The Nine Cauldrons

Fishing in Murky Waters

The weak moonlight struggled through the branches of the mountain woods, casting dim specks of light on the ground.

Teng Qingshan hid among the thick brown grass and weeds, looking at the Snow Hawks soaring in the sky through the small gaps between the dying plants.

“The Snow Hawks are demonic beasts. Their eyes are exceedingly sharp! Even if I hide in the woods… If I am not cautious enough and walk out from the cover or walk under the thinned branches, then the Snow Hawks would still notice me.” Teng Qingshan frowned as these thoughts raced through his mind. It was the dead of the winter right now!

Most of the branches in the mountain didn’t have leaves, with a few plants and trees as exceptions.

If a tree didn’t have leaves, then a Snow Hawk could easily spot someone walking under the tree. That was if the Snow Hawk paid attention to the right place.

“Just to be safe, let’s bury this Elixir of the North Sea somewhere first.” Determined, Teng Qingshan moved as fast as possible without attracting attentions, moving closely to thick vegetations. When he was forced to cross open areas, he would cross at his top speed to lower the chance of being seen.

Using this method, Teng Qingshan moved back towards the depths of the mountain for two more Li.

“The crooked tree! Here it is!” Teng Qingshan looked at the tightly-knit trees in front of him and broke into a small smile. This was the place where the hunters of Teng Jia Village often rested during hunts. He quickly brushed the leaves under the crooked tree to the side and dug a pit two Zhang deep. The deeper he buried it, the safer it would be. After the pit was deep enough, Teng Qingshan lowered the stone wine jug filled with the elixir carefully down to the bottom.

He quickly filled the pit up with mud, stepping on it to make it firm. He then spread surface soil on the filled pit to cover any trace of a dig. Finally, he covered everything the nearby fallen leaves

“The Great Yan Mountain is so vast. If you people can find the elixir under these conditions, then that’s what I call a miracle.” Ten Qingshan left the place with extraordinary speed and a smile on his face.

Teng Qingshan had come to the depths of Great Yan Mountain far too many times.

He knew where the vegetation was the thickest, and he picked his way accordingly. Thus, he easily hid from the soaring Snow Hawks flying above

“Hurry up. Search carefully! Teng QIngshan has tattered clothes, a huge ax, and a long spear. Pay close attention!” A menacing voice yelled in the distance.

Teng Qingshan hid behind a tree stump, observing the scene.

Every Silver Dragon Soldier had a burning torch and was roaming around, searching for Teng Qingshan. The spears in their hands poked at any place where one could hide. This type of carpet-style searching had left no hiding place undisturbed.

“ As expected, Qing Hu Island just can’t let this go.” Teng Qingshan grinned coldly.

Qing Hu Island had lost too much to let this go. Perhaps only by snatching the two cauldron of elixir would help the experts of Qing Hu Island to feel better. However, even with two cauldrons of elixir, they probably would still be unsatisfied. After all, in their eyes, all nine of the cauldrons, all filled with elixir, were rightfully theirs.

“However, I have some serious troubles on my hand now. There are huge numbers of Silver Dragon Soldiers searching and five Snow Hawks soaring in the sky.” Teng Qingshan felt he was going to get a headache.

Teng Qingshan ground his teeth and fled away swiftly.

……

In the sky above the Great Yan Mountain, there were five Snow Hawks. Among them, only three of them carried people on their backs.

“Uncle. We have been searching for so long now, but there’s still no trace of Teng Qingshan. Do you think… that maybe he is still hiding in the underground lake?” Wu Qiu looked at the elder with a woolly hat and a hooked nose on top of a Snow Hawk in the distance. The elder answered monotonously, “In thousands of years, Qing Hu Island has never lost so much in a single event! If it was because the enemy was too powerful, then they might overlook it for now. But that was not the case. They lost to a seventeen year-old kid. It would be a miracle if Qing Hu Island won’t go berserk! When that happens, an army of over a hundred thousand men will flood into the Great Yan Mountain. They will leave no rocks unturned and no pit unchecked. Unless that Teng Qingshan actually hid inside that underground lake the whole time… There is no way that Qing Hu Island won’t find him.”

“Humph.”

No one would doubt this.

Among the Eight Supreme Sects on the Nine Prefectures, there was not a single that could be considered an easy target.

Despite having the treasure map, Qing Hu Island still lost eight innate experts. On top of that, they did not get any portion of the treasure at all. The worst of all was that the cause of this was just a seventeen year-old child. This was a disgrace! Qing Hu Island’s disgrace! As long as Teng Qingshan lived, Qing Hu Island would be a laughingstock.

……

In the depth of the dark Great Yan Mountain, Teng Qingshan stashed the Godly Mountain Splitting Ax into a deep pit.

“When I was fighting in Yanjiang City, I wore heavy armor with a helmet and a mask. There are very few people who saw my real face in Qing Hu Island. They know me through drawings of my my clothing and weapons. This ax… is way too noticeable. Even in the entire Black Armored Army, there are no axes that can match it in size.”

Teng Qingshan was not worried about the Reincarnation Spear.

The spear was an army’s standard weapon. There were too many people who actually owned a spear.

“Let me sneak back to the Black Armored Army first. Then I’ll change into a standard suit of armor and hide among the thousands. Even Snow Hawks won’t be able to identify me then.” Teng Qingshan had no other way to escape. He knew that this time, Qing Hu Island would never let him go easily.

As a result, hiding in the Great Yan Mountain could work for now, but not for long.

“You go there. Second brother, you guys go to the west.”

“The first person to find Teng Qingshan gets a million taels of gold and will become a commander right away. Everyone, keep a close eye on the surrounding!”

Another group of soldiers split to search the surroundings with torches in their hands.

