The Nine Cauldrons

Foreign Dignitary Huhe

The month of November was extremely cold. However, all the cultivators in the Land of the Nine Prefectures were fired up, extremely excited.

“A million streaks of thunderbolts descended and turned the entire Xiao Yao Palace into ruins.”

“The Heavenly God Palace is overwhelmingly powerful.”

“Xiao Yao Palace will no longer be one of the eight Supreme Sects! The Heavenly God Palace will probably take Xiao Yao Palace’s place!”

In the restaurants of many county cities in the Land of the Nine Prefectures, such praises and comments could be heard. The Emptiness Realm Experts of the Heavenly God Palace endeavored to kill the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace. Unfortunately, the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace did not even fight. He just escaped! Thus, the infuriated and bitter Emptiness Realm Experts of the Heavenly God Palace released a million thunderbolts that razed Xiao Yao Palace to the ground!

Of course, those rumors were merely exaggerations, a result of people spreading falsified information.

In actuality, it was the Godly Thunderbolt Hawk that shot the thunderbolts at Xiao Yao Palace. Nevertheless, the members of Xiao Yao Palace escaped without a fight and the palace was destroyed. This indicated that—it was the end for Xiao Yao Palace, one of the eight Supreme Sects!

One could say that the master of Qingzhou was already no longer Xiao Yao Palace.

Xiao Yao Palace still controlled many county cities within Qingzhou, but they had abandoned the headquarter of their sect. Thus, how could Xiao Yao Palace compete against the Heavenly God Palace? All the perspicacious people could tell that Xiao Yao Palace was struggling to remain in existence.

This scene stunned and amazed many cultivators. They were fired up with excitement! The cultivators were ones that wished for the whole world to be in chaos.

However, in the Land of the Nine Prefectures, the rise of the Heavenly God Palace and the capabilities of their Emptiness Realm Experts worried many powerful sects. Hong Tian City in Youzhou, a nearby prefecture north of Qingzhou; and Qing Hu Island in Yangzhou, a prefecture south of Qingzhou, were particularly anxious.

Qing Hu Island and Hong Tian City were both worried that the Heavenly God Palace would command their army to advance north or south!

Of course—

Yuzhou, the prefecture west of Qingzhou, was dominated by Emperor Yu’s Hall. However, everyone in the world thought that no matter how powerful the Heavenly God Palace was, it wouldn’t dare to provoke the most historic sect of the eight Supreme Sects, ‘Emperor Yu’s Hall!’

……

Qingzhou, Jiangning County, Gui Yuan Sect:

In Zhuge Yuanhong’s study room:

“I didn’t expect that the members of Xiao Yao Palace would flee without even fighting!” Elder Wu shook his head as he remarked emotionally, “The Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace was one of the most powerful experts in the entire Land of the Nine Prefectures. It was rumored that he had attained Emptiness Realm Culmination! However, who would have expected that he just abandoned the thousand-years-old foundation of his sect…”

If experts that have attained Emptiness Realm Culmination fought, it would definitely cause a great commotion!

However, when the Xiao Yao Palace was razed to the ground, the fight between super powerful experts never happened. Thus, the great sects naturally thought that the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace had fled without even putting up a fight!

Zhuge Yuanhong frowned slightly. He seemed to be worried about something.

“Martial Ancestor, since the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace fled, it meant that the Heavenly God Palace is too powerful.” Zhuge Yuanhong said solemnly, “Now, based on the current situation, we know that the Heavenly God Palace has a Godly Thunderbolt Hawk! We also know that the Heavenly God Palace has multiple experts that have attained Emptiness Realm Culmination! Actually, two experts that attained Emptiness Realm Culmination still aren’t enough to make the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace flee without fighting!”

Elder Wu nodded in agreement.

The headquarters of a sect is the foundation of a sect!

It’s similar to what Jiangning County symbolized to Gui Yuan Sect. If Gui Yuan Sect lost Jiangning County, then Gui Yuan Sect would have lost its roots.

“Agreed. If a fight was possible, the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace wouldn’t have abandoned the foundation of his sect.” Elder Wu nodded as he responded.

“I am just worried about one thing—”

Zhuge Yuanhong frowned and said, “The Heavenly God Palace is so powerful, but we were never aware of its existence in the past. It’s obvious that the Heavenly God Palace hid itself well. Such a powerful force was hidden so deeply and when it emerged, it will be very terrifying!”

“They were so daunting that the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace fled without even fighting! The Heavenly God Palace is probably two or three times stronger than Xiao Yao Palace!”

