The Martial Saint begins by collecting corpses.

On Qingshui Street, Lu Ming walked calmly with Monkey and two others.

Lu Ming's eyes showed a hint of disappointment. He had destroyed the Blackwater Gang's stronghold and completely wiped it out, but he hadn't found much silver, only about ten taels.

It seems that Sun Dazhi has kept most of the money on himself.

That's true. The Blackwater Gang is just a low-level gang, only able to bully ordinary people. How much money could they possibly have?

He stole more than thirty taels of silver from everyone in the Blackwater Gang, which was already quite a good amount.

In Heishui County, an average family earns only a few taels of silver a year.

With money, Lu Ming felt more confident. He was thinking about whether he should go to a clothing store to buy a few decent clothes before going to seek refuge with the county magistrate.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of horses' hooves ahead. He looked up and his pupils contracted slightly.

Three men rode up on tall horses. The one leading them was dressed in fine clothes, holding the reins in one hand and a folding fan in the other, looking every bit the young master. It was none other than Zhao Meng!

The two men behind him were dressed in black, with sharp eyes and an imposing presence.

At this moment, the two sides met face to face, and Lu Ming immediately felt a sense of oppression coming from Zhao Meng and the other two, which made him secretly alarmed.

He hadn't thought much of it before he started practicing martial arts, but now that he was facing these three, he immediately knew they were martial artists, and their cultivation far surpassed his own.

"Whoa!" Zhao Meng reined in his horse and stopped in front of him. Sitting high on his horse, he looked down at Lu Ming and the others who rushed forward to protect Lu Ming. He smiled slightly and said:

"You guys came from the end of Clearwater Street. I wonder if you heard anything coming from the Blackwater Gang's residence?"

Lu Ming, whose expression had been somewhat tense, paused slightly upon hearing this, then immediately replied:

"There are often noisy noises coming from the Blackwater Gang's place, just now too, but I don't know if that counts as noise."

"Okay, thanks." Zhao Meng nodded slightly, spurred his horse and continued forward, the sound of three hooves quickly heading towards the end of Qingshui Street.

"Let's go." Lu Ming winked at Monkey, Wolf, and the others. At this point, they didn't care about whether their clothes were decent or not, and the four of them quickly headed towards the county government office.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Ah Lang asked, somewhat puzzled, during their journey.

Lu Ming gritted his teeth slightly, a hint of hatred flashing in his eyes, and said:

"That person is Zhao Meng."

"What?" Wolf, Monkey, and Tiger all paled. "This, this..."

The three exchanged glances, each seeing the lingering fear in the other's eyes. What if they had been recognized just now…

Lu Ming was secretly relieved. He had seen Zhao Meng dealing with other corpse collectors when he returned home after collecting the bodies, which was why he recognized him.

He was injured earlier, and it was Zhao Meng who sent his men to help him. So although Zhao Meng knew him, he didn't recognize him.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Meng rushed to the Blackwater Gang's residence at this time and asked him if he had heard any noise coming from inside.

This made Lu Ming somewhat suspicious that Zhao Meng had sent his own people to secretly watch over Hei Shui when he asked Hei Shui to do things for them. That's why he knew about Sun Dazhi's incident immediately and rushed over to clean up the mess.

This person isn't a complete fool; he's got some skills.

Lu Ming's expression was somewhat solemn. He possessed the Heavenly Heart Seal, and given time, his future was limitless. Zhao Meng would be surpassed by him sooner or later.

But what he needs most right now is time. Hopefully, things will go smoothly with the county government.

While they were pondering, the four of them arrived at the street where the county government was located. In front of them stood a mansion with a high wall that stretched across half the street, which was extremely impressive.

However, upon closer inspection, the wall surface was somewhat mottled, with many places covered in cobwebs, suggesting it hadn't been maintained for a long time.

The gate of the county government was half open, with two loosely dressed guards standing at the entrance.

"This?" Ah Lang frowned and whispered, "Big brother, is this place reliable?"

Lu Ming said, "Don't underestimate a feudal lord."

He then led the three of them to the door.

Upon seeing this, one of the taller guards immediately stepped forward and reprimanded him:

"Go away, go away! You've come begging in front of the county magistrate's door. Go beg somewhere else."

Big Tiger glared at him: "We're not beggars."

"What do you want?" The two guards immediately drew their knives.

At this moment, they also noticed that the monkey and the others were either carrying sickles or carrying poles. Although they seemed to have been washed, they still smelled faintly of blood, and their expressions became wary.

Lu Ming quickly took out two pieces of silver he had prepared and stuffed them into the hands of the two men, saying:

"Please don't be angry, gentlemen. My brother here is a bit impulsive. He just got into a fight with Sun Dazhi from Qingshui Street and knocked him down. He's still in high spirits. Please bear with him."

