The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-207

"Everyone knows? Then great!" Teng Qingshan's eyes narrowed, and a cold light flashed across them. "Emperor Yu's hidden treasure is very appealing. In the Land of the Nine Prefectures, aside from the eight major sects, there are still some hidden worldly powerful experts. The moment they receive the news, they'll come out to search it out even if it's unconfirmed. With this great number of experts gathering, it'll be enough to make Qing Hu Island suffer!"

Because of what happened to his parents, Teng Qingshan held such murderous intent toward Qing Hu Island! There was no chance at all for Qing Hu Island to save the situation!

However, if Qing Hu Island's Innate Experts all gathered together, then Teng Qingshan would have no chance to take action… This was the so-called situation of 'fishing in troubled water'! The more Innate Experts gathered there, the more disorderly the situation would become, and the easier it would be for Teng Qingshan to step in amongst them!

...

Teng Qingshan could see Qing Hu Island's approaching predicament. So, of course, Gu Yong and the other twelve Innate Experts could also imagine what sort of reactions everyone in the world would have once they knew of this secret!

The moment they thought of the predicament, Gu Yong, and the twelve people all stirred up with worry!

"Who is the one spreading this news?" Zhao Danchen's pair of sword-shaped eyebrows knitted together, and he swept an extremely cold gaze through the surroundings around him.

Gu Yong took in a deep breath and narrowed his eyes as he said slowly in a deep and low voice, "It has only been a few days since my Qing Hu Island obtained this hidden treasure map. Moreover, only the highly ranked members of Qing Hu Island know this secret. Although many of the soldiers have followed orders to capture people, they don't actually know the secret of Emperor Yu's hidden treasure. The one who leaked the secret is not one of ours."

"Tie Yi Sect!" The black-robed strong man's rough and violent voice rang out as he gritted his teeth, "It's definitely the remnants of Tie Yi Sect!"

"Tie Yi Sect's sovereign, Nie Rong, and their Law Enforcing Elders were all killed by us. The important elders and leaders were all killed. Not one of them escaped! Could it be that even the positionless surviving members of the Tie Yi Sect knew about the hidden treasure map?" The purple-robed woman said while frowning.

"The Tie Yi Sect's surviving members are of low status. Logically, they wouldn't have the right to know about this secret," Yuwen Liufeng said with a sneer. "But if this is the move of revenge that Nie Rong planted, then it's possible!"

"Elder Yuwen, are you saying that Nie Rong deliberately got himself killed so that we can take the treasure map? Don't tell me that they're not worried that we'll obtain Emperor Yu's hidden treasure and get stronger instead? Your theory is groundless!"

"The way I see it, Nie Rong didn't want to die at all! After he died, the treasure map was placed in our possession. This made the surviving members of the Tie Yi Sect unhappy… So, they made the information public to give us a lot of trouble!"

Each and every one of the innate experts started to argue about it.

"Enough!" Gu Yong berated angrily as his icy-gold glare swept over everyone. "The greatest possibility with this matter is that the surviving members of the Tie Yi Sect are taking revenge! Right now, what we need to prepare is a way to deal with the experts of each of the major sects that are about to arrive! As for the speed of the great innate experts, if they're riding warhorses… they'll be riding ones in the same category as the Black Nightmare Horses and the Blood Dragon Horses. If they received the news and set off yesterday, then there should be some experts already rushing over here today!"

The three great dragon horses were all the most top-notch divine colts which were able to cross 5,000 Li in a day.

Moreover, aside from the three great dragon horses, some sects had unusual mounts for the innate experts to ride. For example, some tamed demonic beasts. Although demonic beasts were hard to tame, there was a small minority among the hundred and thousand types of demonic beasts that could be tamed through a special method.

As for these taming methods, they were sect secrets which weren't to be spread to outsiders.

The speed of some of these amazing demonic beasts was not at all inferior to that of the three great dragon horses.

"Go, go up," Gu Yong ordered.

At once, every one of the twelve innate experts rocketed into the sky like bolts of lightning, occasionally drawing strength from the long vines in the 100 Zhang deep bottomless pit. In an instant, the twelve innate experts leaped out of the Bottomless Pit. A military tent had been set up at the Bottomless Pit's location. With the military tent covering it, it was completely impossible to know from the outside that… this tent's location was precisely where the Bottomless Pit was located.

...

At the turning point of the canal in the Bottomless Pit, Teng Qingshan leaned on the damp rock wall and pulled down the bundle from his back. He untied the tightly bound string at the mouth of the bundle. The wrapping cloth had been specially custom-made, consisting of heavenly silk and a leather surface layer, so it was definitely waterproof.

He took out some flatbread and ate some of it.

Although Teng Qingshan could go for continuous periods of time without eating, eating could make his qi and blood stronger, and his mind clearer.

In the depths of the damp cave, a human body, that was covered in bloodstains, was lying on the ice-cold floor. It was the severely injured Teng Yongfan!

"Drip drop!"

A milky white liquid was dripping down slowly from the exposed crevice in the rock wall above him. It took a long time for it to drip down a drop. Teng Yongfan had his eyes closed but mouth open, waiting for this drop.

Actually, if one wanted to drink water to replenish the moisture content in their body, it was really easy to do so in the depths of the underground. Wherever there was a pit in this damp cave, there would be some accumulated water. However, drinking water… didn't have much of an effect on the current Teng Yongfan. Rather, it was the drop of milky white liquid, which he was only drinking one of after a long period of time, that had a special effect on him.

