The Qinghe Gang has thousands of members and colludes with the government offices of Pingting and Qingtian Counties. Their influence spans the two counties and has long been entrenched in people’s hearts. To better manage this, and to prevent their subordinates from seeking personal connections through family and friends, the Qinghe Gang employs people from Qingtian County to manage affairs in Pingting County. Likewise, members from Pingting County are sent to oversee Qingtian County. Furthermore, the gang provides food and shelter to its members, whose families are grouped to live either in the cities of these two counties or within areas controlled by the Qinghe Gang. Fu Ze Village has no members of the Qinghe Gang. With their authority shrouded under the symbol of the tiger skin, the scar-faced man and his group dare to act audaciously. "Mother, Father, save me, save me..." Song Yan struggled frantically, but how could a malnourished and weak girl be a match for the scar-faced man? In no time, she was dragged into the house by him. "Yanzi, Yanzi..." The eldest daughter of the Song Family shouted desperately, striving to break free from the restraints of the Qinghe Gang’s minions, but all was in vain. She cast her gaze toward Liu Shu, who cowered in the corner, wishing he would intervene. But Liu Shu was scared senseless, seeming not to see the plight before him. The calamity of the home invasion, coupled with the cries and screams from the Song Family, quickly attracted many villagers, who felt pity in their hearts. After all, they were neighbors and knew each other’s backgrounds. Watching Song Tian’s family suffer such misfortune, it’s natural to feel sorrow for their plight. But at most, it’s just sympathy in their hearts. After all, even the noble martial artists dared not antagonize the Qinghe Gang. The eldest daughter glanced at the villagers outside, seeing no one come to their aid, and fell into despair. "I’ll fight you all..." Song Tian, once a butcher, had strength despite being old, his back bent by life’s burdens, spirits dulled, but his bones still unbroken. Seeing his family suffer such humiliation and hearing the cries from the master bedroom, Song Tian’s blood boiled uncontrollably. He grabbed a nearby chopping knife and struck the Qinghe Gang minion holding his eldest daughter on the shoulder. The minion immediately collapsed, blood gushing forth. As another minion showed signs of reaction, Song Tian’s chopping knife flew to his face. With a scream of "Ah," the minion fell. Only now did the other Qinghe Gang members react, charging in furiously. Song Tian, being old, couldn’t compare to the young men. Though he managed to take down two by surprise, he was soon overwhelmed and beaten to the ground, receiving a flurry of punches and kicks. Get full chapters from 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩·𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢·𝔫𝔢𝔱 "Father." Seeing this scene, the eldest daughter grabbed a piece of firewood and rushed forward. The sound of a knife scraping! The sharp blade pierced the eldest daughter’s belly, then withdrew, a jet of blood spurting out. The firewood from the eldest daughter’s hand fell to the ground, she looked down at the wound, and then tightly clutched it with her hands, but it was to no avail as her strength was drained away. She stared vacantly at the Qinghe Gang minion before her, then slowly moved her gaze toward the master bedroom, her eyes growing dim: "Yan... Yanzi..." Before finishing her words, she fell to the ground, silent. "Yun Niang..." Song Tian’s wife shouted gutturally, seeing her eldest daughter lying in a pool of blood. "I’ll fight you!" Song Tian’s wife struggled to stand and charged forward... Chen Mo smeared soot on Han Anniang’s face, and feeling still uneasy, he went to the cellar to fetch some food, placing it in plain sight. According to Zhang River’s earlier words, he had given all his surplus money to them to make them stop. That is to say, the search of the village wasn’t the main objective. The main goal was to extort some benefits. If that was the case, once they acquired benefits, they would promptly leave. Subsequently, Chen Mo buried his Tang Blade in the garden behind. After all, having weapons in a small village other than farm tools would arouse suspicion. Additionally, this Tang Blade was costly to make; Chen Mo feared it being taken. As for the Purple Sun Turtle’s shell, he had buried in the garden last night. Yet, even having done this, Chen Mo still felt unease. He glanced at his sister-in-law, whose delicate figure might stir thoughts. Chen Mo was not afraid of those searching the village, only worried about drawing the Qinghe Gang’s attention. As he pondered whether he should let his sister-in-law avoid the matter for a while, Zhang River, who had been watching outside, rushed in: "Brother Mo, something’s wrong, something happened at the Song Family." Upon hearing this, Chen Mo’s eyes narrowed, thinking for a moment, then said: "Sister-in-law, wait at home, I’ll go check." At this time, a circle had formed outside Song Tian’s house, all villagers from the same village. Outside the Song Family, chaos reigned, as villagers outside could see things inside the house smashed to bits, a bed mat overturned, leaving blankets and pillows strewn about. "Move aside, everyone move." Zhang River pushed through the crowd, allowing Chen Mo to advance. Chen Mo spotted a trail of blood outside extending to inside and toward the firewood shed. Upon reaching the shed, Zhang River gasped in shock, his mouth agape. There lay Song Tian, his eldest daughter, and his wife all in a pool of blood, Song Tian’s little granddaughter knelt beside her mother’s corpse, crying her heart out. Liu Shu cowered in the corner, lips trembling, uttering in voice quivering: "Don’t... kill me, don’t kill me." "Brother Mo, all... dead." Zhang River checked the three among the bloodstains, said. Chen Mo nodded, noticed someone missing, then hurried into the master bedroom. There lay a young girl on the bed, clothes barely cloaking her, body covered in bruises, with a ring of redness around her neck. Chen Mo stepped closer, finding her equally breathless. From the scene’s condition, it appeared she suffered inhuman abuse during life, then was strangled to death. Chen Mo covered her with a blanket, walking out of the room. Outside, waves of heated debates surged into Chen Mo’s ears. "The Song Family is truly tragic. Butcher Song, Aunt Song, and eldest daughter Yun Niang all met hardships." "Heard Brother Hu of the Qinghe Gang was killed, and their goods were robbed. Qinghe Gang issued orders for thorough investigation, and Song Family resisted during search, thus..." "For no reason, why did it become... sigh..." Every word pierced Chen Mo’s heart like needles. When he killed Brother Hu, he envisioned countless scenarios but never foresaw this. Judging from this, the Qinghe Gang’s search in the village was aimed at him, with the Song Family merely collateral damage. How could it be this way, how... Thinking of the three lying in the pool of blood in the shed, Chen Mo’s mood couldn’t settle; he wanted to scream but feared odd displays, fingers clenched into fists then slowly released. "Zhang River, where are they?" Chen Mo asked. "Brother Mo, they’ve already left." Back home, Han Anniang with her face smudged welcomed him. Seeing Chen Mo’s expression, she paused: "Uncle, what’s the matter?" Chen Mo walked past Han Anniang, to the garden to uncover the Tang Blade. "Brother Mo, what are you planning?" Zhang River stepped forward. Wiping dirt off the blade, Chen Mo’s stern face reflected on its surface, eyes sharp, voice cold: