Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Chapter 144: Heroes exert themselves to save all living beings; Zhi Shen recites scriptures to help

"Drag out everyone who can breathe!"

Chu Heng's roar shook the pine forest of Baodu Mountain. More than thirty bandits clad in iron armor rushed into Wangjia Village, their steel knives slicing through the bamboo fence of the threshing ground.

"Gods and Buddhas, please bless me, please bless me, please bless me—ah!"

The old village chief, trembling as he held the brass incense burner, praying to the gods for protection, was instantly cleaved in two by the enemy. His pale head rolled into the dried millet pile, and blood soaked through three bushels of grain.

These bandits under Tian Hu were actually wearing excellent iron armor, all of which were the official army's standard. Who knows how many government granaries they had looted! Or how many government soldiers' corpses they had pried these things off!

"You're wrong. Tie up all the healthy men who can still breathe, and drag the women out!"

Fang Qiong shook the blood off her spear and began to explain, then looked at the villagers chained together and grinned maliciously.

Men were needed for military service and labor, women were for sexual gratification, and as for the elderly and children... well...

A dozen or so boys were dragged out of the thatched hut. A lame boy struggled to protect his crying sister, but Chu Heng's spear tip shattered his kneecap.

"King Tian wants soldiers who can carry guns and people who can do the work. What use is a crippled good-for-nothing like you?"

Chu Heng raised his iron boot and stomped heavily on the boy's throat. The sound of bones shattering mingled with the girl's screams, echoing through the valley. The girl, whose brother had died, was thrown directly to his men by Chu Heng, and the young woman was immediately overwhelmed by a group of men...

Thick smoke rose from the east end of the village, and more than twenty thatched houses were engulfed in flames by the incendiary bombs.

Women carrying swaddled babies tried to escape the fire, but were shot dead by the bandits as live targets. There was no reason; it was purely a matter of killing.

A pregnant woman, wounded in the abdomen by an arrow, stumbled and fell into a well. Chu Heng's personal guards surrounded the well, laughing wildly, throwing in burning bundles of firewood, and shouting, "The well water will be perfect for heating wine for the brothers!"

Is someone like that even human?

Seventeen-year-old Wang Yan was chained to a grain cart and watched as his sister was dragged into the mill by three bandits.

The sound of coarse cloth being torn mingled with the braying of donkeys, until the blood seeping from the millstone as it turned stained the stone trough red...

When Fang Qiong's deputy used an iron hook to rip out his father's intestines, the farm boy finally understood why the hemp rope on the well platform in the neighboring village was always stained dark red!

Women were loaded onto the truck! All boys over eight years old were bound hand and foot and thrown into the cellar!

Chu Heng's military orders echoed through the fire. A woman holding an infant was forced by spears to throw her child off and climb onto an oxcart. A lame old man who had served in the army had just touched a wood-chopping knife when he was shot through the knee by a crossbow bolt. The bandits laughed and slapped three times on his wound.

In the ancestral hall of Luoguo Village, the ancestral tablets were piled up to form a bonfire. The firelight reflected the blood scabs on Fang Qiong's iron armor as he used the tip of his spear to count the prisoners, using a little girl's bib as a prong.

"what!"

Wang Yan cried out in grief and indignation. He was the only person in the village capable of resisting. He had learned archery and horsemanship since childhood and had just defeated four enemies, but he never expected that the enemy would use his sister as a hostage to force him to put down his bow and arrows...

As a result, these guys broke their promise, killed his father, and then...

At this moment, Wang Yan was only deeply resenting his own incompetence...

At this moment, the sound of a gong suddenly came from the east end of the village. Chu Heng squinted at the messenger rushing towards him through the dust. The man's expression was extremely excited, as if he had seen some treasure.

"Report! A group of seven men has been spotted about a mile northwest. They're all riding fine horses, and the leader is carrying a sword just like the one Chief Niu Wenzhong wields!"

