The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-101

The Black Armored Soldiers chatted among themselves. They looked at Teng Qingshan differently.

The powerful ones would be revered and worshiped.

"Lieutenant Bai Qi's last move had incredible power, but I didn't expect Brother Qingshan to resolve it that easily. He even sent Lieutenant Bai Qi's weapon flying into the air." Wan Fanxiang, the skinny Centurion, praised.

"Among his generation, Qingshan is probably ranked one of the first three." Centurion Tian Dan said.

At this moment, Teng Qingshan walked over with his Reincarnation Spear.

"Brother Qingshan, your last move is must stronger than when you were fighting for the position of Centurion. It seems like you have concealed your strengths when you were fighting for the position of Centurions." Tian Dan grinned as he approached. Teng Qingshan smiled and replied, "Brother Tian Dan, I didn't cultivate the > at that time, so I was slightly weaker. I must say that the > was much better than the cultivation manuals I have cultivated in the past!"

"You cultivated the >?"

The other four Centurions were slightly shocked.

To become a First Rated Warrior, one must have a great amount of inner strength. Therefore, Tian Dan, Wan Fanxiang, and the other two Centurions thought that Teng Qingshan had his own inner strength cultivation manual.

"Of course it's because of the >. If not, how could I make such great improvements." Teng Qingshan said.

"Which stage did you reach? Why is the power so strong?" Tian Dan asked.

"The eighth stage." Teng Qingshan answered.

The four Centurions looked at each other with their eyes widened and mouths agape.

The > was powerful, but it was extremely tough to cultivate. The attainment of the eighth stage was an indication that the eight extraordinary meridians were opened and cleared up.

"No wonder!"

"Qingshan must have eaten some precious food."

The four Centurions could now understand why Teng Qingshan had grown so strong.

When Teng Qingshan saw this, he nodded to himself and said, "I can't conceal all my strengths in the Black Armored Army. I must reveal some of it so that I can be placed in more important positions. The eighth stage of the > should be good enough to win the respect of the Postliminary Experts. This was also the reason why Teng Qingshan used a strength of 50000 Jin earlier.

The eighth stage of the > unleashed an instantly explosive amount of inner strength, but this amount was just a strength of 50000 Jin.

This degree of strength should be enough for Teng Qingshan to fight any experts at the Postliminary Realm. He would only reveal his true strengths during absolutely dangerous times.

...

The story about the fight between Teng Qingshan and Lieutenant Bai Qi spread in the entire mining site. The Black Armored Soldiers and the guards at the stationary points all looked at Teng Qingshan differently. All of them, especially the soldiers from Yi City, revered and admired Teng Qingshan!

Since Teng Qingshan was from Yi City, the soldiers from Yi City naturally felt proud!

It was night time!

The sky was pitch-black with no sight of the moon and the stars. Torches were lit everywhere around the mining site and the guards during the night patrolled.

A young man lay on his stomach and stared at the patrolling guards with gleaming eyes. He thought to himself, "Are these guards not tired? Why aren't they dozing off at the side?" The man appeared very anxious. He didn't come to the mining site to work for that measly wage.

He had been digging gold every day and naturally felt tempted as he looked at the crushed gold.

The gold that was collected every day was given to the team leader and the team leader would store the gold in the storage. He was the team leader and had secretly hidden a small amount of gold every day. The amount of gold he had hidden every time was two-to-three Qian of Gold. None of the Black Armored Soldiers noticed, and after two months, he had saved 1 Jin and 2 taels of gold.

1 Jin and 2 taels of gold would be equivalent to 1200 taels of silver. The annual salary of a commoner was 20 taels of silver, which was already considered good. One would need to work for his entire life to earn 1200 silver taels.

This man had been preparing for over two months and planned to run with the gold tonight.

He gritted his teeth and shouted, "Damn it. Today is the day I know whether I will die or live wealthily.

He then noticed that the guards were heading westward and had turned to the other side.

"Now's the time!"

He gnashed his teeth!

Whoosh!

He ran as fast as he could and immediately dashed past the first patrol line. He then hid in a shallow hole. Actually, if the guards had observed carefully, they could see him. However, as it was night time, the guards were extremely exhausted, and so, they wouldn't notice unless there were some big movements.

The man breathed twice and no longer dared to make any sounds. He then stared at the tree in the distance.

"I was lucky to have been able to run past the line of death without being discovered." The man chuckled inwardly. To the laborious workers, the patrol line was called the line of death.

"I probably won't be that lucky later. I must rush out in one breath and find my way to a completely dark place without any torches. Only then would have the chance of escaping." The man took two deep breaths, prepared himself, and dashed out like a strong cheetah storming down the hill.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

It was a moment of life or death. The man ran at an unprecedented speed! He only felt the wind blowing past his ears. Suddenly—

"A gold thief! Catch him!" A loud voice sounded.

"They have found me!" The man felt his heart palpitating and a rush of adrenaline. During this moment of life or death, his speed actually increased slightly. The soldiers that rushed towards him were unable to encircle him as the man had already rushed to the dark area down the mountains.