“They hid themselves so deeply. Once they emerge, they will not be satisfied with Qingzhou alone!”

“They might even attack Yangzhou.” Zhuge Yuanhong’s eyes narrowed and a cold glint flashed.

Elder Wu gasped as he listened to Zhuge Yuanhong.

“Yuanhong, did you say that…the Heavenly God Palace will conquer Yangzhou as well?” Elder Wu was surprised and also slightly angry.

“It wouldn’t be surprising.” Zhuge Yuanhong replied in a serious expression, “When Hong Tian City in Youzhou, which is located northeast, was at its strongest; the King of Northeast led his armored cavalrymen and conquered half of the Land of the Nine Prefectures! The Omnipotent Experts Heavenly Emperor of Qin Mountains and Emperor Yu even conquered the entire Land of the Nine Prefectures… Even Mani Temple, the Buddhist Sect that dislikes fighting and killing, once occupied two prefectures!”

Zhuge Yuanhong sighed and said, “If the Heavenly God Palace is strong enough, it would be strange if it didn’t harbor such ambitions!”

“North of Qingzhou is Youzhou, which is controlled by Hong Tian City, and south of Qingzhou is Yangzhou, which is dominated by Qing Hu Island. Also, Yuzhou, controlled by Emperor Yu’s Hall, is located south of Qingzhou. The Heavenly God Palace won’t foolishly attack the most historic sect, Emperor Yu’s Hall. The members of Hong Tian City are the descendants of the King of Northeast! Northeast Youzhou is also the most barbaric prefecture. Therefore, it will be much more difficult to defeat Hong Tian City than Qing Hu Island.”

“Qing Hu Island only has the Blind Swordmaster, who is on par with the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace.”

“If the Heavenly God Palace was able to destroy Xiao Yao Palace, then they can destroy Qing Hu Island.”

Zhuge Yuanhong smiled bitterly and said, “Of course, they will also destroy Gui Yuan Sect! By that time, they will conquer both Qingzhou and Yangzhou. They might even use Yangzhou as the jumping-off point and attack Yanzhou!”

Hearing this, Elder Wu’s facial expression changed drastically.

Gui Yuan Sect was really much weaker than the Heavenly God Palace.

“There’s nothing we can do?” Elder Wu hastily questioned.

“Now, it all depends on the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace.” Zhuge Yuanhong’s eyes gleamed as he answered, “The Heavenly God Palace destroyed Xiao Yao Palace’s foundation. Hence, the Sovereign of Xiao Yao Palace will definitely harbor an irreconcilable hatred against the Heavenly God Palace! His existence will give the Heavenly God Palace a headache. Secondly, Gui Yuan Sect has two Emptiness Realm Experts, Martial Ancestor and Qingshan. If the Undying Phoenix came as well…By that time, the Heavenly God Palace might decide not to provoke three Emptiness Realm Experts just for control of one prefecture! They might choose to negotiate with us.”

Hearing this, Elder Wu nodded.

No fool would provoke three Emptiness Realm Experts and an Undying Phoenix just for one prefecture!

“Unfortunately, the Undying Phoenix has not arrived yet.”

Zhuge Yuanhong shook his head and said, “Moreover, I don’t want to reveal that Teng Qingshan has attained Emptiness Realm… For now, we can only act according to the situation, one step at a time. According to the information we received, Xiao Yao Palace is now preparing to fight and defend three areas… I hope this will slow the Heavenly God Palace down.”

Zhuge Yuanhong didn’t know the disciple he was most proud of was now on the Heavenly God Palace’s side.

……

The Nine Ringed Mountain occupied an extremely spacious area. Because the area that the Nine Ringed Mountain occupied was too large, it was impossible to build an official road that by-passed the mountain. They could only build a road through the mountain range.

Outside the entrance to the Nine Ringed Mountain:

The numerous soldiers gathered closely like the leaves of the trees. The long lines of soldiers were arrayed in an orderly formation and stretched continuously like the endless black seawaters. How large is an army of two hundred and twenty thousand soldiers? Such a massive army could be described as a sea of people.

Teng Qingshan, Li Jun, the Second Saintess, the Superintendents of the Red Fiery Division and the Azure Dragon Division, as well as the three Elders gathered together as they stared at the entrance to the Nine Ringed Mountain.

“Haha, what happened to the people of the Heavenly God Palace? Are they scared?”

“A bunch of cowards.”

“I am here! Come here and kill me if you can.”

Figures could be seen on top of the Nine Ringed Mountain and they were cursing wantonly. As the Commander, Li Jun was enraged by the vulgar insults of those soldiers.

