All the gods began by cultivating the Iron Shirt technique.

Clang! The sound of metal clashing rang out, and Zhao Lei turned his head to see Yang Pan blocking the long knife that the Qingshan Gang members were about to slash at him.

"Junior Brother Yang, thank you!"

Yang Pan did not respond, his expression grave as he looked at the Green Mountain Gang members who continued to surround and attack. In the previous exchanges, he had already realized that these people were not as strong as him, and their swordsmanship was also haphazard, far inferior to his and Zhao Lei's.

However, the opponent's sword strikes revealed a fierce and ruthless edge, clearly indicating that he was not lacking in combat experience, which was Yang Pan's weakness.

However, he wasn't intimidated. These Green Mountain Gang members were clearly there to kill, and even if he begged for mercy, they probably wouldn't let him go. Besides, he hadn't spent the past year practicing martial arts so hard; he wasn't there to kneel and beg for mercy. This fight was a good opportunity to improve his combat experience.

call!

The long sword sliced ​​through the air; a year of swordsmanship training had given him muscle memory, and he slashed straight down at a Green Mountain Gang member who was charging at him.

when!

As the weapons clashed, the Green Mountain Gang member felt a powerful force coming from his arm, almost knocking the long sword out of his hand.

"This idea is tricky, brothers, bring a few more!"

Seeing that they were outmatched, the Green Mountain Gang members hurriedly retreated away from Yang Pan, shouting to call for more help. But Yang Pan wouldn't give them the chance. He didn't have much combat experience, but he knew that in this situation, if you caught a sheep, you had to squeeze it hard and not give the other side a chance to breathe.

Whoosh!

Yang Pan unleashed a dozen or so basic sword techniques in quick succession, chasing after the Green Mountain Gang members and giving them a thorough beating.

In an instant, the sounds of weapons clashing rang out one after another. Faced with this storm of slashes, the members of the Green Mountain Gang could only rely on their experience to barely defend themselves. However, Yang Pan's strength was too great. After blocking only three or four blows, the members of the Green Mountain Gang could no longer hold onto their long swords and they fell to the ground.

"not good!"

With a gasp of alarm, the man was about to retreat further when Yang Pan's next stab pierced his chest.

*Pfft!* Scalding hot blood gushed out from between the flesh and the long knife, and Yang Pan could feel the temperature of the blood on his hands.

With a thud, Yang Pan kicked the corpse aside. He had no time to feel any emotion from killing, because more members of the Green Mountain Gang had already surrounded him.

"Junior Brother Yang, run!"

At this moment, Zhao Lei, who had been standing with him, roared. After their struggle, the two had managed to fight their way out of the encirclement.

Without the slightest hesitation, Yang Pan suppressed the urge to fight head-on, grabbed his knife, and fled with Zhao Lei through the gap. The Green Mountain Gang members behind them wanted to give chase, but East Street was too chaotic at the moment, with Qin family guards, Green Mountain Gang members, and fleeing civilians all mixed together.

It was impossible to tell who was who. Blood gradually soaked into the cracks between the bricks of the street. A peasant who had been robbing grain lay unwillingly on the roadside. Perhaps he did not expect that what he thought would be just another riot would turn into a brutal killing in an instant.

Torches discarded to the side set fire to some shops, their orange glow making the shadows of people on the street appear distorted like demons.

......

On the outskirts of the county town, near the city wall, lies a cluster of simple wooden houses. Compared to the utterly chaotic East Street and the gradually spreading town center, this area is remarkably quiet at night.

As a notoriously impoverished area in the county, it is a place that even the Green Mountain Gang, a group of thugs, are unwilling to set foot in, except for the struggling lower-class people who are trying to survive.

Tread!

Suddenly, the tranquility was shattered by several hurried footsteps. Yang Pan and Zhao Lei, disheveled and ignoring their wounds, rushed towards the foot of the city wall not far away. That was the place where Senior Brother Huang had arranged for them to evacuate. The agreed departure time was midnight tonight, but unexpectedly, they encountered the Green Mountain Gang directly fighting the Qin family. Fortunately, the two of them managed to escape.

"A bunch of lunatics! Have those thugs from the Green Mountain Gang gone mad? They're just robbing people of food and killing people in the street, damn it!"

Upon arriving at the agreed-upon location, Zhao Lei could no longer contain his anger and cursed. Even though he had been practicing martial arts for a longer time, this was the first time he had faced a situation like this, and his voice trembled slightly after escaping death.

"It's probably premeditated. These people have been making more and more noise, and tonight's action is probably planned. It's likely that the Xu family is going to take action against Master Qin and his group."

Yang Pan gasped for breath, tearing off the hem of his robe to bandage the several slash wounds on his arms. Although he had killed quite a few people before, he had only been practicing martial arts for a year, and injuries were inevitable when surrounded and attacked. Fortunately, the wounds were not deep, and the bleeding was minimal, so it wasn't a serious problem.

