Entering Blackwater County

"I don't have any copper coins, but I have plenty of silver."

Zhao Han took out an ounce of silver and, aiming at the gold the skeleton was holding, prepared to swap it.

But he quickly hesitated.

What if it comes back to life? What if the corpse reaches out and grabs me? What if I get corpse poison and how will I deal with it?

To be safe, Zhao Han took out his hook snake tool, preparing to hook the gold.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the hook reached the gold, the skeleton, which had been holding it, immediately clasped its hands together, gripping the ounce of gold tightly, like iron pincers.

"Damn it, it's not dead yet," Zhao Han cursed inwardly. Good thing I didn't reach out with my hand, or I'd be in trouble if it grabbed me.

If I got corpse poison, I wouldn't even have a place to cry.

"Do you really think I can't deal with you?"

Zhao Han took out lime powder from his System space, then took out clean water.

He sprinkled the lime powder onto the skeleton and then poured in the water.

"Ssssss..."

The surface of the skeleton instantly hissed, and even white smoke began to rise.

This was due to the excessive heat generated by the reaction.

As the lime continued to release heat, the skeleton actually began to shake, and its hands showed signs of loosening their grip on the gold.

Zhao Han, with quick eyes and hands, hooked the gold out with a single flick of his wrist.

Once the gold was hooked out, the chilling sensation greatly reduced. The weird's body, however, began to tremble, as if trying to stand up.

Zhao Han quickly threw the ounce of silver in his hand into the weird's palm. The weird immediately quieted down.

This so-called formation, the exchange of gold for silver, with silver subduing the weird, was thus broken.

Zhao Han clearly felt the surrounding coldness decrease significantly and the temperature rise considerably.

"Getting an ounce of gold for free, my luck isn't too bad," Zhao Han said with a relaxed smile, tossing the gold in his hand.

The skeleton in this graveyard, due to the formation, could be considered a minor weird.

It was a mindless, earthbound spirit type of minor weird.

Its resentment wasn't too strong, so it hadn't birthed a ghost soul with lingering grudges, making its threat not very significant. It could only use low-level weird techniques like ghostly wall.

Even an ordinary person could break the weird technique if they found the key point.

As long as it didn't encounter a weird that could materialize or develop self-awareness, meaning a weird with strong resentment, then it wouldn't be a big problem.

Taking the gold, Zhao Han re-wrapped the straw mat, placed it back into the grave pit, and then covered it up.

This weird spot was now considered a wasted grave.

As for the skeleton's life, it was likely that of an ordinary person, as the straw mat could prove its identity.

As for why it was used in a formation, that was unknown. Perhaps it had offended someone.

Carrying the gold, Zhao Han continued forward. This time, he didn't encounter any more ghostly walls.

Finding a tree hole, Zhao Han hid inside to rest for the night, planning to set off again in the morning.

Before, he had pretended to head south in front of the mine. He wondered if that could fool the people at the mine. It probably could.

And indeed, that was the case.

News of Wang Bao's death and Wang Liang's death spread throughout the mine. The culprit was Zhao Han, who had just been promoted to elite gang member.

This infuriated Li Dalong. Wang Bao was his confidant, a subordinate he relied on heavily.

He immediately ordered Liu Gang to find them, dead or alive. If he couldn't catch them, he would strip Liu Gang of his leadership position.

Liu Gang was forced to work late into the night, leading over twenty men to pursue Zhao Han along the southern official road.

Since it hadn't rained, the ground was not muddy and there were no footprints. Liu Gang didn't realize he had been tricked.

Moreover, Blackwater County was the base of operations for the Poisonous Snake Gang. By normal logic, Zhao Han wouldn't run towards Blackwater County.

Otherwise, it would be like escaping one wolf den only to fall into a tiger's mouth.

As dawn broke, Zhao Han, having only slept for three or four hours, had to get up and continue his journey.

He took out the flatbread and water from his System space, eating and drinking as he walked.

During this time, he practiced Black Wolf Fist ten times.

After walking for about three hours, Zhao Han arrived outside Blackwater County.

He surveyed the county gate. It seemed there were no hidden sentries from the Poisonous Snake Gang monitoring the area.

Only county soldiers were collecting entrance fees from the surrounding villagers.

Looking at his clothes, Zhao Han smeared some dirt on himself from the ground and messed up his hair.

But the entrance fee posed a problem for Zhao Han.

He only had silver and gold, no copper coins.

He wasn't foolish enough to hand over silver for the city entrance fee.

"Forget it, let's see if I can fool them with some food."

Taking out two flatbreads from his System space, Zhao Han tucked them into his chest and slowly hunched his back as he walked towards the city gate.

He arrived at the very end of the line and patiently waited.

A few minutes later, it was Zhao Han's turn.

The county soldier looked down his nose at Zhao Han, waiting silently.

It was clear he was expecting Zhao Han to pay the fee.

Zhao Han put on a pitiful expression and pleaded with all his might:

"Officer, I was robbed by mountain bandits, and all my money was stolen. I have no choice but to come to Blackwater County to seek refuge with relatives. Can you be lenient and let me in?"

"Hmph, this is the law of the Great Zhou Kingdom. Everyone, even dogs, must pay a three-copper entrance fee to enter the city. If you don't have money, scram back where you came from, lest you waste our time collecting fees."

The county soldier at the gate waved Zhao Han away as if he were swatting a fly.

Wanting to enter the city without money was a pipe dream.

Zhao Han felt a deep sense of sorrow. So the entrance fee was a Great Zhou law. That explained why the world was in such chaos.

You had to pay just to enter a city; if this wasn't chaos, what was?

"Sir, I have two flatbreads here. This is all the food I have. I'll give them all to you. Please, be kind and let me in."

Zhao Han took out the flatbreads with a look of 'helplessness' and handed them over.

"This, this isn't impossible. Hand them over!"

The county soldier's eyes lit up. The flatbreads were quite large, each one comparable to two yellow steamed buns.

A yellow steamed bun cost one copper, but recently the price had increased to two coppers.

Two flatbreads were worth eight coppers, a gain of five coppers for free.

He immediately snatched the flatbreads and moved aside.

Zhao Han thanked him profusely, "Thank you, sir, thank you, sir!"

"Hurry up and get lost, don't stand here blocking me from collecting entrance fees."

"Yes, yes, yes... Understood!"

After entering the city, Zhao Han found an alley, tidied his clothes, and then went to a clothing store. He bought a set of black tight-fitting clothes and put them on.

He also washed his hair with the cold water from the water vat in the store's backyard. In an instant, he transformed from a beggar into a young martial artist.

"Clothes make the man, and a saddle makes the horse." When Zhu Yuanzhang wore fine clothes, he was no longer Zhu Chongba. Zhao Han deeply understood this saying.

He glanced at himself in the boss's bronze mirror. Zhao Han was quite satisfied with the black tight-fitting outfit, even though the price was a bit steep, costing a full five qian of silver.

One qian was one hundred wen, so five hundred wen in total.

The price of clothes was much higher than that of food.

After all, ancient clothes were often passed down for three generations; the clothes remained even after the person was gone.

This referred to both the quality of the clothing and the frugality of the common people.

"Boss, excuse me, do you know if they sell pythons in the city?"

Zhao Han's question was so shocking that it startled the boss.

"You, you want to buy a python?" the boss stammered.

This was the first time he had ever heard such a request.

Were pythons easily found?

Even if you could buy one, could you afford it?

"That's right. Excuse me, boss, do you know?"

"I've never heard of such a thing. I only know there are a few places selling wild beasts at the East Gate, and there are many snakes, even poisonous ones. I've never seen a python, though."

"Thank you then."