Martial Arts Crossover: It All Started with Hijacking Li Canghai

As soon as Su Kui finished speaking, he used his fingers to pry open the copper clasp on the wooden box and pushed the lid back open.

The box contained no rare treasures as expected, only half a broken sword.

The sword was less than a foot and a half long, its surface covered with brown rust, and the blade had several chips of varying depths and uneven edges.

Qin Han reached into the wooden box, took the broken sword out, held it in his palm, weighed it in his hand, and slid it along the spine of the sword to the broken surface.

He frowned slightly. This was just an ordinary piece of iron sword. Not to mention compared to the Golden Snake Sword at his waist, even the Soul-Stealing Sword left behind by You Longsheng last night was far superior in terms of material.

Qin Han's gaze lingered for a moment, and he thought to himself, "Could it be that Su Kui went to the East China Sea to enjoy the sea breeze for a year and only brought back a piece of scrap iron?"

Just then, two light footsteps came from the corridor outside the door.

Ajiu and Xiaolongnu walked in side by side. The two women had just visited Zeng Rou and heard that Su Kui from Shenlong Island had returned, so they came to see him together.

"Your Highness, Sister Su."

After Ah Jiu entered, she greeted everyone, while Xiao Long Nu nodded slightly to Su Kui.

Qin Han never intended to hide anything from his own woman. He casually toyed with the broken sword and waved to the two of them.

"You've come at the perfect time. Come and see the great gift that Island Master Su brought back from the East China Sea."

Ajiu examined the broken sword in Qin Han's hand, scrutinizing it carefully for a moment before her brows furrowed slightly.

Born into royalty and having honed her skills in the martial world for many years, she possessed exceptional insight and saw through the true nature of this piece of iron at a glance.

"The forging technique of this sword is very ordinary. It doesn't even qualify as high-quality steel. In an ordinary blacksmith shop, it would only be considered a low-grade product."

Ajiu looked up at Su Kui, somewhat puzzled.

"Sister Su, is there anything special about this thing?"

"I really can't see what connection this piece of ordinary iron has with the legendary Penglai Immortal Mountain overseas."

Xiaolongnu came to Qin Han's side, her gaze shifting from the broken sword to Su Kui.

Su Kui met the gazes of the three men and stopped keeping them in suspense.

"You all have good eyesight. This sword is indeed just a piece of ordinary iron, nothing to mention."

She paused, then uttered a few words.

"But its owner is named Shen Lang."

Qin Han's heart skipped a beat. Shen Lang? The number one swordsman in the world, Shen Lang?

In this world of martial arts, Li Xunhuan's Little Li Flying Dagger is already famous throughout the land, but Shen Lang, a legend of the martial arts world who predates Li Xunhuan by an era, is rarely mentioned.

I thought this person had never been born, or had long since gone into seclusion in some deep mountain, but I never expected that he would have gone to the East China Sea!

This makes sense; in the ending of the story, Shen Lang did indeed take his friend overseas to search for the immortal mountain...

Ajiu was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, clearly she had also heard of this name that was almost forgotten by the martial arts world.

Su Kui walked to the table, picked up a cup of tea to moisten his throat, and then recounted an old story from decades ago about the martial arts world.

"Decades ago, after the downfall of Chai Yuguan, the King of Joy."

"Shen Lang, who was only in his early thirties and whose martial arts were at their peak, suddenly disappeared from the martial arts world."

"There are rumors that he was tired of the conflicts in the martial arts world and retired with beauties and friends, but now it seems that this is not the case at all."

Su Kui put down his teacup and looked at Qin Han.

"After I took over Shenlong Island, I searched through all the navigation logs left on the island over the years and finally found out the truth of what happened back then. Shen Lang was with Zhu Qiqi, Xiongmao'er, and the Thousand-Faced Prince Wang Lianhua."

"The three of them secretly built a large ship in Jiaodong, prepared enough fresh water and dry food, and sailed eastward into the vast sea. From then on, they never returned to the Central Plains."

Su Kui paused, looked at Qin Han, and asked, "Qin Lang, do you think a master who has avenged a great enemy and reached the pinnacle of fame would abandon everything in the Central Plains in his prime and lead a group of friends to venture into the perilous East Sea?"