"Let's wait here. With such a commotion, Senior Brother Huang and the others should arrive ahead of time." After bandaging up, Yang Pan picked up his long sword and walked around the base of the city wall, his eyes surveying the height of the wall.

Now that the county town is sealed off, going through the city gate is definitely out of the question; he has no choice but to climb over the wall. The Tongjiang County city wall is only a little over three meters high, and with his current physical strength, he could barely manage to climb it by running and using the wall for leverage.

However, what puzzled Yang Pan was that there wasn't a single soldier patrolling the city walls tonight. It had been strange when he arrived; ever since the magistrate sealed off the city, soldiers had been patrolling the walls every night. Even though the patrols were spaced out due to manpower shortages, there should still be people around. Yet now, he saw not a single soldier.

Although he had doubts, Yang Pan didn't think much of it. It was better if no one was around; it would be easier for them to climb over the wall and leave later.

Time passed as they waited, and the commotion in the county grew louder and louder. Gradually, Yang Pan and Zhao Lei, who were standing by the wall, could hear the sounds of fighting and screams coming from inside the county.

As the two waited with increasing tension, finally, a series of disordered footsteps approached from afar.

Yang Pan and Zhao Lei immediately stood up, gripping their long swords tightly, ready to defend themselves. Just as the footsteps drew closer, a familiar voice rang out first.

"Are they Junior Brother Yang and Junior Brother Zhao?"

"Senior Brother Shi?!"

Upon hearing the voice, Yang Pan and his companion relaxed, their eyes already seeing several dark figures approaching in the moonlight. Only when the group drew closer could they make out who they were: Huang Hui was leading the group, followed by Shi Yingfeng and another figure.

"You've finally arrived. Junior Brother Yang and I have been waiting for quite a while." Zhao Lei's tone relaxed considerably upon seeing his familiar fellow disciples. Yang Pan, standing beside him, did the same, but after glancing at Shi Yingfeng and the others, he noticed that two people were missing.

"Where are Senior Brother Liu and Senior Brother Wang? Didn't they come?"

Among the guards of the Qin residence, Yang Pan and Zhao Lei were assigned to the third team, while the rest were in the last team. Therefore, only Yang Pan and Zhao Lei went out tonight, while Shi Yingfeng and the other senior brothers stayed behind to guard the Qin residence. Logically, they should have come together, but now two of them are missing.

"Junior Brother Liu and Junior Brother Wang can't come. While you were out dealing with the Green Mountain Gang, the Xu family led a group to attack. Among them was Liu Zhong, who had also cultivated internal energy. Junior Brother Wang and the others were killed on the spot."

Shi Yingfeng's tone was low. He also had many wounds on his body, which clearly showed that it was extremely difficult for him to escape from the Qin residence.

"Alright, let's talk about this after we leave. It's too dangerous in the county town right now," Huang Hui interrupted their somewhat somber mood, speaking in a serious tone.

The group exchanged glances, said nothing more, and went together to the base of the city wall. Although they were all tall and strong, they still appeared short against the more than three-meter-high wall.

"I'll go up first to scout ahead, and I'll let you know when everything's alright," Huang Hui said to Yang Pan and the others after surveying the height of the city wall.

Without taking a step back or running back, he squatted down, bent his knees, and with a burst of strength from his legs, his entire body lifted off the ground.

Whoops!

His robes fluttered in the wind as Huang Hui used this jump to leap directly to the middle of the city wall. He then kicked the wall with one foot and used the momentum to rise again, landing directly on top of the wall.

Gum!

Yang Pan felt a dryness in his throat. Even though he already knew about the wonders of internal energy, seeing Huang Hui easily break the world record for jump before his transmigration still made his heart burn.

"There's no problem here, junior brothers, come on up quickly." A moment later, Huang Hui's voice came from the city wall.

Suppressing his desire for internal energy, Yang Pan turned and exchanged glances with his fellow disciples. Then, they all stepped back and took a running start. After jumping from the base of the wall, they used their feet to gain momentum and climbed a short distance. Once they reached a suitable height, they reached out and grabbed the edge of the wall to begin climbing.

......

"Phew! We're up. Let's go, let's get out of here quickly." On the city wall, the group looked back at the county town where the sounds of fighting could be faintly heard, and finally felt completely relieved.

After taking one last look behind them, the group prepared to jump off the city wall and leave.

"No, look, there seem to be people outside the city!"

Suddenly, Huang Hui's voice rang out. Everyone looked in the direction Huang Hui was pointing and saw a figure staggering towards the county town in the open field outside the city wall.

At first, the figure was quite far away, and the people couldn't see it clearly. It wasn't until the person got closer that they could see it clearly. It was a person dressed in tattered clothes and covered in blood, but the person was so dirty that it was impossible to tell whether they were male or female.

"Why would anyone come at this time? They seem to be refugees," Shi Yingfeng said.

However, no one answered him at this point, because as the refugee appeared, more figures emerged behind him, dressed the same as the refugee in front of him, and some were even more wretched.

As more and more figures emerged from the open fields outside the county town, a tremor also came from the ground in the distance.