Starting with helping Zhao Kai ascend the throne in the snow

Shen Qing stared blankly at the empty box in front of him, his face completely dazed. At this moment, only one thought remained in his mind: "Where did my money go?" Just then, a message came from the black ship, which made him understand why the gold coins had disappeared.

The information explained that the gold coins were absorbed by the furnace on the black ship. If enough of the five metals—gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin—could be gathered, they could be refined into the essence of the five metals, which could be used to forge anchors. The function of the anchor, as mentioned before, was to pinpoint the world's coordinates, allowing the black ship to quickly reach its destination—a very convenient and efficient method.

However, despite the appeal of the anchor, Shen Qing still swallowed hard after seeing the amount of metal required. To forge an anchor, at least tens of thousands of tons of each type of metal would be needed to condense enough of the essence of metals.

Ten thousand tons of each metal is an astronomical figure. Copper, iron, tin, and silver are all manageable, but gold, let alone tens of thousands of tons, even hundreds of tons would be an astronomical figure for Shen Qing. Even in Doflamingo's treasure vault, which was once incredibly wealthy, the total amount of gold was probably less than a few hundred tons.

Therefore, Shen Qing could only suppress his inner turmoil and put aside the matter of building the anchor. At the same time, he comforted himself that only tens of thousands of tons of the five metals could be worthy of the value of the anchor.

Coming to his senses, Shen Qing quickly put away the black ship, causing the chests on it to fall to the ground. With a heavy heart, Shen Qing opened one of the chests again, and only after seeing the intact gold coins inside did he breathe a long sigh of relief. If the black ship had swallowed all the gold coins, Shen Qing would have been devastated.

Shen Qing then opened all the boxes. The gold coins inside the four boxes shone brightly in his eyes, which made him feel much better. He was especially relieved to see that the small box containing the Devil Fruit was safe and sound.

"It seems that as long as the gold coins don't come into direct contact with the black ship, they won't disappear." Shen Qing looked at everything in front of him and silently analyzed the reasons behind it. Only in this way could it be explained.

Just then, footsteps sounded outside the courtyard, and the gate was opened, revealing Zhao Kai and Han Shengxuan to Shen Qing.

"Brother Shen, you're finally back! I've missed you so much!" Zhao Kai's face lit up with joy the moment he saw Shen Qing. He quickly walked over and excitedly grabbed Shen Qing's hand.

"Let go, let go now, or I'll get angry!" Feeling the immense force from Zhao Kai's hand, Shen Qing's lips twitched in pain.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Kai immediately chuckled and released his grip. He had been so excited that he had unconsciously used a little force. Ever since witnessing Shen Qing and the old sword god's departure from the other world, he had been absent-minded every day, his mind filled with countless images of other realms. He felt a restless unease, like being scratched by a cat, and he would come to this courtyard every day to check if Shen Qing had returned.

"Zhao Kai, Mr. Han, please arrange for someone to take these gold coins back first. We can discuss this further at the Prefectural Governor's residence." Shen Qing then put away the anchor hidden in the courtyard and followed Zhao Kai back to the Prefectural Governor's residence.

Inside the prefectural governor's mansion. As soon as Shen Qing sat down, Zhao Kai eagerly asked, "Brother Shen, tell me where you all went this time?"

Seeing Zhao Kai's face full of curiosity, Shen Qing glared at him irritably, and then briefly recounted her journey to the Kingdom of Dressrosa.

After listening, Zhao Kai's face still showed a hint of unfinished business, wishing he could participate as well. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he shamelessly said to Shen Qing, "Brother Shen, I wonder if there will be an opportunity in the future, could you take me to visit other worlds? I really want to see the scenery of other worlds."

Han Shengxuan, who was standing quietly behind Zhao Kai, suddenly brightened up when he heard Zhao Kai's words. He stared intently at Shen Qing. As Zhao Kai's personal eunuch and head chef, he could benefit from Zhao Kai's presence whenever he had the chance.

"We'll see how you perform. If Yuezhou can get back on track quickly, then this matter might be worth considering," Shen Qing said, looking at Zhao Kai with a playful expression. People need a little reward to motivate them to work.

Faced with the temptation of being able to travel the world, Zhao Kai patted his chest and nodded repeatedly, expressing that he would definitely go all out to develop Yuezhou and strive to get Yuezhou on the right track as soon as possible.

"By the way, where's Xuan Yuan Qingfeng? I haven't seen her." Shen Qing exchanged a few words with Zhao Kai, then asked in surprise. If Xuan Yuan Qingfeng were in the city, news of his return would surely have reached her ears by now.

Shen Qing's eyes softened as she thought of Xuan Yuan Qingfeng, and a slight smile appeared on her lips. She knew she had prepared a big gift for her, which would surely surprise her.

“My sister-in-law went to Lujiang County. I heard that the Xuanyuan family’s grain transport ships were intercepted by river bandits on the Guangling River, so she took Hong Biao and the Xuanyuan family’s retainers with her to deal with it,” Zhao Kai replied truthfully.

"With Hong Biao, a first-rank guest elder, there shouldn't be any major incidents." Shen Qing nodded upon hearing this. He didn't recall any powerful river bandit forces on the Guangling River, so a first-rank expert was more than enough to ensure Xuan Yuan Qingfeng's safety.

"How are Li Ying and Hama doing? Have they shown any signs of disloyalty?" Shen Qing then shifted the topic to the surrendered soldiers of the Li Yue tribe. To ensure the stable development of Yuezhou, the Baiyue barbarians remained a persistent and unavoidable issue, thus requiring a serious consideration and proper handling of relations with them.

"Ever since the destruction of the Li Yue tribe, Li Ying seems to have been traumatized. She spends all her time training in the military camp with Hama and the others. It's estimated that she'll break through to the third-rank martial artist level soon. As for Hama and the others, they haven't shown any unusual behavior; they're just training diligently." Zhao Kai thought of the resolute barbarian woman, a hint of sadness on his face. She had suffered such a calamity at such a young age; the destruction of her entire tribe had been a huge blow to her.

"Are Pan Yang and Hama's training separate or combined?" Shen Qing asked, frowning slightly.

"Of course they're separated. One side are barbarians, and the other side are people from the Central Plains. They have language barriers, so they can't train together," Zhao Kai asked, puzzled.

Upon hearing Zhao Kai's words, Shen Qing's expression turned serious. "Zhao Kai, I don't want to hear the word 'barbarian' from your mouth again. As the ruler of Yuezhou, you must treat everyone equally. Only when you take the lead in setting aside your prejudices and sincerely accept them can you truly make the Baiyue barbarians work for you."

"We are located in Yuezhou, a remote border region. Our population is nowhere near that of the fertile Central Plains. Therefore, population will always be a key issue if we want to develop Yuezhou quickly. Only by absorbing and accepting the Baiyue barbarians can we rapidly strengthen ourselves. A ruler should have the world in his heart and be inclusive of all rivers in order to make his power stronger."

"Brother Shen, I was wrong. I promise I won't say it again." Zhao Kai immediately admitted his mistake upon hearing this. He knew that Shen Qing was saying all this for his own good.

Compared to others who are obsessed with saving face, Zhao Kai is much better in this respect; he can admit his mistakes and correct them.