As soon as Liu Gang entered and saw the two sides evenly matched, he looked a little surprised.
He hadn't expected Zhao Han to have broken through.
But so what? He'd only just broken through. Compared with veteran gang members like Zhang Long and Zhao Hu, he was still far behind.
What a pity that the two of them had died such miserable deaths.
"I didn't expect you to have reached the Skin Refining Realm, Xiao Zhao. Not bad, not bad—and you're still so young. You could take my position as Leader someday."
"All right, that's enough. Everyone, come with me. Hall Master Wang of the Blood Snake Hall is waiting outside!"
Zhao Han stopped and clasped his hands in salute. The gang member across from him did the same.
Everyone immediately followed him out, only to find eighty people waiting outside.
This was the Blood Snake Hall of the Poisonous Snake Gang. Its Hall Master, Wang Hong, was a middle-aged woman whose face looked like that of a snake demon.
A scarlet little snake, about as thick as a thumb, was coiled around her shoulder. Its triangular eyes fixed on the crowd, making their scalps go numb.
It was clearly a highly venomous snake.
"Leader Liu, I've been kept waiting!" Wang Hong said with a cold laugh.
"Sorry for the wait, Hall Master Wang. Once we reach the mine, I'll punish myself with three cups!" Liu Gang dared not look Wang Hong in the eye for long. She was a vicious woman, even more ruthless than Li Dalong.
"Three cups won't do. Make it ten. Come on, let's see how that brat Li Dalong has been running the Refined Iron Mine."
The group set out, more than a hundred people in all.
When they reached the south gate, the county soldiers saw the crowd—and that their leader was Wang Hong, a Hall Master in the Muscle Refining Realm. They didn't dare stop them and immediately let them pass.
The Poisonous Snake Gang and the Black Wolf Gang were the two dominant powers in Blackwater County. Each had five or six hundred members, and they even dared to challenge the authorities.
The county soldiers weren't afraid of ordinary leaders, but they were terrified of Hall Masters.
That was the intimidating power of strength.
Nothing happened along the way. At around five in the afternoon, everyone arrived safely at the mine.
"I can't believe Wang Hong came in person. This is troublesome," Li Dalong said, his expression dark.
Wang Hu looked grim, too.
He'd thought Liu Gang would be killed by the Black Wolf Gang on the way, before he could even reach the county town.
But Liu Gang hadn't died. He'd even brought the Blood Snake Hall along.
What the hell was the Black Wolf Gang doing? A bunch of useless trash.
Wang Hong had come in person. Could it be that the Gang Leader knew he'd been secretly selling mine slaves to the Holy Cult and had sent her to investigate?
After all, the mine slaves were "dying" far too quickly. Repeatedly asking the Main Sect for more mine slaves was bound to expose him sooner or later.
"Have the kitchen prepare a good meal tonight. Cook that wild boar, too. I want to give Hall Master Wang and the brothers of the Blood Snake Hall a proper welcome," Li Dalong told Wang Hu, then stepped forward to catch up with Wang Hong.
The two seemed to get along, but in truth, they were both on guard against each other.
After returning to the mine, Zhao Han was promoted to elite gang member and even met Li Dalong.
Li Dalong's expression remained normal. An ordinary elite gang member wasn't worth his attention; right now, his main concern was dealing with Wang Hong.
Wang Hu and Wang Bao, however, looked unhappy.
They were thinking about how to make Zhao Han disappear by accident—or perhaps win him over with profit.
In any case, they couldn't let an outsider like Liu Gang use him.
As for the other thirty mine slaves, Liu Gang went back on his word.
He promoted only ten of them to gang members, assigning them to various posts to fill vacancies.
The other twenty were all sent back to the ranks of the mine slaves.
The twenty complained bitterly, and the news spread among the mine slaves, too. Liu Gang's credibility and reputation plummeted.
That night, the Refined Iron Mine was bustling with activity.
A grand banquet was laid out, with a full eighteen tables of food and wine. The kitchen was worked to exhaustion.
Even the mine slaves got a meal that was clean and sanitary, on par with what ordinary gang members usually ate.
Quite a few mine slaves sighed that it felt like New Year's. Now this was a blessing.
Compared with the chaotic world outside, where life was precarious, if mine slaves could eat like this every day, it wouldn't be so bad.
It was just that young mine slaves occasionally went missing under mysterious circumstances, which made the others a little uneasy.
