The Nine Cauldrons

Murderous Intention

Teng Qingshan and the Blind Swordmaster sat high up in the great hall while Zhao Danchen, Tie Fan, as well as Zhao Fu, who had been seized and brought over, remained standing.

“Island Lord!” Zhao Fu stared at Tie Fan in terror.

“Hmph.” Tie Fan shot an indifferent glare at Zhao Fu and scolded him. “I can’t believe Qing Hu Island actually has such a misbehaved disciple like you…” As he spoke, he thought about the three Innate Experts that Qing Hu Island had lost and bitterness surged within his heart. Qing Hu Island did not have many Innate Experts.. Zhao Danchen, one of the few Innate Experts of Qing Hu Island, was even ranked in the top ten of the《Heavenly Ranking》.

All these things happened because of Zhao Fu.

Tie Fan became increasingly angry the more he thought about it.

“Just because of a Flowing Cloud Manuscript, you executed the members of an entire clan. Ruthless.” The Blind Swordmaster’s deep-sounding voice rang. He had just heard the entire story through Zhao Danchen. It’s no wonder Jing Yi, the teacher of Xue Xin, came and made a fuss on Qing Hu island.

“I-I…”

When Zhao Fu heard the three words ‘Flowing Cloud Manuscript,’ his legs weakened. He hastily replied, “No-no…I have nothing to do with this. Zhao Xi was the one that did it. It was Zhao Xi.”

“Zhao Xi and Zhao Guangzuo are dead.” A cold voice rang out.

Zhao Fu was astonished. He turned and saw that it was a white-cloaked young man who carried a sword on his back.

“Island Lord, please spare my life.” Zhao Fu knelt. He was so worried that he started crying. He also stared at Zhao Danchen and pleaded, “Grandpa, please forgive me.”

TLN: Zhao Danchen is Zhao Xi’s paternal grandfather’s brother.

Zhao Danchen waved his arm and looked away. He no longer wanted to see Zhao Fu.

“Jing Yi.” The Blind Swordmaster looked at Teng Qingshan. A cold glint flashed in his grey and white eyes. “This scoundrel is here. He belongs to you now… Jing Yi, is everything fine now?” The Blind Swordmaster’s message was very clear—Jing Yi, you have killed the disciples of Qing Hu Island, made a fuss, and was given an island. Now, Zhao Xi has arrived. You should leave.

“Yes.”

Teng Qingshan stood up and walked towards Zhao Fu.

“No-no—” Zhao Fu’s eyes widened in fright. He didn’t want to die. When he heard that Zhao Xi and Zhao Guangzuo had died, he knew that if he were to fall into the hand of this white-cloaked, sword-wielding young man, he would die as well.

Bang!

Zhao Fu suddenly stomped on the ground and darted outside the palace like a cheetah.

Teng Qingshan shook his head and smiled. He moved and appeared right before Zhao Fu.

“I can’t die! I can’t die!” When Zhao Fu saw Teng Qingshan suddenly appearing in front of him, he completely paralyzed with fear. Teng Qingshan stretched his right hand forward… Although Teng Qingshan’s right hand appeared to have moved slowly, Zhao Fu couldn’t dodge at all. His shoulder was then gripped by Teng Qingshan. A frightening and burning hot energy flowed out from Teng Qingshan’s palm and transmitted throughout Zhao Fu’s entire body.

Zhao Fu shuddered and collapsed.

His joints had been dislocated and he had lost all his inner strength.

“Tie Wu.” Teng Qingshan lifted Zhao Fu up. He turned and said as he looked at the Blind Swordmaster, “I now have what I came for. I will not be staying anymore.”

“I will not be sending you off then.”

The Blind Swordmaster said indifferently. He had long hoped that Teng Qingshan could leave.

The corners of Teng Qingshan’s mouth quirked up. “However—Tie Wu, you must not forget about the Nine Wolf Lake! Don’t let me wait for too long… If I wait too long and if I have no place to stay, I might come to Qing Hu Island to stay for a few days. Haha…” The laughter still resonated within the palace when Teng Qingshan’s entire being transformed into a beam of light and disappeared into the east.

……

Silence. There was a complete silence within the palace.

“Martial Ancestor…” Said Tie Fan.

The Blind Swordmaster lifted his right hand and stopped Tie Fan from speaking.

Tie Fan, Zhao Danchen, and the Blind Swordmaster remained in the palace silently. None of them spoke.

