Steam-powered martial arts: My virginity cultivation technique has been broken.

Ku Ning glanced around casually; it was clear that most of what they had robbed were cheap goods. He hadn't held out much hope anyway; only herb gatherers and people rushing to Yanzhou would pass through this desolate wilderness, so there was little profit to be made from robbing.

What he wanted were the treasures that the stone goblins and monkey monsters found in the mountains themselves.

Sure enough, Ku Ning found a treasure amidst a pile of garbage: three Stone Gold Pills. This was a mineral with earth and metal attributes, and also a medicine, often found in depleted gold and iron veins, also known as the Tears of the Earth's Veins. Given that this place was near Yanzhou, famous for its minerals, the presence of such a substance was not surprising.

When he first began practicing the Boy's Kung Fu, the White Pavilion Temple used it to train his body; a powder the size of a fingernail was worth three hundred silver dollars. These three Stone Gold Pills varied in size and shape; the largest was like the fist of an eight or nine-year-old child, and the smallest was like a prickly pear from the mountains. He put the Stone Gold Pills into his bag; having this was a small profit.

There was no way around it; his appetite had grown too big. Tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands were nothing to him now. Looking further, he saw only ordinary jade stones with no special uses. He picked out a few of the better quality, more valuable pieces, and left the rest behind. Pointing to the pile of junk, he said to Little Stone Demon, "From now on, you're working for me. Stay here for now and don't hurt anyone. I'll leave these things here as start-up capital. When we grow bigger and stronger, I'll come back to you."

Little Stone Ape nodded repeatedly, somewhat bewildered. They were inherently inhumane, so the death of a mother was no big deal for them.

Ku Ning was just speaking casually. After all, protecting monsters is everyone's responsibility, and killing the goose that lays the golden eggs is unacceptable. This place is sparsely populated, making it an ideal spot for monster hunting. In a few decades, when the stone goblins have grown up again, it will be left for those with the right fate to reap the rewards. It's a case of one generation planting trees so that another can enjoy the shade.

He didn't take it seriously, but the little stone goblin did.

After returning to his cave, he took out the "Heroes' Chronicles" he had treasured by his pillow. This scoundrel had the same problem as his mother: he loved reading vernacular novels, dreamed of becoming a hero, and valued brotherhood, but he wasn't very intelligent and was easily swayed by loyalty.

"Hey! Monster, don't hurt my brother! I'll poke a thousand holes in you!"

"I, Black Fiend Stone Ox, am a hero with an older brother!"

He was clearly watching some shoddy pirated copy; he must be out of his mind.

Ku Ning and his companions slept soundly through the night and continued their journey the next day. Feeling guilty, they destroyed the inn before leaving to erase all traces. Around 2 PM, the three entered Yanzhou territory. Once on the official road, Ku Ning let out a heavy sigh of relief: "Finally, much smoother! The whole journey was so bumpy I almost threw up." Even with his first-grade cultivation, the mountainous terrain and winding roads made him dizzy.

"Master, wait for the old sheep!" Yang Huanxi chased after it with all his might, even using all four hooves.

"Sorry, I got a little excited and ran a bit too fast."

Sheep Joy stood up, brushed the dirt off his body, and gave Ku Ning a resentful look, thinking, "You ride horses, while I, an old sheep, walk. How could a great demon like Hongyun and a strange creature like Zhuifeng possibly keep up with me, an ordinary sheep monster?"

Ku Ning said, "Stop, don't look at me like that. Once we get to town and buy a carriage, I'll make you the coachman."

He thought the old sheep's attire resembled that of a coachman in a Western movie from his previous life, given that he had a genuine goat beard.

This old sheep was born in the northern grasslands and had a lot of contact with merchants from the Naya Empire who came from the grasslands when he was young, so his clothing style was also biased towards that region. The Great Chen Dynasty, the world's number one, the Celestial Empire, embraced all kinds of strange and wonderful styles of clothing and developed its own characteristics, which were then exported back to China.