After three rounds of drinks and five courses of food,
everyone was drunk and reeling. Only Wang Hong and Li Dalong, both in the Muscle Refining Realm, were still smiling as they drank.
Zhao Han drank only a little. Whenever he'd eaten a bit, he would leave to use the latrine.
In truth, he was practicing the Black Wolf Fist to increase his proficiency, while also digesting the food in his stomach.
After digesting some of it, he'd return to eat again. Then he'd leave once more.
Quite a few people noticed and assumed Zhao Han was impotent; otherwise, why would he keep going to the latrine?
Before long, the rumor had spread.
After the meal, everyone returned to their quarters.
The large dormitory for the elite gang members had been fairly empty before, but now it was packed with people.
The Poison Dragon Hall occupied one side, and the Blood Snake Hall the other.
The two sides didn't seem to get along.
The next day, Zhao Han rose early.
He didn't go to the mine tunnels to monitor the mine slaves at work. Instead, he did as he pleased, taking his throwing axe and long saber and heading to the woods in the east.
The wild boar had been mostly eaten at the banquet the night before, so today he had to go hunting and provide Li Dalong with more meat.
When he reached the woods, Zhao Han found that someone had gotten there before him.
They were three members of the Blood Snake Hall, apparently hunting as well.
But their prey wasn't wild animals. It was snakes.
They wore professional leather gloves to protect against snake bites, and their faces and eyes were protected, too. Even the tools in their hands were specially made for catching snakes. They were clearly professionals.
Their snake baskets each held nearly forty snakes. They'd caught a good haul in such a short time.
Zhao Han had a mischievous thought. Could Li Dalong like eating wild game, while Wang Hong likes eating snakes?
I couldn't find a chance to buy snakes when I was in the county town. I wonder if I can buy some from them now. I've still got one or two taels of silver; at market price, that should be enough for ten snakes.
Zhao Han had an idea and walked straight over.
The three men were all former hunters and highly alert. They immediately looked over.
When they saw that he was an elite gang member who'd recently been promoted in the Poison Dragon Hall, they relaxed a little.
"Gentlemen, catching snakes? How much are you selling them for?" Zhao Han asked with a smile.
The three exchanged glances but didn't answer him.
"No need to be so cold. I've got a tael of silver here. Would you sell me ten snakes?" Zhao Han said with a smile, taking out a tael of silver and waving it in front of them.
The sight of the silver clearly stirred them. Their eyes brightened, too.
As expected, money got things done.
"Our snakes are fresh. A tael of silver only gets you five!" the leading elite gang member said coldly.
"That works," Zhao Han replied after a moment's thought.
There was no use holding on to his silver now. Once his strength increased greatly, earning silver would be a piece of cake.
"Here!"
He handed over the silver, and the other man gave him five very small snakes. A fair and square deal, out in the open.
Each snake had its head and body tied with grass rope. One of them was a green venomous snake.
But the three men hadn't expected that, the very next moment, Zhao Han would draw his cleaver and hack all five snakes to death right in front of them.
"What—what are you doing?" the three cried in shock.
"Heh. I'm not very fond of snakes. Sometimes killing one helps me relax," Zhao Han explained with a smile.
A chill rose in the three men's hearts. This kid had such a bizarre peculiarity? No, it was more like he was sick in the head.
"Y-you really have an unusual way of relaxing," the leader said, frowning deeply, his voice full of confusion.
"By the way, the snakes are dead now, so I don't want them anymore. Could you give me my silver back?" Zhao Han asked with a beaming smile.
"What did you say? Give it—give it back to you?"
The three were stunned. Were they idiots, or was he?
He'd killed their snakes and still expected them to return his silver? In his dreams!
"I was joking. No need to get so worked up."
Zhao Han smiled, then dug out the five snake galls and left, without taking the snake meat.
The three exchanged glances, stepped forward, and put the snake meat into their baskets. Then they all cursed him as an idiot.
"Old Wang, are we really just going to let him go? He can casually fork over a tael of silver to buy snakes just to waste them. Maybe..." one of the men beside him said greedily.
"Exactly, Old Wang. Why don't we..." The other man made a throat-slitting gesture.
Old Wang narrowed his eyes, his face cruel.
"You're both right. An idiot like that is a menace to the Poisonous Snake Gang. The three of us could kill a newly promoted Skin Refining Realm fighter like him as easily as turning over our hands."
"It's still early. Let's hurry and cut him off."
"Heh heh heh!"
Greed seized all three men, and they immediately turned and chased after him.
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