Three Hundred and Thirty Taels of Silver

"Creak..."

Zhao Han channeled his strength and pulled. The bowstring kept drawing back.

It took four stone of force just to get started. Without four stone of strength, the bowstring wouldn't budge at all.

The servant was utterly stunned. He hadn't expected Zhao Han to be telling the truth. That one feat alone was enough to prove Zhao Han had the strength of the Muscle Refining Realm.

As the bowstring stretched, it finally formed a full moon.

A powerful aura filled the air, along with the Ironwood Hard Bow's terrifying, poised-to-strike force. The servant knew he had encountered an expert.

Yet he had never heard of anyone in Blackwater County who had reached the Muscle Refining Realm.

By the time Zhao Han had drawn the bow to its limit, he was exerting more than eight stone of force. He had reached the Ironwood Hard Bow's upper limit, which should have been over six hundred pounds.

He slowly eased the bow back and let out a breath. "Not a bad bow. How much?"

"C-customer, the Ironwood Hard Bow costs fifty taels of silver."

"Fifty taels? That's so expensive!" Zhao Han exclaimed.

Seeing that Zhao Han couldn't afford fifty taels, the servant didn't dare mock him.

"Customer, you get what you pay for. This Century-old Ironwood is valuable in its own right, and it takes a great deal of labor to shape and polish it into a bow. The bowstring is made of premium rhinoceros sinew, too..."

"I know. The bow is worth the price, but I don't have that much money right now. I wonder if your shop accepts goods in exchange."

The servant was taken aback. Goods in exchange?

That made sense. A Martial Artist of the Muscle Refining Realm might not have money on him, but he was bound to have plenty of valuable goods.

"I'll have to ask the shopkeeper. I can't make that decision myself."

"Then go ahead!"

Zhao Han waved him off, and the servant respectfully withdrew.

Seeing all the bows and arrows still in the shop, Zhao Han suddenly got a mischievous urge to take them all with the System Space.

The ten cubic meters of space could easily fit all the bows and arrows here.

But it was only a passing thought. Zhao Han wasn't that shameless.

The Jinshi Weapon Shop had no grudge against him. There was no need to do something that would hurt them;

if the Jinshi Weapon Shop ever crossed him, Zhao Han would definitely pay them a visit at night and make a Zero-Yuan Purchase.

Before long, a middle-aged man with a mustache, dressed like a merchant, came over and solemnly cupped his fists at Zhao Han.

"I'm Jin Sanyu, manager of the Jinshi Weapon Shop's Blackwater County branch. I hear you'd like to trade goods. May I ask what you're offering?"

"My name is Yan Zhao. I'm just a beast hunter."

"These are valuable things my brothers and I hunted in the mountains. It's not convenient to discuss them here. Let's find somewhere private." Zhao Han glanced around.

"Of course!"

Jin Sanyu led Zhao Han to a room. A maid served them tea and pastries, showing ample sincerity.

Zhao Han made no attempt to conceal anything. He rummaged through his cloth bundle and took out a Mountain Lord Heart, tiger penis, Tiger Gallbladder, and tiger tail.

These four items were the most valuable.

The moment he set them out, a powerful aura emanated from them.

Jin Sanyu was a man of wide experience. His expression changed at once. "Th-this is a tiger... No, this is a Mountain Lord's heart and limbs!"

"That's right. It came from a Mountain Lord. Shopkeeper Jin, how much would you offer for these four items?" Zhao Han asked with a smile.

A Mountain Lord was sure to fetch a good price, far more than an ordinary tiger.

"I'll need to examine them carefully." Jin Sanyu stepped forward and inspected each item.

Then his heart skipped a beat. "They're still warm! This Mountain Lord was killed very recently!"

But this man calling himself Yan Zhao surprised Jin Sanyu.

To kill a Mountain Lord, he must be a Bone Refining Realm expert. How had Zhao Han managed it?

He set aside his confusion for the moment. After all, the other man called himself a beast hunter, which meant he must have spent a lot of time in the mountains and surely had many powerful companions.

They made their living hunting ferocious beasts—and even mountain sprites and monsters.