Upon hearing this, Fang Qiong abruptly ripped off a silver necklace from her hand, picked up the crimson spear, and asked the man, "Did you see clearly? Was that a three-pointed, double-edged sword, and a precious one at that?"

"Exactly! It would be best if we could seize it and present it to Chief Niu Wenzhong."

Niu Wenzhong was the Privy Councilor under Tian Hu in the original novel. He came from the bandit world and used all the gold and silver he robbed to fund Tian Hu's rebellion and seize the prefectures and counties of the Song Dynasty. Therefore, he was given the official title of Privy Councilor.

This man was skilled in martial arts, wielding a three-pointed, double-edged sword. Niu Wenzhong, along with his subordinate officers, commanded 30,000 northern soldiers, defending Gaizhou, and was later killed by Lu Zhishen.

Tian Hu sent him to occupy Baodu Mountain and plunder grain and fodder. Chu Heng and Fang Qiong were his subordinates, and he also used a three-pointed double-edged sword as his weapon. So they wanted to take Li Hanxiao's sword to "pay tribute" to their superior.

"Leave fifty men to continue looting, the rest of you come with me to slaughter the fat sheep!"

Fang Qiong and Chu Heng led their men directly towards where Li Hanxiao and his group were, but they found something was wrong. The messenger had said there were seven of them, but now there were only five in front of them.

Never mind, just kill them first!

The two missing individuals were "Two-Headed Snake" Xie Zhen and "Double-Tailed Scorpion" Xie Bao. These two leaders, skilled in "special operations," had already followed Li Hanxiao's instructions and had not come with anyone, but had instead quietly infiltrated the village.

They infiltrated very quickly; before the fighting even started, they were already inside the village. When Jie Zhen's steel fork pierced the throat of the village sentry, the smell of blood was already so strong it was almost inescapable.

He lay prone behind the broken wall, watching the bandits stripping the dead of their clothes and armor twenty paces away, his teeth almost grinding to powder.

Jie Bao's deerskin boots touched the ground silently. The two brothers exchanged murderous intent as they looked at each other—three poisoned crossbow bolts pierced the air, and three bandits who were rummaging through valuables fell to the ground clutching their throats.

Meanwhile, Li Hanxiao was also facing off against the enemy, and even from this distance, he could smell the stench of blood in the village.

"Hey! All the heroes of Liangshan are here! You bunch of beasts!"

Seeing the tragic scene before him, "Flowery Monk" Lu Zhishen's eyes turned red. His deep roar shook the roof tiles, and he swept his 62-pound water-milled monk's staff across the room, making the first move.

Fang Qiong and Chu Heng did not expect that their original "prey" would make the first move. The three cavalrymen were smashed into mincemeat one by one by Lu Zhishen's immense strength, along with their horses.

"You beasts!"

Bian Xiang's Xuanhua axe cleaved through the enemy's armor, and Lu Zhishen followed suit, with limbs flying everywhere the axe blade passed.

"Kill the beast!"

Li Hanxiao's three-pointed double-edged sword flashed with silver light, and blood mist filled the air where the blade passed. In the blink of an eye, seven heads flew into the sky. However, "Blue-faced Beast" Yang Zhi did not draw his family's heirloom sword. In his eyes, these bastards were beasts. His family heirloom sword could kill people, but not animals!

Chu Heng's spear clashed with the monk's staff, sparks flying everywhere, and he almost fell headfirst off his horse!

"That bald monk is courting death!"

While being surprised by Lu Zhishen's true nature, he roared and urged his strength to resist, only to see Lu Zhishen's neck veins bulge, and his staff suddenly changed into "Qin King's Whip Stone", which actually bent the steel spear.

"Wow!"

Chu Heng was terrified when he saw the steel spear bent into a bow and arrow, and his hands, which had been shaken so badly that they had at least suffered soft tissue contusions. He turned his horse and ran away. He had never seen such strength in his life. Was this even human?