“This is bad. If this continues, there will be more Silver Dragon Soldiers. I’ll be stuck between crowds with nowhere to escape!”

Teng Qingshan immediately retreated back into the shadows to avoid this wave of soldiers.

After a moment——

Teng Qingshan finally found his target—— a tiny search party of only six people. This was a relatively small party among the parties that Teng Qingshan had recently encountered.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

To the west, three lethal pebbles shot right through the centers of three people’s foreheads in the dead of night. Half of their heads were blown off in an instant. The victims did not even have time to cry out before they collapsed on the ground.

“What’s going on over there?” The collapsing sound alerted the other three, who raised their torches and looked over.

Xiu! Xiu! Xiu!

Another three pebbles pierced the three soldiers’ foreheads, dead center.

Innate experts could easily control the trajectory of the pebbles. With Teng Qingshan’s skill, the pebbles found their targets with incredible ease and accuracy.

“Humph…” The corner of Teng Qingshan’s mouth twisted into a grin, and he left the place swiftly.

Not long after, another search party arrived at the scene. One of the soldier in the party saw the two relatively close bodies and called out in horror. “Hurry! Here!”

The other soldiers immediately rushed over and discovered the other four bodies.

“It’s concealed weapons!”

“In Yanjiang City, someone killed a lot of Golden Scale Guard using concealed weapons.”

“The Young Sovereign said that Qin Lang, who is Teng Qingshan, is an expert of concealed weapons. The blood is still warm, so he must have killed them a moment ago.”

“Surrounding parties! Here!” This particular search party’s leader yelled out and gathered a lot of soldiers. Upon seeing the corpses, the soldiers were all excited. They had finally found Teng Qingshan’s tracks.

Immediately afters the orders were distributed, a large number of teams gathered in the surrounding areas. With the corpses as the center, they searched the area within the radius of twenty li extremely carefully.

……

“Looking for me?” Teng Qingshan had already been ten Li away when the search party called for the surrounding groups. He killed the six precisely so that more people would be gathered in one spot, leaving the other areas with less people.

This was the reason, why right after he killed the six, Teng Qingshan fled the area as fast as possible with his life on the line.

In addition, it made it easier for him to sneak back to the Black Armored Army.

“Right there.”

Teng Qingshan could see the flag flying proudly high above. The flag belonged to Black Armored Army. He sneaked along the edge of the camp, looking for familiar faces. Teng Qingshan knew a lot of people in the army, so it did not take too long.

Xiu!

Like an arrow, Teng Qingshan shot into the camp from the undergrowth.

“Who?” Tian Dan, who was sitting next to a tent, looked towards the source of the sound.

“It’s me.” Teng Qingshan replied in a lowered voice.

“Commander. “ Tian Dan answered joyously. When Teng Qingshan was a centurion, he and Tian had both served under Bai Qi. After Bai Qi was crippled, Tian Dan became Teng Qingshan’s subordinate. There was a strong bond between the two.

“Let’s talk inside the tent.” Teng Qingshan whispered, “Don’t tell others about my return.”

“No problem.” Tian Dan nodded, leading Teng Qingshan into an empty and spacious tent,

In the tent, Teng Qingshan randomly grabbed a set of clothing and started to change.

“Brother Tian, would you go find an extra set of armor for me?” Teng Qingshan spoke.

“We came to the Great Yan Mountain in a hurry this time, so we didn’t bring a lot of things with us. Let me check with other centuries.” Tian Dan explained, “I will be right back.”

“Also, can you call Qinghu over?” Teng Qingshan continued, “ Remember, don’t tell anyone other than Qinghu!” He needed to go back while pretending to just an ordinary soldier in the Black Armored Army. The best way to accomplish that was to lie to both friend and foe.

Only in this way could one ensure that a secret wouldn’t be discovered.

“Only him.” Tian Dan nodded.

Teng Qingshan breathed a sigh of relief in the tent. No matter how terrifying the Snow Hawks were, there was no way they could see through the tent. When he put on the heavy armor, the helmet, and the mask, who could still distinguish him from the other three thousand men?

Teng Qinghu and Tian Dan were in the same camp, so Qinghu arrived shortly afterward.

“Qingshan.” Qinghu wrestled Teng Qingshan into a hug with an overjoyed expression on his face.

“Cousin, it’s not a very good time right now.” Teng Qingshan explained solemnly, “I am going to tell you something really important. You must not forget it.”

“Speak.” Qinghu listened carefully.

“When we were back in the village, hunting in the Great Yan Mountain, we often rested in the small patch of woods near the stream. Do you still remember it?” Teng Qingshan asked.

“Of course. We went there often.” Teng Qinghu immediately continued, “There is also a crooked tree.”

“Yes. Three Chi to the north of the crooked tree and two Zhang underground, there is a wine jug. There is a precious treasure in that jar. Once the Gui Yuan Sect and Qing Hu Island stop fighting and the Gui Yuan Sect starts retreating, go tell Teacher about it in secret.” Teng Qingshan exhorted.

“Crooked tree, three Chi to the north, two Zhang underground. That’s easy to remember.” Qinghu nodded, “Qingshan, why don’t you go tell Teacher yourself. Plus, Lady Qing has being worried about you.”

“I can’t reveal myself at this time. Only you and Tian Dan know of my return. No one else currently knows about it… Remember, don’t tell anyone about this, especially Qing Qing.”

“Humph.” Qinghu nodded.

At this time, Tian Dan walked in with a bag.

“Commander, I found a set of heavy armor for regular soldiers. However, it’s a bit small .” Tian Dan spoke. Teng Qingshan smiled back, “No problem!” He was planning on changing his own build a bit as well as adding some “make up”. That was the best he could do without a human skin mask.