It wasn't all that strange that they had gotten lucky and used their skills to kill a Mountain Lord as powerful as a Bone Refining Realm expert.

"Of these four items, the Mountain Lord's tiger penis is the most valuable. I can offer two hundred taels of silver for it!"

"Next is the tiger tail, worth eighty taels!"

"The Tiger Gallbladder is worth sixty taels!"

"And the heart, forty taels."

That came to a total of three hundred and eighty taels of silver. And these were only some of the Mountain Lord's parts—though they were also the most valuable.

If Zhao Han sold the Mountain Lord's entire carcass, it would probably fetch more than a thousand taels of silver.

"Brother Yan, are you satisfied with that price? Also, do you intend to sell all four items to the Jinshi Weapon Shop?" Jin Sanyu looked at Zhao Han, clearly hoping to buy the whole lot.

"That's right. They're no use to me sitting in my hands. I might as well trade them for silver and share it with my brothers," Zhao Han said casually.

Having landed such a big deal, Jin Sanyu was delighted. "Excellent. I'll have someone bring three hundred and thirty taels of silver, an Ironwood Hard Bow made of Century-old Ironwood, and thirty steel arrows."

"I'll throw in the thirty steel arrows as a gesture of friendship, Brother Yan. If you bring us more mountain goods in the future, the Jinshi Weapon Shop will buy them all, and I'll be sure to offer you a fair price."

"Of course, of course. Then I'll gratefully accept!"

He hadn't expected to make a little extra on the side.

The three hundred and thirty taels of silver were brought over quickly, along with a box of arrows carried by a servant and a finely made quiver holding thirty steel arrows.

"Shopkeeper Jin, I have other business, so I'll be going." Zhao Han took the arrow box and quiver, slung them over himself, and cupped his fists to Jin Sanyu.

"I'll see you out myself!"

"No need, Shopkeeper Jin."

After leaving the Jinshi Weapon Shop, Zhao Han walked for a while, expecting someone to follow him, but no one did.

It seemed his words had done the trick.

I'm not alone. I have brothers. That would make the Jinshi Weapon Shop think twice and keep them from provoking a Muscle Refining Realm expert whose origins were unknown.

"Ah, what a pity!" Zhao Han sighed.

In truth, he would have loved for the Jinshi Weapon Shop to cause trouble for him. Then he'd have an excuse—and could convince himself that it was all right to make a Zero-Yuan Purchase.

After all, Zhao Han was just an ordinary transmigrator. In his previous life, he'd been an ordinary man, too, but he still had principles of his own:

If no one crossed me, I wouldn't cross them; if anyone crossed me, I'd pay them back in full.

The Jinshi Weapon Shop hadn't made a move against him, so Zhao Han had no way to convince himself to make a Zero-Yuan Purchase on his own initiative.

What a pity. The Jinshi Weapon Shop just wasn't playing along.

Zhao Han found an empty alley, went inside, and opened the panel.

Basic Archery [Simplified, Unranked, Proficiency 0/100, use a good bow and arrows to hunt ten game animals]

"I'll have to do this alongside the Tiger Subduing Fist. There's an assessment this afternoon, so I'll go tomorrow. I'll have to ask Senior Brother Liang for leave again then."

After leaving the alley, Zhao Han strolled along the street. Since it wasn't noon yet, he wandered around to pass the time.

As he walked down one street, a stall selling calligraphy and paintings suddenly caught his eye.

The world was already in chaos, with people struggling to make it from one day to the next. It was strange enough that anyone was still selling calligraphy and paintings.

And there were even people waiting at the stall.

Zhao Han walked over and saw that the stall owner was a down-and-out scholar, busily painting a beautiful young woman in ink.

Several fine paintings were laid out on the table, proof that he was a skilled artist. There were landscapes, flowers and birds, scenes of everyday life, and even a large seafaring ship. Each painting held a peculiar meaning.

Zhao Han's attention was immediately drawn to the seafaring ship.

Not for any other reason, but because a wave in the painting crashed violently against the ship, tilting its hull. The tiny figures aboard looked utterly despairing, while the surging sea seemed to leap off the page.