stone. After slightly delaying it, they were broken by the giant stone. Now, those small advantages had been exhausted. Even though Luan Tingyu and the others fought bravely, they could not hide their exhaustion and fatigue.

But on

that invisible chessboard, at this moment when it seemed impossible to turn the tide, the first move of that insignificant new participant finally landed silently.

The light shone on his face, chaotic and dim, like an abyss devouring everything. Turning his head, he saw Zhu Chaofeng and the others coming over, and he turned the thumb ring on his hand, and went up to meet them...

"If you wanted Liangshan intelligence, you should have separated them and interrogated them earlier. You would have gotten more information. Why kill people like this?" Zhu Long questioned him as soon as they met.

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