I've heard that the nobles of the Naya Empire now take pride in wearing the clothing that has been improved by the Great Chen Dynasty.

Ku Ning took out a map and said to A Luo, "The closest place is Crane Town to the north, about thirty miles away. But we won't go there. We'll continue west, turn north at Bitter Man City, cross the Yunhan Wetland, and finally turn east, traversing the entire Yundong Province, all the way to Dongdu. I refuse to believe that those searching for you can track you down such a winding route!"

Once on the official road, A'Luo put on a veil to cover her face. No matter how outstanding her figure, as long as her face wasn't visible, she wouldn't be easily recognized. Since the enemy had a strong presence in the south, he wanted to leave the southern region as quickly as possible. The Great Chen Dynasty was so vast; finding someone was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Kuren City is located at the intersection of the north and south, and the junction of three provinces. It was originally a wild and untamed area used to exile criminals. Now it is a no-man's-land that is even more chaotic than Wuzhou. Many fugitives who have committed serious crimes run to this place to escape, and the imperial court cannot catch them.

A force more powerful than the imperial court? He didn't believe it. The only difficult place was near the Eastern Capital; if the other side concentrated its manpower and resources there, they would be in trouble. But he believed that the Peach Blossom Forest Priestess had chosen the Eastern Capital, so he must have made arrangements, and the difficulty shouldn't be too great.

As Ku Ning was making his plans, an uninvited guest arrived at the Cai family residence in Nandu.

After escaping from Ku Ning's clutches, Song Yuanzhi returned to Tianxing Pavilion and discovered that A Luo was missing. He immediately suspected Tao Lin was responsible. Their marriage was over, and they were now like oil and water. He had been able to stay in Fengcheng only because he had A Luo. Now that A Luo had been taken away, he couldn't stay any longer and headed straight for Nandu.

The Cai family is one of the four major families in Nandu.

If the seven priests of Wuzhou combined could barely be considered as wealthy as a country, then each of the four great families of Nandu could be said to be as wealthy as a country. They practically monopolized most of the non-government-controlled industries in the three central and southern provinces of the Great Chen Dynasty, and their influence extended to the surrounding provinces.

These people were not only wealthy but also noble. Among them, the Li family of Nanling was a family of founding meritorious officials of the Great Chen Dynasty, with a hereditary title of Second-Class Marquis. The Chen family of Zhihu and the Wen family of Tonghuai were traditional aristocratic families; their ancestors had respectively served as Minister of Revenue and Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion. The remaining Cai family had the highest pedigree, practically imperial relatives, being the family of the Empress of Emperor Taizong, and also founding meritorious officials, granted the hereditary title of First-Class Duke of E, and bestowed with an iron tablet. Even the Emperor of the Great Chen Dynasty bore some of their blood; one could address them as "cousin."

The four major families not only owned vast tracts of land, but even the weakest, the Tong Huaiwen family, possessed 400,000 to 500,000 mu (approximately 26,667 hectares). After the mechanized revolution, they further courted merchants, gradually encroaching on their industries, and their power expanded to a terrifying degree.

Even a fallen martial god like Song Yuanzhi was no match for such a behemoth, standing before the Cai family's gate like a lackey.

The gatekeeper of the Cai residence didn't recognize him. After sizing him up, he cursed vehemently, "Where did this wretched old dog come from? How dare you step onto the steps of the Cai residence!"

Before Song Yuanzhi could even give his name, he was bombarded with a barrage of insults. His face turned as black as the bottom of a pot. Dodging the servant's shoving, he took out the token given to him by the Cai family: "I, Song, have come to pay a visit. Please announce my arrival."

The servant, seeing the token, didn't change his attitude; he simply stopped chasing him away, took it, and coldly tossed out, "Wait!"

Perhaps the Cai residence was too large, for it took an hour for the servant to return: "Come in."

Song Yuanzhi was already getting impatient. If he were in his prime, how would such a person dare to offend him! But he didn't dare to teach him a lesson either, because this servant also had a fifth-grade cultivation level.