Chapter 48

Chapter 47: Drunken on the Beauty's Knee, Awakening to the Power of the World

"Madam, you..." Song Qingshu looked at Mu Wanqing in astonishment.

"What a fine dog, what a fine martial arts expert!" Mu Wanqing pointed at him, trembling with anger, thinking about how she had been deceived by him for the past two days and how he had taken advantage of her...

"Miss Mu, I am truly sorry." There was no need to continue the act, and Song Qingshu smiled bitterly.

"Is it fun for a great expert like you to toy with an ordinary person like me?" Mu Wanqing's voice grew colder.

"I do find it quite amusing." Song Qingshu thought to himself, but of course, he dared not say such a thing aloud: "I saw that you were in deep sorrow, even contemplating suicide. In my haste, I wanted to console you but feared that you would reject a stranger outright, so I resorted to this underhanded method."

This brought up Mu Wanqing's painful memories again. Her lips quivered, and a mist appeared in her beautiful eyes.

Although Mu Wanqing appeared cold and fierce on the surface, she was, after all, just a girl in her prime. In his previous life, at her age, she probably wouldn't have even started university yet. These thoughts flashed through Song Qingshu's mind, but he didn't know how to console her.

After a while, Mu Wanqing turned her head, secretly wiping her cheeks with her fingertips, and asked in a low voice, "What is your real name?"

Noticing her slender, jade-like fingers, Song Qingshu suddenly felt his mouth go dry and answered quickly, "Miss Mu, my name is Song Qingshu."

"Many thanks to Great Hero Song for your rescue. I will take my leave now." Mu Wanqing said coldly and turned to leave. Although she was extremely angry, given her usual temper, she would have shot such a despicable man with an arrow, but considering the incredible martial arts skills she had just witnessed, she abandoned this thought.

"Leaving so soon." Song Qingshu muttered to himself, his reluctance evident. Having been exposed, he didn't know how to persuade her to stay, and his personality wouldn't allow him to follow her like Duan Yu.

Hearing Song Qingshu's muttering, Mu Wanqing's ears turned red, and she suddenly stopped, turning to stare directly at Song Qingshu, "Wash your face. I don't want to not know the face of my savior."

"What's going on?" Song Qingshu, aware of Mu Wanqing's proud and stubborn nature, couldn't quite figure out her intentions, so he ran to a nearby stream to wash off the dirt on his face and tied his disheveled hair with a headband.

Seeing the refreshed Song Qingshu, a faint blush appeared on Mu Wanqing's fair face, "Alright, I've seen you clearly." She then turned and left decisively.

Could it be that she was captivated by his handsome appearance? Song Qingshu was surprised. The original Song Qingshu was already a famous handsome young hero in the martial arts world. Now, with his great martial arts skills, his aura of calm and depth added even more charm. Every morning when he looked in the mirror, his first thought was, "Damn, I've woken up handsome again."

Watching Mu Wanqing walk further away, Song Qingshu shook his head and laughed bitterly: Mu Wanqing was known in the original story for her deep love for her brother Duan Yu, and she wouldn't be moved by any other man.

But looking at her slender figure, Song Qingshu couldn't help but call out, "I'm heading back to Jiangnan next."

Seeing that Mu Wanqing continued to walk away without any reaction, Song Qingshu, in a hurry, added, "Duan Yu was captured by the Tibetan master Jumu Zhizhi, who plans to cremate him at the tomb of Murong Bo in Gusu."

This time, Mu Wanqing's figure trembled, she paused for a moment, and then continued walking, finally disappearing from Song Qingshu's sight.

"It seems that my place in her heart still can't compare to that pretty boy Duan Yu!" Song Qingshu sighed, completely unaware that he himself was also a pretty boy.

However, he had already determined that Mu Wanqing would run to Jiangnan to save Duan Yu. Song Qingshu wasn't worried about her safety. Although Jumu Zhizhi was sometimes despicable, he was still a respected monk and wouldn't harm a weak girl like Mu Wanqing.

The reason he sent her to Jiangnan was that he himself had already planned to go there.

In the past two days, he had been planning his future. The idea of plundering all the martial arts treasures in the world now seemed unrealistic, but his current martial arts skills were already sufficient. Especially after the battle with Feng Qingyang today, his confidence had soared. He knew that as long as he didn't provoke the notorious villains in the martial arts world, he would be more than capable of protecting himself.

Moreover, as his martial arts skills improved, Song Qingshu's ambitions grew larger. His rich experience from his previous life made him realize early on that in this chaotic world, no matter how high one's martial arts skills, one would still be a pawn for the powerful, like Guo Jing. In contrast, he envied Zhang Wuji, the leader of the Ming Cult, who commanded hundreds of thousands of followers, was a powerful warlord, and even had the potential to unify the world.

But thinking about the ambiguous relationship between Zhang Wuji and his nominal wife, he felt a wave of disgust. He didn't want to be a unlucky soul like Li Yu. If Zhang Wuji unified the world and one day decided to summon Zhou Zhiruo to the palace, he would have no way to stop it.

