A Dandy Meets a Bully

The treasures of the Dagong Workshop in Jinling were not only easy to find but also unlike other treasures that might never see the light of day. The Dagong Workshop's treasure had a high chance of being discovered by characters within the plot.

To avoid being beaten to the punch, Song Qingshu decided to head to Jinling immediately. That's why he had unconsciously roped Mu Wanqing into coming to Jiangnan with him; they might even meet again soon.

"A cool breeze carries tidings, boundless autumn moon, my longing for my love makes each day feel like a year..." Song Qingshu recalled Zhou Botong and Qiu Qianren fighting all the way, chasing each other for ten thousand miles. Now that his Qinggong had just reached mastery, he felt inspired. Traveling thousands of miles from Mount Hua to Jinling, he didn't ride a horse or take a carriage, relying entirely on his own two legs to use Qinggong.

In the beginning, he ran at high speed using Treading Sand Without Trace, but after only dozens of miles, he was exhausted. He was shocked. His internal energy was already considered quite profound and long-lasting. If he were to travel using ordinary Qinggong, although not as fast, he could maintain it for a hundred or eighty miles without issue. However, when he activated Treading Sand Without Trace, he couldn't sustain it for long. It seemed Wei Yixiao was probably only skilled at short-distance sprints.

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

Later, Song Qingshu continued to improve. After running a stretch with Treading Sand Without Trace, he would often spend the time it took for an incense stick to burn to switch to ordinary Qinggong, using the opportunity to regulate his internal energy. Once he felt ready, he would resume using Treading Sand Without Trace. In this way, the distance he could sustain each time grew longer and longer.

Through these days of pushing his Qinggong to the limit, Song Qingshu's internal energy had also greatly improved, even faster than his usual cultivation speed. Song Qingshu sensed the surging true qi within him and knew he had reached his limit. Once he resolved the issue of Divine Illumination True Qi and Nine Yin True Qi coexisting, he would reach a state of perfect harmony, where his internal energy would be inexhaustible and ceaselessly regenerating.

Five or six days later, Song Qingshu, weathered from his journey, finally arrived at the foot of Jinling City. He secretly let out a breath, "Two thousand miles, and it took me five or six days. Much slower than the trains of my past life." He didn't realize how terrifying his speed was in this lifetime. The fastest land transport in this world, the imperial post, with the full might of a nation, had couriers riding the best horses, using bells by day and torches by night, with no responsibility for collisions. They changed horses at every station, changed riders every few stations, braving all weather, day and night. The fastest for transmitting so-called urgent messages was no more than five hundred miles a day. Yet Song Qingshu, purely on his own two legs, achieved nearly four hundred miles a day...

"If I could harmonize the yin and yang of my true qi, maintaining the extreme speed of Treading Sand Without Trace at all times, it probably wouldn't be much slower than the airplanes of my past life." Song Qingshu dragged his tired legs towards the city, calculating to himself, becoming more excited the more he thought about it. "Everything about this ancient era is good, except this travel speed is too slow. Carriages and the like are so slow they could make you spit blood."

He checked into an inn in the city and, without revealing his intentions, asked the innkeeper for the location of the Dagong Workshop. After a hearty meal and cleaning himself up, when the night was deep and quiet, Song Qingshu quietly slipped out of the inn, sticking to secluded and dark paths, and soon arrived at the Dagong Workshop.

"Huh, why is it abandoned?" A hint of foreboding rippled through Song Qingshu's heart. He quickly jumped into the courtyard and headed towards the woodshed where the treasure was supposed to be.

With a determined search, he soon found the cellar entrance among the woodpile. Pulling open the wooden planks, he infused his entire body with strength, secretly guarding himself as he jumped in.

Using the light of a fire starter, Song Qingshu discovered the entire room was empty. He initially thought there might be a secret room and began searching everywhere. After finding that all the surrounding walls were solid, Song Qingshu sat on the ground in dejection. Finally, he noticed many imprints of wooden crates on the floor, clearly indicating that heavy objects had been stored in boxes there for a long time.

"Who took this batch of treasure?" Song Qingshu finally gave up, returning to the inn with a belly full of questions.

The next day, he went to the inn's lobby, ordered a few dishes, and listened intently to the conversations of the surrounding guests. This place was a melting pot, and inns had always been one of the fastest places for information dissemination. Perhaps he could hear some useful news from the conversations of the patrons.

As expected, before long, he noticed a table of people engaged in boisterous discussion.

"I heard Yuan Chengzhi's Golden Snake Camp has been gaining a lot of momentum in the Shandong region lately. Even the Manchu Emperor can't do anything about him."

"Hero Yuan truly brings honor to us Han people. With the Han lands north of the Yangtze River fallen, it's truly rare to have such a righteous army bravely resisting the Qing."

"Didn't the Manchu Qing Dynasty just send envoys to form an alliance with our Great Song? Will Yuan Chengzhi's actions affect the relationship between the two countries?"

"Brother, you don't understand. The Mongols are strong now, poised to conquer the world. We are fighting fiercely with the Mongols in the Sichuan-Xiangyang region, and the Manchu Qing are also long-time enemies of the Mongols. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, so of course, the Emperor wants to seize this opportunity to ally and resist the Mongols together."

"Hmph, I'm still unhappy. I don't know when my Han people will be able to reclaim our former lands. The current sage only focuses on defending the cities. I actually feel that Yuan Chengzhi has more of the demeanor of a wise ruler. The hope of the Han people might fall on him~"

"Shh! What you said is a capital offense..." The speaker deliberately lowered his voice, then suddenly asked curiously, "How can you say that?"

"Yuan Chengzhi led the Golden Snake Camp and repelled Qing soldiers' encirclement several times, which shows his strategy; his prestige in the Shandong martial arts world is probably second to none, which shows his charisma; last time he used a stratagem to cleverly seize the treasure from the Dagong Workshop, which demonstrates his wisdom. He really infuriated the Jinling prefect, haha..."

Hearing this, Song Qingshu's heart sank: Yuan Chengzhi had already taken the Dagong Workshop's treasure! That made sense. His Golden Snake Camp had huge military expenses. Without military funds, it would have been impossible for him to gain such momentum in Shandong in such a short time...

Song Qingshu was greatly disheartened and lost all interest in listening further. He threw down a few pieces of silver and listlessly walked out.

"Am I destined not to be the protagonist of this world?" Song Qingshu wandered aimlessly through the streets, thinking that all his plans were thwarted. He couldn't get this treasure, and by extension, perhaps other treasures would also slip through his fingers for various bizarre reasons. The more he thought about it, the more dejected he became...

"Make way, make way!" With the clear sound of bells, two fine horses galloped towards him from behind.

In normal circumstances, Song Qingshu might have stopped to tease the riders for speeding through the crowded street. However, he was disheartened at the moment and didn't have the mood to play the hero. He shifted his steps, narrowly dodging the two galloping horses.

Unfortunately, the person in front of him wasn't so lucky. "Ouch, who the hell dares to run into this old man?" Hearing that arrogant voice, Song Qingshu thought that a spoiled brat had run into a bully, and there would be a good show to watch. He looked up with interest.