Li Hanxiao's three-pointed dagger drew a crescent-shaped arc in the midday sun. As the blade passed, the right wrists of three bandits wielding crossbows were severed at the root. He did not directly engage Fang Qiong and Chu Heng, knowing that his brothers would have no trouble dealing with these two beasts. His target was the ranged archers who were waiting for an opportunity to strike.

It's easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow in the dark. These things take advantage of weaknesses and are most likely to kill people. How could Li Hanxiao tolerate their audacity?

Bian Xiang also charged into the village, his Xuanhua axe sweeping across the horses' legs. Five warhorses neighed and fell to the ground, throwing the cavalrymen on their backs into the burning grain stacks.

Lu Zhishen's iron staff stirred up a bloody wind, and the 62-pound staff head smashed into the iron shield. The bandit holding the shield sank half a foot into the pit, and his head was smashed into his skull.

"Keep pushing forward, no retreating!"

Fang Qiong's roar was filled with terror. These people's fighting power was beyond imagination. The remaining eighty-odd bandits hurriedly retreated into the village, completely ignoring his orders.

At this moment, the Jie brothers emerged from the pine forest like ghosts. Jie Zhen's steel fork pierced the backs of two spearmen, and Jie Bao's hunting knife cut the ropes binding the people. The rescued men immediately picked up the farm tools on the ground and fought back to avenge their families.

Fang Qiong's iron spear suddenly stabbed at Jie Bao, who was trying to save him, like a venomous snake. At the critical moment, Lu Zhishen's staff came down from nowhere. The spear and staff collided and sparks flew. Fang Qiong staggered back seven steps and his tiger's mouth split open.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Bian Xiang rushed into the enemy formation. His great axe cleaved through three shields. When the axe blade embedded itself in the collarbone of the fourth bandit, he actually used one hand to remove the corpse from the axe, swung it up with one hand, and threw it out, knocking down five enemies.

Using people as weapons is a historical precedent, with only Dian Wei, the "Ancient Evil One," having done so!

"Go away!"

Li Hanxiao stopped Chu Heng, who was trying to escape. Neither of these two beasts would get away!

"Get out of the way!"

In his panic, Chu Heng drew his iron whip from his horse in an attempt to defend himself, but Li Hanxiao suddenly changed tactics. The iron chain at the end of the hilt wrapped around Chu Heng's iron whip, and with a sudden jerk of his wrist, he disarmed him.

Chu Heng hurriedly retreated, but his retreat was blocked by the steel fork of "Two-Headed Snake" Xie Zhen.

The moment the fork pierced his thigh, the bandit leader yelled, bit his tongue, and spat out a mouthful of blood, which landed on Xie Zhen's face, causing Xie Zhen's eyes to turn red and temporarily blind her.

"Go away!"

Jie Zhen wiped her face and immediately rushed forward. Together with Jie Bao, their pair of steel forks, like venomous snakes spitting their tongues, blocked Chu Heng's retreat from the left and right. Just as Chu Heng was about to leap backward, Bian Xiang's great axe had already chopped down his warhorse. The warhorse crashed to the ground, throwing Chu Heng off its back.

"what!"

Chu Heng was first thrown into a daze, then the two brothers, Erjie and Erjie, caught up and shouted, "Avenge our fellow villagers! Avenge them! Avenge them!"

Shouting, he swung his steel fork up and down like lightning, turning Chu Heng into a sieve.

"These bastards, leave no one alive!"

Li Hanxiao's shouts echoed across the battlefield. Lu Zhishen's staff deflected seven spears, and Bian Xiang's axe shattered a tiled wall, saving more than thirty elderly and weak civilians who were trapped inside and about to be burned to death by these bastards. They seized the opportunity and rushed out of the fire.

Fang Qiong blocked Li Hanxiao's blade with her spear, her tiger's mouth cracked from the impact, and she retreated repeatedly. At this moment, she could not care about anything else. Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Fang Qiong suddenly pierced through the collar of two children with her iron spear and used them as human shields by impaling them on the spear tip.

