When asked about the cause of the fire, Mr. Zhang looked bewildered: "I don't know what happened. These two families suddenly caught fire, and not a single person managed to escape. It must be because they drank too much at the end of the year and didn't put away the candles properly."

Song Liyun's heart skipped a beat. Without saying anything more to Old Man Zhang, she left the crowd and climbed over the courtyard wall in a place where no one was paying attention.

At this moment, the cotton curtains on the doors and windows of Xue Zhuang's house were already surrounded by flames, and the dry wood could be heard crackling as it burned.

The room was deathly silent. Song Liyun took out a fire extinguisher, put it on her head, and rushed into the sea of ​​fire.

Thick smoke billowed from the room, and the tables, chairs, and benches were all on fire. A person could be vaguely seen curled up on the kang (a heated brick bed), lying motionless, with a very petite figure.

Song Liyun felt a chill in her heart. Could it be that Xu Yan'er was dead?

She hated this woman.

But to say there's any deep-seated hatred involved wouldn't be accurate.

Especially after Xu Yan'er was beaten by him in the street, she basically avoided him whenever she saw him.

There was no one else in the room; Xue Zhuang was not there.

Song Liyun stepped forward and touched the person on the kang (a heated brick bed). The person was only unconscious, but still breathing.

If he didn't save her, Xu Yan'er would either be burned to death or suffocated by the thick smoke.

Hearing the commotion outside, Song Liyun's heart stirred.

She took all four corpses out of the space and threw them into a corner of the room, then added some firewood on top of the corpses before carrying the person on the kang (a heated brick bed) and slipping out of the room.

The fire raged on the house, and it finally collapsed...

Another house caught fire, but several people were standing in the yard.

Xue Zhuang's face was contorted with rage, covered in soot, his hair was singed, and his clothes were burned beyond recognition.

He was bound and lying on the ground, cursing angrily: "You bandits, you are all heartless and deserve to die a horrible death."

He was so angry he gritted his teeth.

He was at home when Jin Sanzhong brought his men over. They took advantage of his momentary lapse in attention, knocked him down, and then knocked Xu Yan'er unconscious and set the house on fire.

Jin Sanzhong slumped over with a bloodied arm, kicked Xue Zhuang, and sneered, "Weren't you always showing off because you're from the garrison? Now you're getting cocky!"

Xue Zhuang's eyes widened in fury: "I'm going to kill you all!"

The other two men walked over with knives in hand: "Jin Sanzhong, stop talking nonsense, we're going to pick up Tang Xiang and the others."

The town of Broken Gold is poor now. They looted several houses but only found a dozen or so taels of silver.

Fortunately, that wasn't the purpose of this trip. As long as we succeeded with Tang Xiang, we could sell the people for a good price by sending them to places with large estates.

Jin Sanzhong spat at Xue Zhuang again before turning to the other side: "What should we do with these people? We can't take them with us anyway, so let's just kill them all!"

In a corner of the courtyard wall, there were five or six young men, but they were all bound hand and foot, their faces filled with terror and horror.

One of them shouted, "Jin Sanzhong, it was you who colluded with the bandits and brought the Di tribe here back then. Now that the garrison has been attacked, it's you again, you ungrateful bastard, who stabbed us in the back. We'd rather go to hell than let you go."

Jin Sanzhong didn't object. He simply walked to Huang's side, lowered his voice, and whispered with a sinister smile, "Master Huang, don't think I don't know you took advantage of me and cuckolded me. I'm just waiting for the right opportunity to kill you."

When Huang Changsheng realized that his actions had been discovered, he was horrified: "Your wife was starving, and I was saving her."

"Save her? I'd rather starve than let you save her!" Jin Sanzhong roared, and without hesitation, plunged a short knife into Huang Changsheng's heart.

Huang Changsheng's eyes bulged instantly, and after a futile twist of his body, he lay limply down.

The men nearby were terrified. They didn't know why Kim Sam-joong had suddenly killed someone. They cursed and swore, but their bodies trembled uncontrollably.

The fear of death is an instinct.

Although they longed to pounce on the bandits in front of them and bite them, their hands and feet were bound, and they saw people dying right in front of them, so they were naturally afraid.

Kim Sam-jung pulled the knife from Huang Changsheng's body and looked coldly at the group: "You all look down on me..."

Before he could finish speaking, he heard two thuds from Xue Zhuang's side, followed by two screams.

Jin Sanzhong suddenly went back and saw Lai Zi and the man Tang Xiang had brought lying on the ground.

They were knocked to the ground by two wooden stakes the size of bowls and were scrambling to their feet.

Song Liyun climbed onto the top of the wall, threw down two pieces of firewood, and immediately flipped down the wall, landing next to Xue Zhuang.

With a flick of the knife in his hand, he severed the rope binding him.

Xue Zhuang was still in shock at this moment.

Just as the two men were about to throw themselves into the fire, they were knocked over by a thick wooden stick that suddenly came flying at them.

Seeing Song Liyun cut the rope again, he was overjoyed, as if he had been reborn.

This is not the time to speak.

Song Liyun had already left him behind and rushed forward, picking up the knife that had fallen from the ground, and asked in a deep voice, "Xue Zhuang, can you still use a knife?"

"able!"

Xue Zhuang rolled over and caught the knife.

Shame, anger, lingering fear, terror, and guilt fueled his inner turmoil, along with thoughts of his young wife who had perished in the fire...

Even if that woman was immature, he still married her with all his heart.

With his broadsword in hand, Xue Zhuang instantly transformed into a mad dog, killing the panicked Lai Zi with three slashes and forcing the bandits brought by Tang Xiang into the fire with five more.

This sudden turn of events left Kim Sam-jung momentarily stunned. By the time he regained his senses, a knife was already at his neck.

A shrill voice whispered in my ear: "You have a path to heaven but choose not to, you have no way to hell but insist on coming here!"

Jin Sanzhong's head exploded with a buzzing sound, his legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.

These words were like a curse, constantly echoing in his ears, making him restless every night.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!