The Nine Cauldrons

Travelling Alone

The blue sky looked like a porcelain plate while the white clouds resembled silk.

Although what happened in Wu City had become the prime conversation piece between the citizens of the Nine Prefectures, Qing Hu Island was still the same. In fact, because of this humiliation, many disciples of the Qing Hu Island became even more diligent.

They were part of Qing Hu Island! If Qing Hu Island was humiliated, it meant that they were humiliated.

If Qing Hu Island was respected, all the disciples would feel proud. Right now, the teachers were even stricter and the disciples trained arduously…. Qing Hu Island was united like never before! Simultaneously, all of them hated Teng Qingshan to the bones.

Qing Hu Island, Bolt Dragon Attic!

“Island Lord!” Gu Yong stepped into the Bolt Dragon Attic and stared at the man with gold-colored long hair, sitting cross-legged as he cultivated in silence. This man was Tie Fan, the current Island Lord of Qing Hu Island!

Tie Fan smiled and said, “Senior Martial Brother, please sit.”

“Island Lord, half a month has passed since what happened in Wu City. Is there any news of Teng Qingshan?” asked Gu Yong as he stared at Tie Fan.

Tie Fan frowned and glanced at Gu Yong before he opened his mouth, “Ever since Teng Qingshan escaped in Wu City, we did receive many reports stating that Teng Qingshan was found, but none of the reports we received were true! Until now, we still have no knowledge of Teng Qingshan’s location!”

“Whether he is still disguising himself as a merchant or if he is hiding in some corner of a mountain, no one knows!”

“With his skill of disguise, finding him is as difficult as climbing the heavens! Last time, we found Teng Qingshan because that godly thief found the Godly Axe and the Reincarnation Spear! Teng Qingshan must have become wiser after this, and he definitely won't make a mistake like that again!”

Gu Yong’s facial expression looked very bad as he asked in a deep voice, “Island Lord, don't tell me Qing Hu Island is going to let Teng Qingshan go free?”

Tie Fan’s face turned black as he shouted coldly, “Senior Martial Brother!”

Gu Yong was stunned. This Junior Martial Brother Tie Fan had always respected him even though he wasn't the Island Lord anymore.

“Junior Martial Brother, what do you want to tell me?” Gu Yong frowned.

Tie Fan looked slightly frustrated and angry as he glared like an angry lion and said, “Senior Martial Brother, you are the most talented one in our generation! I reached the Golden Dan of the Innate Realm a few years later than you, and my ability is a lot more inferior compared to you! Yet, you are still caring about that Teng Qingshan? That's just a trivial matter!”

“So what if the people of this world talk about this? Even if this happened, who would dare to look down on Qing Hu Island?”

“This time, when Elder Zhao went to Yuzhou, didn't Emperor Yu's Hall still receive him sincerely? Why? Because of our Martial Ancestor!”

“But Martial Ancestor has less than a hundred years left before he reaches his five hundredth birthday, the day of his doom. Less than a hundred years! Senior Martial Brother, aren't you worried?” Tie Fan’s eyes reddened as he continued, “If, by the time Martial Ancestor reaches the day of his doom and passes away, Qing Hu Island still has no Emptiness Realm Expert, what should we do? Just watch our thousand of years’ foundation destroyed in a single day?”

“The matter regarding Teng Qingshan is just a trivial matter! The matter regarding the Emptiness Realm Expert is the major one! Senior Martial Brother…..Two months has passed since the day of your abdication, but looking at you in this state, I am really worried!”

Hearing these words, Gu Yong became silent.

Right…..

Teng Qingshan had only ruined the reputation of Qing Hu Island slightly, but the status of Qing Hu Island wasn’t affected at all! Qing Hu Island’s heaven and earth was the Emptiness Realm Expert. If the Emptiness Realm Expert was gone, then it meant that their heaven had collapsed!

“The Gui Yuan Sect has one Emptiness Realm Expert, and that Zhuge Yuanhong is progressing at an extremely shocking speed. Seeing how events are progressing, Zhuge Yuanhong might reach the Emptiness Realm at any time! Maybe ten years or a hundred years from now, the Gui Yuan Sect will have two Emptiness Realm Expert, but Qing Hu Island will have none! By that time, Qing Hu Island would be like the Sword Sect that existed over a thousand years ago!”

