Wu Sung defends his jailer’s son against a usurper and so offends the tyrant that he plots with General Chang to accuse Wu Sung falsely of a crime. Wu Sung kills the plotters and joins those at Double Dragon Mountain.

While on a visit to military magistrate Hua Yung, Sung Chiang is captured by the robbers of the Mountain of Clear Winds, but they recognize and welcome him. One of them, lustful Wang the Dwarf Tiger, captures the wife of a civil magistrate, Liu Kao. Hoping to please Hua Yung, Sung Chiang persuades Wang to release her. Later the woman, a troublemaker, identifies Sun Chiang as one of the robbers. Sung Chiang and Hua Yung escape to the Mountain of Clear Winds, and Liu Kao is killed.

General Ch’ing Ming comes against these robbers and is captured. Their plot to force him to join their band is successful. Liu Kao’s wife is recaptured and executed. Sung Chiang promises to get a wife for the disappointed Wang the Dwarf Tiger. The whole band decides to join those at Liang Shan P’o, but Sung Chiang is summoned home for the burial of his father. The report of his father’s death, however, turns out to be a trick to keep Sung Chiang from turning outlaw. Persuaded to stand trial for his mistress’s murder, he is branded and exiled. The trip is very eventful, involving many near escapes in encounters with robbers who later prove friendly. At his destination, Sung Chiang becomes a friend of his jailer, Tai Chung, who possesses magic enabling him to walk three hundred miles a day. Another friend, violent but loyal Li K’uei, causes much trouble, which Sung Chiang is able to smooth over. One day, Sung Chiang becomes drunk and writes revolutionary verses on a wall. Tai Chung, sent to a distant city to get execution orders, goes instead to Liang Shan P’o, where a letter is forged, freeing Sung Chiang. A mistake made in the seal, however, also results in Tai Chung’s death sentence. Both are freed from the execution grounds by the robbers. All go back to Liang Shan P’o, enlarging their group with additional robbers recruited along the way.

Sung Chiang sets out to bring his father and brother to the robbers’ lair. He is miraculously saved from capture by a temple goddess who gives great prophecies. The robbers take the Sung family to their lair. Kung Sun Sheng and Li K’uei go out to get their old mothers. On his journey, Li K’uei kills a false robber who pretends to be himself, but the impostor’s wife escapes. On the return journey, Li K’uei’s mother is killed by tigers. Li K’uei kills the tigers, but when he goes to receive the reward money, the impostor’s wife identifies him, and he is captured. Another of the band frees him, however, and they return to Liang Shan P’o.

Shih Hsiu opens a meat shop with the help of official Yang Hsiung. Shih Hsiu discovers adultery between Yang Hsiung’s wife and a priest. They kill the adulterers and escape. Later, they fall in with a thief, Shih Ch’ien, who causes a row and is captured in the village of Chu. In Liang Shan P’o, the robbers plan warfare against the Chu village; the others are, at last, victorious. Li K’uei, ignoring a pact between the robbers and the Hu village, kills all the members of the Hu household except the female warrior, the Ten-Foot Green Snake, who had previously been captured by the robbers. Later, she joins the robbers and marries Wang the Dwarf Tiger.

Robber catcher Lei Heng, after killing a courtesan, is allowed to escape to Liang Shan P’o by robber catcher Chu T’ung, who is, consequently, exiled. He pleases the magistrate, however, who wants Chu T’ung to look after his little son. By killing the little boy, the robbers force Chu T’ung to join them.

Li K’uei and Ch’ai Chin go to right a wrong; Ch’ai Chin is captured, and the robbers attempting to free him are repelled by their enemies’ magic. Kung Sun Sheng, now a hermit, is summoned; his magic finally enables the robbers to overcome the enemy and free Ch’ai Chin.

A fresh advance planned by Commander Kao against the robbers results in many useful additions to Liang Shan P’o when enemy leaders are captured and persuaded to change allegiance. The robbers of Double Dragon, Peach Blossom, and Little Hua mountains, after some difficulties of capture and escape, join those at Liang Shan P’o.

A stolen horse intended for Sung Chiang has been stolen again by the Chun family. Instructor Shi Wen Kung, who now possesses the horse, boasts that he will destroy the robbers. While leading his men, Chief Ch’ao Kai is mortally wounded. Before he dies, he asks that whoever captures Shi Wen Kung be named the new chief. A long period of mourning follows.

Rich and respected Lu Chun I is enticed to Liang Shan P’o in the hope that he will join them. Returning, he is arrested and imprisoned as a robber. His steward, now in possession of his wife and goods, plots to have Lu Chun I killed. Many events follow, including the near death of Sung Chiang, but finally the city is taken. The prisoners are freed and the adulterers killed. Lu Chun I refuses Sung Chiang’s offer to make him the chief.

The robbers capture additional soldiers sent against them and add many of the leaders to their ranks. Ch’ao Kai’s death is finally avenged in the conquest of the Chun family and of Shi Wen Kung, whose actual captor is Lu Chun I, who still refuses to become the chief. Since all the robbers wish Sung Chiang to remain the leader, he prepares a test. He and Lu Chun I each lead a group against one of the two cities remaining to be taken. The first to take his city will be the chief. After some reverses, Sung Chiang is successful. He then goes to the aid of Lu Chun I, who has been twice vanquished by warrior Chang Ch’ing. This general, finally overcome, is persuaded to join the outlaws. Sung Chiang receives a heavenly message in the form of a miraculous stone tablet that lists all thirty-six greater and seventy-two lesser chieftains who make up the robber band. All swear undying loyalty, wishing to be united forever, life after life.