"Sun Dazhi?" The tall gatekeeper's expression changed slightly. "Sun Dazhi from the Blackwater Gang?"

Sun Dazhi is a martial artist. There are only a handful of martial artists in Heishui County. Even the lowest-ranking martial artists are considered unapproachable by ordinary people.

Lu Ming nodded and said:

"It is him. I also heard that Chief Steward Li of the County Government is righteous and hates evil. After we defeated Sun Dazhi, we took down the Blackwater Gang and wanted to come and ask Chief Steward Li for a drink. I hope you two brothers can inform him."

The tall gatekeeper and the other gatekeeper exchanged a glance, weighed the silver in their hands, and pondered for a moment:

"Alright, I'll go in and inform them, but I can't guarantee whether the steward will see you."

Lu Ming laughed and said, "Of course."

The tall gatekeeper nodded, turned and went into the county government office, and came out a moment later saying:

"The steward has agreed to see you, but only you can go in."

Lu Ming said, "Thank you."

He then told the monkeys and the others to wait outside.

Lu Ming entered the county government office alone. Led by a tall gatekeeper, he arrived at a side hall and met Chief Steward Li of the county government office.

After bringing Lu Ming to the gate, the guard went back.

Only Lu Ming and Steward Li were in the side hall.

Lu Ming took a look and saw that this Steward Li Xiu was in his early forties, sitting upright in the main seat. He had two goatees on his chin, and his eyes looked Lu Ming up and down, appearing quite shrewd.

His face quickly darkened:

"You are the vicious man who killed Sun Dazhi, and you still want to show off in front of me? You have committed a capital crime."

Lu Ming felt a chill run down his spine, knowing that Li Xiu must already know what had happened on the Blackwater Gang's side.

He quickly perked up; he had indeed come to the right place. Although the county government appeared to be in decline, it still secretly possessed considerable power and was biding its time.

He had taken thirty-five taels of silver from the Blackwater Gang, and had just given two taels to each of the two gatekeepers, leaving him with thirty-one taels.

At this moment, he took out a twenty-tael silver ingot, stepped forward, and presented it with both hands, saying:

"How dare I? My name is Lu Ming, and I am merely a corpse collector. I have managed to figure out some methods to deal with ghosts and zombies."

"Recently, the number of times bodies have been recovered in this county has increased, and there are still many missing people whose bodies have not been found."

"I originally wanted to show my skills, but that Zhao Meng appeared out of nowhere and bribed the government to prevent other corpse collectors from continuing to collect corpses."

"They even sent Sun Dazhi with the Blackwater Gang to hunt me down, which forced me to fight back."

"These twenty taels of silver are ill-gotten gains collected from the Blackwater Gang's residence, and I dare not keep them for myself."

"Having heard that Steward Li is righteous and hates evil, and that you are virtuous, I have come to offer this."

Upon hearing these words, Li Xiu looked at Lu Ming with a hint of surprise, then fixed his gaze on the silver ingot in Lu Ming's hand and said:

"The people you killed have nothing to do with me."

Lu Ming said:

"That's natural. There's no name written on the silver. I just believe that the virtuous should own it."

A look of satisfaction appeared on Li Xiu's face. He immediately reached for the silver, tucked it into his sleeve, and said leisurely:

"You just said you have a way to deal with ghosts and zombies turning into monsters?"

Lu Ming said seriously:

"This is my specialty."

Li Xiu nodded:

"Recently, the prefecture has been short of a corpse collector to clean up the unidentified corpses in the nearby streets and alleys. I think you are quite good. However, I can't ask the county magistrate for a reason. I need to have some merit first."

"Here's what we'll do. I've heard that a ghost has appeared at the small mountain temple not far away. If you can handle it, I will definitely recommend you to the county magistrate."

"Ghosts?" Lu Ming's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and he said:

"Okay, I'll go right away."

After saying that, he turned and left.

Li Xiu noticed that Lu Ming seemed somewhat...excited?

He immediately shook his head, all the last bit of hope in his heart vanishing.

The ghost hunters he had met before, and even the officials of the Night Watch, all treated ghosts and monsters with solemn expressions and great caution.

For a low-level corpse collector like Lu Ming to feel excited is clearly a case of youthful fearlessness.

In any case, once those twenty taels of silver were in his pocket, there was no way he would ever take them out again.

Li Xiu flipped his hand, his eyes fixed on the twenty-tael silver ingot in his hand, a satisfied smile on his face.

"Hates evil as if it were his enemy? Interesting, that's quite a talent, what a pity..."

Li Xiu shook his head slightly.

Before ghosts and monsters, no matter how eloquent you are, without power, you will only face certain death.