“By that time, Qing Hu Island will disappear like dust and no longer exist! Senior Martial Brother, when compared to that catastrophe, does Teng Qingshan still matter?”

Gu Yong remained silent while his facial expression changed drastically. It was obvious that he was struggling in the bottom of his heart.

After a long time——

Gu Yong’s facial expression became calm again as he bowed and declared, “Island Lord! Anger had blinded my eyes! From today onwards, I will no longer ask about the matter regarding Teng Qingshan! I will cultivate with all my heart to reach the Emptiness Realm!” Hearing these words, Island Lord Tie Fan smiled.

…...

Ever since what happened in Wu City, Teng Qingshan tried practicing different ways of transforming the Innate True Origin. He stayed in the region of Yuzhou’s Iron Blade Mountain Range and researched for a total of ten days. Throughout these ten days, Teng Qingshan gained much experience, making him more confident of surviving should he encounter a Golden Dan innate expert. Even though winning was impossible, he would at least be able to escape.

Surviving was no problem!

After that, Teng Qingshan left the Iron Blade Mountain Range and headed north.

Every time nightfall came, Teng Qingshan would ride the Dark Veins Horse he bought and galloped on the official road at a rapid clip. With Teng Qingshan’s night vision, travelling at night posed absolutely no problems. He could travel a distance of a thousand Li within one night.

As he travelled, Teng QIngshan cultivated on horseback, not wasting any time.

During the day, Teng Qingshan would rest in the secluded forests, where he would cultivate in silence and practice the Three Postures.

……

In this manner, Teng Qingshan spent his days and nights. Half a month had elapsed since what transpired in Wu City. .

Teng QIngshan had only travelled for five days before he left the region of Yuzhou, entering the northernmost Yanzhou of the Nine Prefectures.

Bai Lian City, a small city in northern Yanzhou.

A person walked to the doors of Wan Xiang Tower.

This person had loose hair and was dressed in an unlined garment. In addition to a large bag on his back, a machete hung from his waist. He stopped in front of the Wan Xiang Tower and looked up at the three big gold gilding words——Wan Xiang Tower!

“Yi City has a Wan Xiang Tower, and this Bai Lian City has Wan Xiang Tower as well! There is probably a Wan Xiang Tower in every city in the land of the Nine Prefectures. The Wan Xiang Sect never strive for supremacy and keeps a low profile, but in terms of wealth, it is a terrifying existence. Just every Wan Xiang Tower added together would result in a terrifying number. The Eight Supreme Sects of the Nine Prefectures and many other sects probably didn’t exist as long as this Wan Xiang Sect! This is a long-established sect and probably has many powerful disciples.” Teng Qingshan sighed in awe as he thought.

This sect was wealthy, and its disciples were everywhere in the Nine Prefectures! As it never strived for supremacy, it naturally saved up a lot of strength.

It was very hard to determine how powerful a sect like this truly was.

“Please remove your weapons before you enter Wan Xiang Tower.” The two young ladies bearing swords stretched out their hands at the same time and stopped Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan then handed the machete that hung from his waist and walked into the tower.

The two disciples of Wan Xiang Tower no longer intercepted Teng Qingshan…...Although there were weapons in Teng Qingshan’s bag, they do not know about it. Secondly, even if they knew, they couldn’t force the customer to open his bag, as that would be far too extreme.

Wan Xiang Tower was extremely spacious.

“《Earthly Ranking》, 《Hidden Dragon Ranking》, 《Young Phoenix Ranking》!” Teng Qingshan stare at the three books in the counter and recalled that when he first entered the city, he bought an 《Earthly Ranking》 from Wan Xiang Tower. It was through the 《Young Phoenix Ranking》 that he understood many principles of this Nine Prefectures.

“Fellow, give me these three books,” Teng Qingshan spoke.

“The 《Hidden Dragon Ranking》and the《Young Phoenix Ranking》 each costs a hundred silver taels, while the 《Earthly Ranking》 costs ten silver taels,” The shop assistant standing in the counter replied.

Teng Qingshan fished out a wad of silver notes and chose three notes, each worth a hundred silver taels.