“Little Jun.” Teng Qingshan held Li Jun’s hands.

“Hm. I am fine.” Li Jun bit her lips and stared at Teng Qingshan as she whispered, “Am I not acting like a commander?”

“You did fine.” Teng Qingshan smiled and comforted.

Those people cursed and said extremely unpleasant words. If Teng Qingshan himself was the commander, he will be filled with rage if people cursed and scolded him this way.

“We have found that there are many soldiers in the Nine Ringed Mountain.” Lu Lilong, the Superintendent of the Red Fiery Division, stared at Teng Qingshan and Li Jun with his tiger-like eyes as he reported, “Commander, according to our investigation, there are thirty thousand to forty thousand elite soldiers in the Nine Ringed Mountain! Those soldiers are the elites of the Black Scale Army, not merely ordinary soldiers.”

The Superintendent of the Azure Dragon Division shook his head and said, “If we fought forcefully against them, both the soldiers of the Black Scale Army and our army would suffer greatly. They occupy an advantageous location. Thus, no matter how many people we have, we won’t be able to win cleanly.”

“Junior Martial Sister, what should we do?” The Second Saintess asked as she looked at Li Jun with a smile.

The other three Elders also stared at Teng QIngshan and Li Jun.

Li Jun was the Commander, while Teng Qingshan was the Lieutenant Commander. Thus, they naturally gave the difficult problem to Teng Qingshan and Li Jun.

“You all don’t have a solution?” Li Jun chided.

The Second Saintess, the Superintendent of the Red Fiery Division,and the others secretly mocked Li Jun because of her young age.

“Where’s the rush?” Teng Qingshan scanned the few people and said, “The Heavenly God Palace is definitely the victor. Xiao Yao Palace is struggling just to remain in existence. What’s there to worry about?”

Teng Qingshan words immediately stiffened those people.

“Foreign Dignitary Huhe, you seem very confident. You must have a solution then.” The Second Saintess Murong Yan stared at Teng Qingshan as she said.

Teng Qingshan humphed coldly. He couldn’t bother to pay any attention to these people.

Murong Yan gritted her teeth. She felt infuriated because of her Junior Martial Sister’s husband as she thought to herself, “This bitch Li Jun actually managed to marry someone like Huhe!”

TLN: HAHAHAHHA YOU JEALOUS AH MURONG YAN. DIEEEE

“Hm?” Teng Qingshan suddenly looked northwards up at the sky.

……

Controlling the air, a white browed man in a black cloak flew through the sky. He arrived above the Nine Ringed Mountain. As he gazed at the mountains below, his facial expression changed slightly.

“Emptiness Realm Expert! There’s an Emptiness Realm Expert here!”

The white browed man in black cloak could distinctly sense an extremely powerful aura among the numerous auras of other life forms. The powerful aura was like a huge ball of golden flames merged with acute metallic auras.

“Why is an Emptiness Realm Expert here? Xiao Yao Palace only has one Emptiness Realm Expert. Could it be that they have a second one?” The white browed man in black cloak was absolutely certain that he has never sensed the aura of this Emptiness Realm Expert before…When one stepped into the Emptiness Realm, the characteristic of the Heavens and Earth would merge with their Spirit and their aura would change drastically.

The white browed man in black cloak has seen Teng Qingshan before, but when Teng Qingshan reached the Emptiness Realm, he could no longer recognize Teng Qingshan, like how Elder Wu was unable to.

“Eh, this Emptiness Realm Expert is in our barrack.”

Whoosh!

The white browed man in black cloak transformed into a beam of swordlight and darted down.

……

He shot towards the place that Teng Qingshan and the others were dwelling.

“Eh? The three elders, the Superintendents of the Red Fiery Division and Azure Dragon Division, and the Second Saintess were instantly shocked as they watched the beam of swordlight descend before them and transform into a cold-looking white browed man, wearing a black cloak and carrying a black sword on his back.

“We pay our respect to the God of Heaven!”

Li Jun, the Second Saintess, the three Elders, and the others immediately bowed respectfully.

“Foreign Dignitary Huhe.” The Second Saintess Murong Yan flicked a glance at Teng Qingshan, who still remained standing and whispered, “This is the God of Heaven of our Heavenly God Palace. Why aren’t you saluting?” Even the High Priestess of the Snowy Lotus Cult isn’t qualified to be called a God of Heaven. Barring the Sovereign of the Heavenly God Palace, the Gods of Heaven hold the highest authority in the Heavenly God Palace.