The Blind Swordmaster stood within the palace. Through his domain, he could distinctly sense that Teng Qingshan was moving rapidly away from the surface of the Azure Lake. Soon, he was out of the Blind Swordmaster’s domain.

“He is gone. He can’t hear us speak now.” The Blind Swordmaster said in an indifferent tone.

“Martial Ancestor, Jing Yi has bullied us in our own territory. Are you really going to just let him go?” Tie Fan asked bitterly, “He must have deliberately let the disciples of Qing Hu Island hear his words. Many disciples also saw you converse with him… I think we can’t hide this incident. The world will soon know.”

The Blind Swordmaster replied coldly, “So what if the world knows? It’s just the story of an Emptiness Realm Expert creating a commotion in my Qing Hu Island. In the past, didn’t the Alcoholic Lunatic make a fuss in the base of the Ying Family and stir up an even greater commotion than this Jing Yi.”

Tie Fan nodded while Zhao Danchen listened silently.

“If he wasn’t an Emptiness Realm Expert, I would have already killed him.” The Blind Swordmaster said coldly, “Since he is an Emptiness Realm Expert…things became much more troublesome! In the Land of the Nine Prefectures, the number of carefree Emptiness Realm Expert is extremely low. Such Emptiness Realm Experts are people that should not be trifled with, and they are not fools that would antagonize people without any reason!”

Tie Fan and Zhao Danchen nodded.

“If Jing Yi provoked two or three great sects, then I can work with the other sects and kill Jing Yi.”

“However, Jing Yi has never provoked any other sects. He only provoked Qing Hu Island!”

“The other seven Supreme Sects would probably just laugh as they watch. They wouldn’t help.” The Blind Swordmaster humphed and said.

In the Land of the Nine Prefectures, experts were numerous and the eight Supreme Sects were superiors.

However, there was still an unspoken rule known by everyone.

Carefree Emptiness Realm Experts were people that should not be trifled with. However, if this carefree Emptiness Realm Expert had attacked more than one sect and caused the eight Supreme Sects to feel threatened, the sects might work together to kill this Emptiness Realm Expert!

Of course—

The carefree Emptiness Realm Experts wouldn’t dare to provoke the Emperor Yu’s Hall and the Mani Temple, since one was the oldest sect and the other was the strongest sect! Also, sects like the Snowy Hawk Hall and the Shooting Sun God Mountain possessed Emptiness Realm Demonic Beasts. Thus, the carefree Emptiness Realm Experts wouldn’t provoke those sects easily as well.

In this way, Emptiness Realm Experts only dared to provoke a few sects!

“Tie Fan.” The Blind Swordmaster’s voice resonated within the palace. “I am more afraid that this Jing Yi did not come to seek vengeance for his disciple, but instead came with a different purpose.”

“Different purpose?” Tie Fan froze for a moment. He came to a conclusion and asked, “Martial Ancestor, do you mean that the Heavenly God Palace was involved?”

“Yes.”

“The Heavenly God Palace is extremely powerful! No one knows how many Emptiness Realm Experts exist within the Heavenly God Palace! I suspect that…this Jing Yi is an Emptiness Realm Expert of the Heavenly God Palace. Using the identity of a carefree Emptiness Realm Expert, he intentionally stirred up a commotion in Qing Hu Island just so he can find out about the true situation of Qing Hu Island.” The Blind Swordmaster answered.

“Martial Ancestor, do you mean that the Heavenly God Palace will attack Yangzhou?” Tie Fan questioned in astonishment

“I am merely suspecting it.”

The Blind Swordmaster shook his head and said, “If I can attain the Profound Emptiness Realm, I will be able to keep Qing Hu Island safe for twenty years. However, now… Tie Fan, I have to go to the Shooting Sun God Mountain. You will handle the affairs of Qing Hu Island. Remember, seize and conquer the Nine Wolf Lake as soon as possible and command someone to go to Wuan County to notify Jing Yi. Now, we must not give Jing Yi any excuses to come stir up trouble again.”

“Yes.” Tie Fan responded obediently.

Whoosh!

The Blind Swordmaster immediately flew out of the palace and soared towards the Shooting Sun God Mountain, which was located south of Yanzhou.

Within Jing Residence in Wuan County City:

“Zhao Fu! Young Master Zhao, it seems like you do not recognize me?”