Furthermore, in his previous life, Song Qingshu had created a commercial empire and was accustomed to the feeling of controlling many people's fates. Now, as a small fry in the martial arts world, he found this role change very uncomfortable, so he had long decided to start his own faction.

The current chaos in the world was a good opportunity to build a career. Song Qingshu was not like the Murong father and son, who were all talk and no action. He had already planned his blueprint.

What is the essence of power? First is military power, second is personnel power, and most importantly, financial power. When many people depend on you for their livelihood, you naturally gain great power. Of course, if you don't have the strength to protect your wealth from being seized, power is just a laughable illusion.

Seeing that the path of martial arts secrets was hopeless, Song Qingshu decisively shifted his focus to finding treasures in the world.

The martial arts secrets buried in the world were monopolized by the original protagonist, and he couldn't compete with the protagonist for good fortune. However, the original novels had a common point: none of the protagonists ever touched the treasures mentioned in the stories. This was likely to show the protagonist's noble character, but it also benefited Song Qingshu.

Without having to compete with the original protagonist for treasures, Song Qingshu felt a sudden clarity. Reviewing the treasures in the world, the Gaochang Maze treasure was far in the Western Regions, which was Zhang Wuji's territory, so he temporarily ruled it out; the Liang Wang treasure near the Yubi Manor was too remote and located in the heart of the Qing Dynasty, making it impossible to transport even if found; the treasure of the Forty-Two Chapters was even more difficult, not only because of the challenge of gathering the Eight Parts of the Forty-Two Chapters, but also because Deer Peak Mountain was the Qing Dynasty's dragon vein, making it impossible to secretly retrieve the treasure without being noticed.

The treasure of Tianning Temple in Jingzhou was relatively easy to find, but it was in Ling Tuisi's territory and in a war zone, so Song Qingshu didn't want to alert anyone.

After much consideration, Song Qingshu finally set his sights on the treasure of the Dagon Workshop in Jinling!

Chapter 48: The Rich Kid Meets a Bully

The treasure of the Dagon Workshop in Jinling was not only easy to find but also, unlike other treasures, had a high chance of being discovered by the characters in the story.

To avoid being preempted by others, Song Qingshu decided to head to Jinling immediately. This was why he had subconsciously misled Mu Wanqing to Jiangnan, and there was a good chance they would meet again soon.

"Cool breezes carry the message, the autumn moon stretches endlessly, how I miss my beloved, each day feels like a year..." Song Qingshu, recalling the long journey of Zhou Botong and Qiu Qianren, felt a sudden urge to test his newly acquired lightness of body. From Huashan to Jinling, a distance of thousands of miles, he decided to travel on foot without a horse or a carriage.

At the beginning, he used the "Walking Without Leaving Footprints" lightness of body technique to run at high speed, but after running for dozens of miles, he was exhausted. He was astonished, knowing that his internal energy was already quite substantial and enduring. If he used ordinary lightness of body techniques, he could easily cover a hundred miles, but the "Walking Without Leaving Footprints" technique couldn't be sustained for long. It seemed that Wei Yixiao was also only good at short-distance sprints.

After a few days of running, Song Qingshu suddenly had an epiphany and began to focus on the efficiency of his internal energy usage. With his deliberate design, he managed to push the limit of a single sprint to over a hundred miles.

Later, Song Qingshu continuously improved his technique. After running a segment with "Walking Without Leaving Footprints," he would spend about an hour using ordinary lightness of body techniques to rest and regulate his internal energy, and then continue using "Walking Without Leaving Footprints." This way, the distance he could cover each time grew longer.

After several days of pushing his lightness of body to its limits, Song Qingshu's internal energy had significantly improved, even more so than his usual practice. He felt a surge of true energy in his body and knew he had reached his limit. Once he solved the problem of coexistence between the Shenzhao and Nine Yin internal energies, his internal energy would be inexhaustible.

After five or six days, the wind-dusted Song Qingshu finally arrived at the foot of Jinling City, sighing to himself, "Two thousand miles in five or six days, much slower than the trains in my previous life." He didn't realize how astonishing his speed was in this world. The fastest information transmission in this world, the land relay, with the full power of a nation, using the best horses, ringing bells during the day and lighting fires at night, with no responsibility for any casualties, changing horses at every station and people at several stations, traveling day and night in all weather, could only cover five hundred miles a day. Song Qingshu, using only his legs, could cover nearly four hundred miles a day...

"If I can harmonize the yin and yang of my internal energy and maintain the maximum speed of 'Walking Without Leaving Footprints,' it might not be much slower than the planes in my previous life." Song Qingshu, dragging his tired legs into the city, thought to himself, getting more and more excited, "Everything in this ancient world is good, except for the slow travel speed. Carriages are so slow they can make you vomit."

He stayed at an inn in the city, casually asking the waiter about the location of the Dagon Workshop. After a hearty meal and a bath, he waited until it was deep into the night.