Martial Arts Crossover: It All Started with Hijacking Li Canghai

It was midnight.

A stone slab in the suburbs.

Zhang Sanfeng, dressed in a gray-white Taoist robe, sat on a stone bench with a chessboard in front of him.

He held a white piece in his left hand and a black piece in his right, engrossed in playing against himself.

The wind rustled softly through the nearby pine forest.

Qin Han walked to the opposite side of Qingshiping without making a sound. Zhang Sanfeng paused for a moment while holding the white stone.

When he saw that it was Qin Han, a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes.

"If Your Highness claims to be second in lightness skill, then probably no one in the martial arts world can claim to be first."

Qin Han walked to the opposite side of the stone table and sat down, not expecting Zhang Sanfeng to say such a thing.

"The real person is leaving tomorrow, it seems he's in quite a good mood tonight."

Zhang Sanfeng placed the white piece on the chessboard, his gaze sweeping over Qin Han several times, growing increasingly surprised with each look.

When I last saw this person at the grand wedding, he was still on the verge of becoming a half-step celestial being. But tonight, when I look at this young man again, his aura has completely solidified.

The movements blend seamlessly with the surrounding scenery, truly reaching the realm of communion between humanity and nature.

"As this old Taoist priest gets older, he naturally feels less, so all he can do now is come out and mess around with the chessboard."

Zhang Sanfeng shook his head slightly.

"Your Highness has truly misjudged me this time. In all my years of life, this is the first time I've ever seen a Celestial Realm expert who is not even thirty years old."

Qin Han reached into the chess box, took out a black piece, pinched it between his fingers, and placed it on the edge of the chessboard.

They started playing a game based on his chess pieces.

"You flatter me too much, Master. I was just lucky."

Zhang Sanfeng listened to these words and shook his head repeatedly with a smile.

"A lucky break? Countless martial artists in this world die without ever getting close to that door. If those people heard you casually say you were lucky, they'd probably be furious."

Qin Han stared at the situation on the chessboard without any particular reaction.

"Canghai originally planned to come here tonight to seek guidance from the master, but he had to leave due to an urgent matter."

Zhang Sanfeng looked regretful.

"What a pity, I was hoping to have a good chat with Lord Li."

"Don't worry, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

Zhang Sanfeng responded and shifted his gaze back to the center of the chessboard in front of him.

"Now that Your Highness is here, why don't you join this old Taoist for a couple of rounds?"

"I couldn't have gotten it."

The two began playing chess under the cover of night. The number of black and white pieces on the chessboard gradually increased, and neither of them was in a hurry to pick up a piece.

Qin Han's moves seemed haphazard, but upon closer inspection, they always managed to connect to the previous moves after a few steps, whereas Zhang Sanfeng's moves were much slower.

The situation was brought together calmly, with each side making about ten moves.

"Does Your Highness know that even the concept of harmony between humanity and nature has different levels of perfection?"

Qin Han had a chess piece between his fingers that he hadn't yet placed.

"I'm all ears."

Zhang Sanfeng touched his chin.

"This unity of heaven and man is also called the Great Longevity of Heaven and Man. It is divided into three levels. The first level is Qi Refining, which is to refine all the true Qi in the body into true essence, so that the natural Qi from the outside world can enter the body."

"The second level is refining the spirit, where true essence and spirit are connected. With just a little thought, one can figure out the details of a large area around them."

This final level of returning to emptiness involves using one's own true essence to manipulate the forces of heaven and earth, thus leveraging the surrounding natural forces to fight against others.

Qin Han listened to these words but did not rush to put down the chess piece in his hand.

He only knew that he had crossed this threshold before, but he had no idea that there were three hurdles hidden inside.

"So, according to that logic, I'm currently only at the Qi Refining stage?"

Zhang Sanfeng nodded in approval.

"You've just entered the early stage of the Celestial Realm, so you must have the foundation of the Qi Refining Realm. However, there's an unusual aura about you, so it probably won't be long before you reach the Spirit Refining level."

Qin Han pressed the black piece between his fingers onto the chessboard.

"Which floor has the real person reached now?"

Zhang Sanfeng placed a white chess piece in the very center of the board.

"I've already passed the first two levels, and now I'm stuck at the threshold of returning to emptiness. I can barely see through the crack in the door."

"It's just that I'm getting old, and my energy might not be enough. I'm unlikely to take that final step. It's probably difficult for me to see myself achieve complete success in this lifetime."

Qin Han could hear the regret in Zhang Sanfeng's voice.

"Why should a true person be humble?"

Zhang Sanfeng smiled after hearing this, and simply added another chess piece to the board. The two then continued playing chess.

The conversation then naturally turned to his insights into martial arts training.

Qin Han could truly understand how astonishing Zhang Sanfeng's understanding of martial arts was.

Whether it's practicing internal energy or external techniques, they can easily point out the strengths and weaknesses with just a few words.

Qin Han didn't hide anything and simply shared his understanding of the Dragon God Skill. Zhang Sanfeng listened and thought about it for a long time.

I'm very curious about this kind of exercise that requires a lot of energy to practice.

He then offered two points of his own insight, which immediately made things much clearer for Qin Han.

The two sat there chatting until late at night.

Seeing that the chessboard was more than half full, Zhang Sanfeng's hand, which was holding a chess piece and was about to put it down, suddenly stopped halfway.

He looked towards the southeast, his expression turning serious.

"These past few nights, I've been observing the celestial phenomena. The dragon's aura in Lin'an is about to dissipate, and the Southern Song dynasty is likely to change hands."

There's no way to respond to Qin Han's words.

He thought with a headache, "How come these seniors seem to be able to see something?"

Zhang Sanfeng looked at Qin Han with a smile, threw the chess piece he had been holding for a long time back into the wooden box, and slowly stood up, leaning on the stone table.

"Your Highness, I had a very comfortable time playing this game of chess tonight."

Qin Han watched as the other person stood up and then got off his stool as well.

"If the real person finds this game of chess interesting, they can come to Sichuan to relax whenever they have free time."

Zhang Sanfeng agreed and was about to leave.

As Qin Han watched his retreating figure, he suddenly remembered something else.

"Having roamed this world for so long, does the True Immortal know of Penglai in the Eastern Sea?"

Zhang Sanfeng, who was about to take a step forward, paused and turned to look at Qin Han, his surprise impossible to hide.

"Does Your Highness know exactly where this Penglai Island in the East Sea is?"

This was something I got from Dugu Jian. Seeing Zhang Sanfeng's reaction, I knew that he had heard of Penglai in the East Sea.

"If you are truly interested in this place, I will send someone to invite you over for a detailed discussion when I have some free time, how about that?"

Zhang Sanfeng carefully examined Qin Han's eyes, for there has been a legend of Penglai in the East Sea since ancient times.

But it's been hundreds of years, and Penglai in the East Sea is only a legend; no one has ever actually been there.

"Alright, then I'll wait for the prince's news on the mountain."

With a slight shift in his footing, Zhang Sanfeng vanished without a trace.

Qin Han sat alone on the bluestone platform. He hadn't originally planned to release the information about Penglai in the East Sea so soon, since the Southern Song Dynasty hadn't changed yet, and he hadn't been able to assemble his own experts and army.

However, it's about time now. The fact that Zhang Sanfeng was able to bring the Wudang leader to the wedding shows that Wudang thinks highly of him.

Qin Han glanced at the unfinished game of chess, casually picked up a black piece, and placed it in the very center of the board.

"The Penglai Island in the East Sea... I wonder how many dying old monsters it will attract out of the mountains..."