When the shop assistant saw the wad of silver notes in Teng Qingshan’s hands, he felt envious and sighed in awe. “One really shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. This person, who seemed like an ordinary man with not much money, actually just took out a was of silver notes!” As his mind raced, he gave Teng Qingshan the three books and a change of ninety silver taels.

Although the silver notes required fees to be exchanged into silver taels, merchants still liked to use silver notes. However, the ordinary civilians did not like silver notes.

“Do you have the 《Heavenly Ranking》?” Teng Qingshan asked.

“I apologize, but it is not for sale.” The fellow shook his head.

With three books in hand, Teng Qingshan walked to the counter that sold materials and instantly had his eyes on the Star Pattern Steel. “Give me a Jin of Star Pattern Steel!” With this, he took out ten notes from the wad of silver notes, each worth a hundred taels of silver.

“One Jin? Star Pattern Steel?” The shop assistant in the counter was slightly surprised. People rarely bought Star Pattern Steel, which was of equal its weight in gold.

Nonetheless, the fellow still removed a Jin of Star Pattern Steel and carefully measured its weight before giving it to Teng Qingshan.

One Jin of Star Pattern Steel was one Jin of gold, which cost a thousand silver taels!

Teng Qingshan placed the Star Pattern Steel and the three books into the bag and thought to himself, “With this Star Pattern Steel, I will be able to repair the shaft of the Reincarnation Spear…..If I continue northward, I will soon enter the Great Prairie! It will be hard to find a weapon forging craftsman!”

Bai Lian CIty stood less than a thousand Li away from the Great Prairie.

With Teng Qingshan’s travelling speed, it would only take him one day!

……

Bai Lian City, in the rear courtyard of Yang’s Weapon Forging Shop.

“Craftsman Liu, this is Mr. Qing. He is willing to pay a high price to request Craftsman Liu to repair a weapon for him.” A slightly fat middle-aged man wearing a hat said to a muscular elder with a round cap.

Craftsman Liu glanced at Teng QIngshan and asked, “Mr. Qing, what weapon would you like me to repair?”

“Craftsman Liu, can you repair a weapon made of Star Pattern Steel?” Teng Qingshan asked.

“Star Pattern Steel?” Craftsman Liu laughed, “That is not hard, but the price depends on how broken your weapon is!”

Teng Qingshan answered, “A commision of a thousand silver taels! I want you to repair it immediately.”

“Sure, no problem.” Craftsman Liu’s eyes immediately brightened. A thousand silver taels was enough to forge a Star Pattern Steel weapon, let alone repairing one.

After a while, in the craftsman’s shop.

As Craftsman Liu saw the Reincarnation Spear that Teng Qingshan handed over, his facial expression changed. “This is...this is——”

“Teacher, isn’t this weapon……” The junior disciple beside him also widened his eyes.

The news about catching the Teng Qingshan had spread throughout the land, and the information about the Reincarnation Spear became even more detailed since many of Qing Hu Island’s soldiers saw that a part of Teng Qingshan’s Reincarnation Spear was missing.

The two felt slightly puzzled as they stared at Teng Qingshan with fear.

They were afraid that Teng Qingshan would kill them!

“If you repair it well, there will be a great reward! But if you have other thoughts in mind…..” Teng Qingshan’s eyes flashed with lightning as he scanned the weapon-forging craftsman and his disciple. The two hastily nodded in fright, and the old craftsman hastily vowed, “Lord Qing, don’t worry. I will repair it.”

Teng Qingshan’s strength was well known throughout the land of the Nine Prefectures. Even the four great Golden Dan Innate Experts didn’t manage to kill him, so which ordinary mortal would dare to provoke him?

As the night drew near, Teng Qingshan carried his bag and left Yang’s Weapon Forging Shop rapidly. “Once I leave Yanzhou, I will be entering the Great Prairie!”

As for the weapon-forging Craftsman and the disciple, they still felt a sense of fear after having survived.

“Teacher, is he Teng Qingshan?” The disciple dared to let out a sigh of relief only after Teng Qingshan left .

“Our customer is Mr. Qing. How is that related to Teng Qingshan?” That old craftsman glared at the disciple as he rebuked. He immediately looked at the gold note worth ten gold taels in his hand. He then let out a sigh of relief, and it was only at this moment that he realized——his back was covered with cold drops of sweat.