Martial Arts Crossover: It All Started with Hijacking Li Canghai

Qin Han wasn't pretending to be stupid; he genuinely found it strange that he had been in Yangzhou, which was part of the Qing Dynasty in the north, for the past twenty years.

Although he knew that this world was a chaotic world of martial arts, he was only on his own and mostly learned about things through tea stalls, restaurants, and brothels. He was not very clear about the specific distribution of power in the Southern Song Dynasty.

No matter how skilled a person is in martial arts, without a sufficient intelligence network, they are like a blind and deaf person.

This is precisely why Qin Han was in such a hurry to go to the Lingjiu Palace in Tianshan. Only by controlling the underworld forces of the thirty-six caves and seventy-two islands of the Lingjiu Palace and holding that vast intelligence network in his hands could he truly see the whole picture of this world and calmly make plans in this chaotic world.

"You don't even know the Chai family?" The old boatman looked at Qin Han with a strange expression. However, seeing Qin Han's attire as a chivalrous swordsman, he thought that most people in the martial arts world were not particular about formalities and it was normal for them not to know about the powerful families and clans in the Song Dynasty.

The old boatman took a puff of his pipe and explained, "Young hero, are you from out of town? In the Southern Song Dynasty, there are four great families, whose power is immense and whose wealth rivals that of a nation. The Chai family is one of these four great families."

The old boatman pointed south and lowered his voice, saying, "The head of the Chai family, Chai Shen, is said to be the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, the current Crown Prince's teacher! And the owner of this ship is the young master of the Chai family, Chai Shao, whose merchant ship is..."

"Chai Shao?" Qin Han muttered the name, his eyes flickering.

"That's right, it's Chai Shao, the eldest son of the Chai family." The old boatman continued, "This young master Chai didn't become an official like his father, but that's because he wants to go into business! Moreover, he has been on good terms with the Crown Prince since childhood. The Chai family's business has spread all over the world thanks to this young master Chai. There are quite a few Chai family shops in Dali alone. Whether it's silk, tea, or salt and iron, there's nothing they don't get involved in."

At this point, the old boatman took two more puffs of his pipe and continued, "The Chai family's main business is maritime trade. With his father's powerful connections to the Crown Prince, coupled with Chai Shao's own abilities, the Chai family is known as the number one imperial merchant family in the world. Who dares to say a word against it?"

"I see……"

Qin Han nodded outwardly, but his heart was far from calm. He didn't quite know who Chai Shen was; he guessed he was just a background character in this world to make the logic consistent. But the name "Chai Shao" was very familiar to him!

Isn't this Chai Shao from "Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty"?

The plot of the original work came to Qin Han's mind. In that world, the Chai family was an extremely wealthy and powerful clan, and they eventually formed a marriage alliance with the Li family.

When Kou Zhong, that scoundrel, first saw Li Xiuning, he fell in love at first sight.

But what was Li Xiuning's status at that time?

The young lady of the Li family is a proud daughter of heaven, while Kou Zhong is just a street thug in Yangzhou, powerless and without any influence, possessing nothing but his cleverness and ordinary martial arts skills.

How could Li Xiuning possibly be interested in Kou Zhong at that time?

Beside Li Xiuning was her elegant and distinguished fiancé, Chai Shao.

In the original work, it was Chai Shao's arrogant disdain and Li Xiuning's polite but inherent indifference that deeply hurt Kou Zhong's pride, forcing him to make up his mind to fight for the world and make all those who looked down on him regret it!

"Interesting, truly interesting," Qin Han said with a smile. "I never imagined that in this world, Chai Shao would become the son of a royal merchant of the Song Dynasty. This plot is incredibly convoluted. But with this connection, it's no wonder he can maintain his position as the number one royal merchant in the land; he might just be the royal family's moneybag..."

However, having grown up in Yangzhou, he had only ever seen Wei Xiaobao, the main character, and had never heard of Kou Zhong or Xu Ziling. After all, this world only had the Song Dynasty, not the Sui Dynasty...

But now it seems that the timeline and relationships between characters in this world have been disrupted and reorganized. Since Chai Shao is here, does that mean Li Xiuning is here as well?

even……

Are those two lads, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, also secretly developing their abilities somewhere?

"Maybe I'm wrong. It's just a coincidence of names," Qin Han thought to himself. "But since we've run into each other, we still have to go up and verify it. Anyway, I was planning to hitch a ride with them."

Looking at the large ship that had already sailed some distance away, he had made up his mind. He asked the old boatman one last time to confirm, "Sir, are you sure this merchant ship is heading towards Sichuan?"

The old boatman tapped his pipe on the sole of his shoe and said irritably, "Do you think I'm some kind of old man who can fool you? That boat hired a lot of odd jobs this time. My son is on board, loading and unloading cargo. They say he's going to Sichuan to bring back a batch of Shu brocade to Dali!"

At this point, the old boatman noticed Qin Han staring intently at the ship and shook his head, kindly advising, "Young hero, don't even think about it. You can't get on. The Chai family's merchant ships never take individual passengers. Not to mention you, even ordinary officials' sons can't get on without an invitation."

The old boatman stood up, dusted himself off, and pointed at the receding boat, saying, "Besides, look, that boat is already twenty zhang away. Even if the Chai family agreed to give you a ride, you can't get across. Do you think you can grow wings and fly there?"

A gentle breeze blew across the river, and the waves on the Yangtze River remained relatively calm.

The enormous ship left a long white trail, nearly 100 meters long, a distance that would indeed be insurmountable for ordinary martial arts masters.

But Qin Han was no ordinary martial arts master!

Listening to the old boatman's assertion, he smiled faintly and said, "That's not necessarily true."

Before the old boatman and the other boatmen under the willow tree could show their disdain, Qin Han had already walked to the ferry, staring at the huge merchant ship in the middle of the river that had become a black dot, his mind racing.

There is a legend in Shaolin that Bodhidharma created the miracle of "crossing the river on a reed," which is a state of being that combines lightness skill and Zen to the extreme.

During the time he was asking questions, he estimated that he was about 20 or 30 zhang away from the merchant ship, which is almost 100 meters. This distance is absolutely impossible for an ordinary master of lightness skills to leap across the river.

However, Qin Han thought of another way.

Recalling a water sports device I saw online in my previous life called a "non-powered hydrofoil," it looked like a small surfboard with a T-shaped support underneath. As long as an ordinary person mastered the skills of balance and pedaling, they could glide quickly on the water using their own strength. It was popular in videos for a long time.