Zhao Fu had been thrown to the ground by Teng Qingshan. He stared at the strongly-built man standing before him. The person before him didn’t look the same as the Xue Xin he knew. However, as Zhao Fu scrutinized the person before him, he could see the resemblance of the person before him with the Xue Xin he knew three years ago.

“You are Xue Xin.” Zhao Fu’s eyes widened.

“You finally recognized me.” Xue Xin’s voice sounded soft, but his voice was filled with rage. He was forcefully suppressing this anger.

“Xue Xin, I will allow you to do whatever you want today. Starting from tomorrow, you will have to practice your fist art diligently.” Teng Qingshan instructed.

“Yes, Teacher.”

Xue Xin answered with respect. He felt even more thankful. If Teng Qingshan asked him to die right now, he would do it without any hesitation.

……

Teng Qingshan came to the training field and began practicing his fist art, causing the Six Legged Bladelike Chi to emit deep-sounding and happy roars.

“The Blind Swordmaster of Qing Hu Island possessed great endurance.” Teng Qingshan beamed, feeling elated he had successfully coerced the Blind Swordmaster. He thought to himself, “However, the situation is fine.. The commotion which I stirred up was not great enough. Still, the things I had done would be like a thorn in the Blind Swordmaster’s heart!”

“His head will ache whenever he thinks about me.”

Teng Qingshan smiled and said, “I have achieved my purpose!”

Teng Qingshan knew full well that he shouldn’t whip the Blind Swordmaster into a frenzy… He had killed two Innate Experts today. His actions today were bearable for the Blind Swordmaster. If he killed over six-to-seven Innate Experts and even killed Gu Yong, the Blind Swordmaster would definitely seek the Snow Hawk Hall and the Shooting Sun God Mountain for help. He would ask their Emptiness Realm Experts and Emptiness Realm Demonic Beasts to help pursue and kill Teng Qingshan.

Later on, the news of what happened in Qing Hu Island spreaded throughout Yangzhou at an extremely fast speed. Everyone in Yangzhou knew that a super powerful expert over three hundred years old, whose name was Jing Yi, wrought havoc on Qing Hu Island, destroyed Zhao Danchen’s Dantian, and killed two Innate Experts of Qing Hu Island. The ordinary cultivators did not know of how powerful Jing Yi was, but the large sects did.

A carefree Emptiness Realm Expert named Jing Yi emerged in this world.

“Haha, this feels great!”

“I know right.”

In Zhuge Yuanhong’s study room in the base of Gui Yuan Sect in Jiangning County City, Zhuge Yuanhong and Elder Wu were laughing out loud.

“That blind man must still be filled with rage.” Elder Wu guffawed. Qing Hu Island had suppressed Gui Yuan Sect for over a thousand years. For over a thousand years, many phenomenal and elite disciples of Gui Yuan Sect were killed openly or secretly by Qing Hu Island.

Qing Hu Island’s actions had enraged the Gui Yuan Sect for a very long time. As they watched Qing Hu island suffer, they just felt so joyous!

Gui Yuan Sect was not the only one clapping for this incident. The survivors of Tie Yi Hall and many people that harbored a grudge against Qing Hu Island were also pleased. As for the other sects in the Land of the Nine Prefectures, they also felt happy to see Qing Hu Island humiliated.

……

On the ninth day since Jing Yi caused a havoc in Qing Hu Island.

On the street outside Jing Residence in Wuan County:

“I didn’t expect Jing Yi to be that powerful. Even Qing Hu Island, one of the eight Supreme Sects, had no choice but to yield.” General Li mounted a horse and advanced down the street. He still couldn’t believe what had happened. “The Nine Wolf Lake is such a huge place. Qing Hu Island only managed to conquer the lake and island after losing so many soldiers, and now, Qing Hu Island is just giving the island to Jing Yi.”

“Honorable General, we have arrived at the Jing Residence.” The bodyguards behind shouted.

General Li shivered. He regained his senses. Immediately, he leaped off the horse and ordered, “You guys wait here!”

General Li walked through the gates of Jing Residence alone. The guards standing before the gates of Jing Residence appeared to be pleased as they glanced at the person before them. One of the guards stretched his hand and stopped General Li from entering the gates. “This is the Jing Residence. Who are you!” Jing Yi was extremely famous. Thus, as the doorkeepers of Jing Yi’s residence, they felt proud.

“Please notify him for me. I am a messenger of Qing Hu Island.” General Li said.

“Qing Hu Island?”

The two guards were shocked. They glance at each other. One of them then shouted, “Wait here!”