"One more step and it'll pierce right through!"

Fang Qiong's sinister laugh mingled with the children's cries as she pulled the two children to stand in front of her.

"Take another half step forward, and I'll chop those two bastards up first!"

His spear pressed a line of blood into the girl's neck, but he retreated rapidly toward his horse. His warhorse had been cut down by Yang Zhi, and now he was fighting on foot.

"Don't hurt the child!"

Li Hanxiao's pupils suddenly contracted, signaling everyone not to act rashly.

Just as Fang Qiong let his guard down, Li Hanxiao's three-pronged dagger suddenly flew out of his hand, grazing the girl's ear and precisely striking Fang Qiong's right shoulder, causing him to loosen his grip on the child's hand.

In a flash, Bian Xiang's axe flew out of his hand, the blade striking Fang Qiong's right wrist and knocking away the iron spear in his hand. Almost simultaneously, Jie Bao's arrow pierced Fang Qiong's left shoulder blade, and Lu Zhishen stepped forward and used his cassock to pull the two children to safety.

"Straight bitch!"

As Lu Zhishen rescued the child, he swept his staff across, sending the child flying three zhang (approximately 10 meters).

When Li Hanxiao caught the two children, Fang Qiong had already rolled down the hillside due to the recoil. Her blood, reflected in the waterfall of blood from Jie Zhen's steel fork piercing Chu Heng's throat, was unknown whether she was dead or alive.

"Chase!"

Seeing this, Jie Zhen and Jie Bao, unsure if he was dead or not, were about to give chase, but Li Hanxiao stopped them: "Saving lives is the priority."

Li Hanxiao pointed his three-pronged dagger at the still-burning village, where faint cries of infants could be heard amidst the thick smoke, and people everywhere in the village were being rescued!

Li Hanxiao's gleaming three-pointed double-edged sword had already cleaved through the black fog that shrouded the village. On the threshing ground where the smoke had cleared, Bian Xiang was using the back of his axe to break the shackles on Wang Yan's body.

Lu Zhishen's monk's staff was stuck in the scorched earth, with Fang Qiong's tattered general's flag hanging from the top. He clasped his hands together, wearing a blood-stained, flaming cassock, and silently recited scriptures to pray for salvation. Two tears even rolled down his cheeks.

"All sentient beings who are not yet liberated have unstable natures and consciousnesses. Evil habits lead to karmic consequences, and good habits lead to karmic results. Whether they do good or evil, they arise according to their circumstances. They transmigrate through the five realms without any rest..."

Li Hanxiao discovered that Lu Zhishen was reciting the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra. He hadn't even expected that this "flower monk" would actually be able to recite scriptures and chant Buddhist mantras.

Legend has it that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva vowed, "I will not become a Buddha until hell is empty." At this moment, Lu Zhishen recited Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's sutra, and Li Hanxiao was truly filled with emotion. Perhaps Lu Zhishen was not only helping the dying villagers find peace, but also helping those bandits burdened with countless karmic obstacles... and perhaps he was also helping himself find peace...

These two tears are for all living beings...

"Blue-faced Beast" Yang Zhi drew his ancestral sword and cleaved through the iron locks on the slave transport cart. More than twenty bound strong men knelt on the ground, weeping uncontrollably.

The Yang family's treasured sword will not kill animals, but will surely save people from fire and water!

The mountain wind, carrying the stench of blood, swept through Luoguo Town, where surviving residents searched for the remains of their loved ones amidst the ruins.

Wang Yan stood frozen in front of the mill, bow and arrow in hand. Bloodstained rags lay scattered among the haystacks beside the donkey's carcass. His sister was already…

When the Xie brothers hung Chu Heng's body on the old locust tree at the village entrance as a public display, the seventeen surviving farming families finally burst into suppressed sobs. Their cries reached the heavens and the underworld, their grief beyond words...