"Chase after him! Useless! There are so many guards and soldiers, but even with such great number of people, you guys can't even stop that gold thief?!" The muscular black-bearded guy roared furiously!"

"Catch him!"

"Don't let him escape! A great number of soldiers rushed down the mountain with torches in their hands.

At this moment, Teng Qingshan, who wore a black athletic suit, walked over. Normally, Teng Qingshan wouldn't sleep at night but would spend the night cultivating and nurturing his mind and body. Therefore, he was able to hear the movements immediately.

"Lord." The muscular black-bearded guy said with a bow.

"Hu Tong, what happened?" Teng Qingshan asked. During these days in the mining site, Teng Qingshan had met many people. Hu Tong was the leader of the guards and was considered a big figure in Huafeng City. However, Hu Tong was much more respectful and obedient to the Black Armored Soldiers.

Hu Tong said with a helpless expression, "A gold thief! This can't be helped. After all, the temptation of gold is real. Although many gold thieves had been caught and killed, there were still people attempting to steal!"

"How many thieves had there been?" Teng Qingshan asked.

"There are around two thousand to three thousand workers. Every year, over a hundred men tried to escape after stealing. However, only less than ten are able to escape." Hu Tong sighed and said, "However, because of how chaotic the world is, some people are just not afraid of death. Just one Jin of gold was able to make them risk their lives. If they managed to escape, they can then go back and marry a good lady and live the rest of their lives comfortably."

Death awaits the ones that failed to escape, while wealth awaits the ones that escaped successfully.

Teng Qingshan thought to himself and shook his head as he commented, "They are really betting their lives!" He then headed towards his residence.

"How is it? Did you guys catch him?" Hu Tong shouted.

"Lord, we almost did! I even cut him with my saber, but he was too quick and it was too dark outside. That fellow went another way and we couldn't find him." The guards said disappointingly. Hu Tong immediately cursed and scolded, "Useless! Only over a month had passed since the beginning of spring and we already have one escaped."

...

The days of the mining site went by just like this.

The workers mined every day, crushing the ores and cleaning out the gold. The guards and the Black Armored Soldiers supervised and patrolled, while the Teng Qingshan and the higher-ranked individuals would spend a lot of time practicing their martial arts. Still, compared to the other four Centurions, Teng Qingshan had the most responsibility as he was in charge of the purple gold mining area. He had to be very careful every day.

Gold already made people crazy, not to mention purple gold.

Teng Qingshan had been here for about one month and had already discovered two people attempting to escape with purple gold. These two people weren't able to make it out alive. After all, the purple gold mining area had the strictest security. Compared to the other mining area, it was much harder to escape the purple gold mining area.

The loss of a few Jin of gold was nothing to Gui Yuan Sect.

However, the loss of purple gold would be very painful.

"Lord, I am going to Huafeng City and I will be back tomorrow. Lord, do you need anything? I can get it from Huafeng City for you." During the early morning, the team leader 'Hu Tong' approached when he saw Teng Qingshan practicing his spear art. In Hu Tong's eyes, Teng Qingshan had a boundless future prospect as he was young and powerful, and so, it would be best to curry favor with Teng Qingshan now.

Teng Qingshan threw a glance at him and said with a smile, "Bring some Yanghe Wine then!"

Teng Qingshan loved to drink, and Teng Qinghu loved to drink even more.

"Alright." Hu Tong laughed so hard that his beard quivered.

...

During the evening at Hu Tong's house in Huafeng City.

"Brother Dong, you are trying to kill me. If this thing fails, I will take a lot of responsibility." Hu Tong placed his wine cup wine and said as he looked at the man sitting opposite him. The man sitting opposite Hu Tong had a height of only 7 Chi, which was considered short, but he had very cunning-looking eyes.

He might appear to be a quick-witted and cunning young fellow, but Hu Tong knew that this man was very fierce and ruthless.

He was only around twenty years old, but he had killed many people in Huafeng City.

Even the city guard leader, Hu Tong, felt afraid as he thought about what this young man had done.

"Old Brother Hu, this is five thousand silver taels. If this succeeds, I will show you even more gratitude." The young man rubbed his nose and said with a grin, "I will tell what is needed to be done. You should know that...there is no risk for you. Even if my plan did not succeed, as long as I keep your identity a secret, who would know it was you? Even if I told them it was you, you could say that I held a grudge against you and is intentionally framing you. There is no risk for you."

"So Brother Hu, don't worry. Aren't you familiar with how I, Dong Yan, do things?" Dong Yan said.

Hu Tong glanced at the note of five thousand silver taels and his eyes narrowed. He then stretched his hands and took the silver note and placed it in his bosom. "Alright, Brother Dong, considering our relationship, I will help you once! When are your men leaving the mountains?"

"March 28! It's that brother that came with me last time. You know him! There won't be any problem, right?" Dong Yan said.

"March 28? Don't worry. I will get the things done even if I have to stay awake all night." Hu Tong said with a smile, "However, I can only help the area I am in charge of. As for the other areas, I will not help."

"Brother, the area you are in charge of is the most important one. Come, let's cheers." Dong Yan smiled and raised his cup. At this moment, an indescribable glint flashed in his eyes.