Swiftly Cutting Through the Knotted Mess

After the rooster crowed three times, the night fog dispersed.

The eastern sky had only just begun to pale when heavy footsteps rang out along Tai'an City's blue-stone main street.

Li Yan led the way. Wrapped in plain clothes and carrying the chill and Solemn Killing Intent of the wind, he walked ahead with one hand on his saber.

Behind him came Lin Yaozong, Zhao Bingzhong, and Zhou Xian, all bound like dumplings.

The three wealthy merchants and officials who had been pulling the strings from behind the scenes the night before now had ashen faces. Their mouths were stuffed with hemp gags, leaving them able to make only indistinct groans as Sha LiFei, Fatty Lin, and the others led them along with tough ox-tendon ropes, making them stumble forward with uneven steps.

What tugged at the heartstrings even more was the middle of the procession.

Ninety rescued boys and girls stood there. The oldest was barely over ten, while the youngest was only five or six. Like frightened little lambs, they wore tattered single-layer clothes and huddled in the middle of the group, carefully protected by Kong Shangzhao, Lu San, and the others.

The children's little faces were smeared with dirt, and the fear of the previous night still lingered in their eyes. Blown by the morning wind, they shivered uncontrollably.

The commotion was like cold water dripping into a cauldron of boiling oil.

Clang!

An old man selling spicy pepper soup at the street corner dropped the long-handled copper ladle straight into the pot. His cloudy old eyes bulged wide. "Old Heaven Grandfather! Isn't that Lord Zhou from the prefectural government? How did he get tied up?"

"Why are the soldiers with Lord Zhao and the others...? What is this, did they commit some crime?"

An old worshiper