Qin Han tapped the table lightly with the hilt of his broken sword. At Shen Lang's level, worldly power, fame, and beauty had long lost their appeal. The only thing that could make him willingly take such a risk was a higher level of 'power'.

He is currently stuck in the Celestial Realm. Besides wanting to unify the Central Plains, he also wants to find a way to break through to become a terrestrial immortal.

"People die for wealth, birds die for food, and a martial artist's lifelong pursuit is naturally the supreme martial arts."

Qin Han stopped tapping on the table.

"Back then, the King of Joy had four envoys—Wine, Lust, Wealth, and Anger—who searched for rare treasures all over the world for him. They probably have clues about the Penglai Immortal Mountain."

"Shen Lang killed Chai Yuguan, thus snatching this 'destiny of immortality.' In order to pursue transcendence in martial arts, he bought a boat and went to sea."

"Absolutely right."

Su Kui nodded, his smile vanished, and his expression became extremely serious.

"I found this broken sword on a deserted reef on the outskirts of Penglai."

Qin Han glanced at the broken iron in his hand.

In the martial world, as long as one has a sword, one is alive; when the sword breaks, one dies.

With Shen Lang's martial arts skills, even if he were holding a blade of grass, he could cut through gold and jade after infusing it with true energy. The fact that his sword is now shattered like this shows how dangerous that incident was back then.

Qin Han was secretly shocked. Good heavens, even the "Sleeping Dragon and Phoenix Chick" duo of Shen Lang and Wang Lianhua had failed? This Penglai Immortal Mountain is no ordinary place.

The atmosphere in the side hall became somewhat somber because of these words.

Su Kui still felt a chill run down his spine when he recalled his experience at sea.

"Qin Lang, following the map of the East China Sea you gave me, I led the Shenlong Island fleet and searched the sea for eight whole months. Finally, in the eye of the storm in the deepest part of the East China Sea, we found the territory of Penglai."

"But that island is not a place for the living to live."

Ajiu couldn't help but ask, "What's on the island?"

"Fog! A persistent white fog!"

Su Kui's voice was a little tense. "The entire immortal mountain is shrouded in a strange white mist. If our ship gets within three miles, the compass will malfunction. The sea is calm and still, so quiet that not even a seabird dares to approach."

"That fog is extremely hostile to outsiders. In order to find out the true situation on the island, I sent five groups of elite sailors in small boats to try to forcibly land on the island."

"And the result?" Qin Han asked.

"They're all folded!"

Su Kui shook his head, his tone heavy.

"There were a total of 120 skilled men, all of whom were experts on the water, but as soon as they stepped into the edge of the white mist, they immediately fell silent."

"We waited outside for a whole month, and no one came out, not even a single body floated up."

Upon hearing this, Ajiu gasped, and Xiaolongnu's hand on Qin Han's shoulder tightened slightly.

Su Kui, still somewhat shaken, continued:

"After the sailors were damaged, the Red Dragon Envoy Wugen Daoist and the Black Dragon Envoy Zhang Danyue, who were with me, discussed the matter and then used their lightness skills to skim across the sea from the large ship to the island to take a quick look."

"Both of them were experts close to the Grandmaster level, but... but they rushed into the white mist and in less than ten breaths, only a short groan came from inside before they became completely still and disappeared into the mist."

The hall fell silent.

Both Wugen Daoren and Zhang Danyue were core members of the Divine Dragon Sect, yet they were killed without even making a ripple, unable to send out a distress signal, and were instantly and silently killed.

Qin Han's expression was solemn as he ran his fingers over the nick on the broken sword.

Even grandmasters would be instantly killed if they went in. That white mist is definitely not some kind of magical formation or illusion. It is very likely some kind of naturally formed forbidden area, or... a dragon?!

"Since they all faced certain death upon entering, how did you manage to escape unscathed?" Qin Han looked up at Su Kui.

Su Kui looked at Qin Han and exhaled with a complicated expression.

"That's not a big deal. As long as we don't go in, we haven't encountered any danger. However, after Wugen Daoren and Zhang Danyue went missing, everyone on the ship was in a panic. I didn't dare send my men to their deaths in vain. I was planning to lead the fleet back to port and report to you first."

"But just before we were about to set sail, Wei Yixiao, the Green-Winged Bat King who had gone out to sea with us, stepped forward."

Qin Han raised an eyebrow. "Wei Yixiao?"