town for getting rid of the man-eaters. The local rich man Squire Cao pretends to shower Li Kui with gifts. In fact, he has learnt from Li Gui's wife the identity of the tiger slayer. Li Kui is drugged and tied up. Constable Li Yun is sent from the county office with some guards to pick him up. Before they head back to the county, Liangshan's Zhu Gui (who has been sent by Song Jiang to keep tabs on Li Kui) and his brother Zhu Fu, an innkeeper and martial arts student of Li Yun, pretend to offer them refreshments. The guards are knocked out by the spiked drinks. Li Kui kills them but spares Li Yun in deference to Zhu Fu's plea. When Li Yun comes to, he sees he has no choice but to join Liangshan too. A number of heroes join Liangshan due to Li Kui. One of them is Zhu Tong, who finds himself incriminated after the young boy of a magistrate placed in his care is killed by Li Kui on a night when he took the kid outdoors. The killing was in fact ordered by Wu Yong, Liangshan's chief strategist, to force Zhu to join the stronghold. Li Kui is barred from going back to Liangshan as insisted by Zhu. He is left to stay in the residence of the nobleman Chai Jin. Then Chai is called to Gaotangzhou by his uncle's family as Yin Tianxi, a relative of the local prefect Gao Lian, wants to seize their mansion. Angry at the bullying, Li Kui beats Yin to death, resulting in the arrest of Chai Jin by Gao Lian. Li Kui flees back to Liangshan to report the incident. As Gao Lian is an expert in sorcery, Song Jiang sends Dai Zong and Li Kui to fetch Liangshan's magician Gongsun Sheng to fight him. Gongsun has not returned to the stronghold since leaving to visit his mother in Jizhou. Gongsun's teacher Taoist Luo refuses to let him go. So Li Kui steals into Luo's sanctum after nightfall and hacks off his head. He is surprised to find Luo alive the next day. Luo punishes Li Kui by sweeping him off to a magistrate office with a squall. He is locked up there as he is believed to be a demon from the sky. Luo finally takes him back and allows Gongsun to leave with