The mind of the motionless Teng Yongfan was actually very awake. Suddenly——

His pair of eyes suddenly opened, and there were feelings of an endless thirst and determination displayed in them!

"The Heavens haven't abandoned me!" Teng Yongfan kept on looking at the crack in the precipice above his head.

He could still remember clearly the course of events that had happened from yesterday evening until now.

Initially, he was prepared to die with the Silver Dragon Soldiers, but a demonic beast, Darksteel Centipede, suddenly appeared, giving Teng Yongfan a slight chance of survival! Those soldiers were confronted with a life and death crisis. It was obvious they wouldn't bother with Teng Yongfan anymore… Teng Yongfan was very clear on this. After all, he had completely no control over the lower half of his body and was simply incapable of getting out of the range of the Silver Dragon Army.

Even the Darksteel Centipede would be able to kill him, let alone the Silver Dragon Army.

So, at the time, Teng Yongfan had gritted his teeth and recklessly relied on the support of his two arms to jump toward the Bottomless Pit! Alas, this determination still led to him having more than half of his legs ripped off by a Darksteel Centipede! However, the Darksteel Centipede that had killed a great number of the soldiers of the Silver Dragon Army gave Teng Yongfan just enough time to escape into the bottom of the cave.

At the bottom of the canal, Teng Yongfan was losing a lot of blood.

He had no other choice but to immediately use a cloth strip to bind his left thigh tightly at the part where his leg got ripped off! It was to prevent his blood from flowing out.

At the bottom of the ice-cold canal, there were many caves situated close together like in a honeycomb.

Relying on his nose, Teng Yongfan picked out a cave that seemed to be absent of the Darksteel Centipede's fishy scent… The absence of the scent meant that the Darksteel Centipede rarely entered this cave. At one stretch, Teng Yongfan crawled almost 100 Zhang deep into that cave. Suffering from severe blood loss, Teng Yongfan was so tired that he immediately passed out!

Teng Yongfan had no food, was suffering from severe blood loss, and had a giddy, weakened body. He wanted to rely on his two arms to crawl that far and then use the vines to climb up and to the exit of the Bottomless Pit. However, this was simply impossible!

"The Heavens had saved my life. I didn't expect that this milky white liquid would actually have this sort of efficacy!" Teng Yongfan exclaimed inwardly when he woke up not long after escaping into a cave and fainting there… The reason why he woke up was because that milky white liquid had dripped onto his hand. That bone-chilling ice-cold liquid woke him up.

This milky white liquid was extremely icy-cold!

Teng Yongfan had a taste of a drop, and an ice-cold feeling pervaded through his entire body. His initially strength-exhausted and weakened body was actually gradually regaining strength. This iciness also cleared his head, which was feeling dizzy because of the loss of blood.

A night passed by, and Teng Yongfan felt he had recovered a lot of strength.

The reason why he stayed motionless and just continued laying down was all so he could reserve his strength!

"I haven't eaten any food for a really long time! This milky white drop is peculiar, but it is simply unable to resolve my hunger." Teng Yongfan was very clear on this. "No matter how miraculous a good this is, it's efficacy will also have a limit. I don't have food to supplement it, and I've lost so much blood. My strength will only continue to gradually weaken… If I don't go now and instead wait till a long time has passed, I'm afraid I won't have enough time to escape then."

...

He then used his two arms like two legs and slowly moved forward.

"There are so many caves inside this canal. There probably isn't just one demonic beast here. Once I get discovered by a demonic beast, I'll die for sure." Teng Yongfan went forward very carefully. He could guess the reason why those Silver Dragon Soldiers who had come down the Bottomless Pit to investigate had been chased and killed by the demonic beasts. It was likely the soldiers had been discovered due to their movements being a bit too big.

Teng Yongfan inched forward—

A long time later…

There was a distance of five to six Zhang left before Teng Yongfan exited from the hole of this cave. Once he crossed over the five or six Zhang, he would enter the water canal.

"Whooshwhoosh~~" Suddenly, he heard the sound of a running stream.

"Eh?" Greatly alarmed, Teng Yongfan didn't move at all.

It was five-to-six Zhang away. With Teng Yongfan's eyesight, he could only see a dark shadow flit across from the end of the cave as a fishy smell filled the air.

When Teng Yongfan smelled this fishy scent, his expression changed. "It's that demonic beast!"

This fishy scent was something Teng Yongfan would never be able to forget for the rest of his life. It was the fishy scent of the Darksteel Centipede… Quite clearly, he had guessed right. There wasn't just one Darksteel Centipede existing in these caves that were numerous and close together!

Teng Yongfan was a nobody, so he had to struggle to live.

The innate experts who stood at the summit of the Land of the Nine Prefectures, however, became covetous and crazy because of Emperor Yu's hidden treasure.

...

At the foot of Great Yan Mountain:

"Haha, Brother Wang! In my opinion, considering Gu Yong's temper, if you want Qing Hu Island, it'll be difficult for all of us to each have a share of the profits," a purple-robed and scholarly middle-aged man said with a laugh. There was the design of a Qing Feng Sword embroidered on the back of his robes. Currently, he was walking on the public road on his own two legs.

Like him, there were five other people also walking unarmed on the public road.

Aside from these six people, there were still five men, uniformly wearing scale armor and leading along black wolves. The five black wolves that the five men were pulling along were even larger than warhorses by a notch.

"Elder Shi!" A thick and solid man with four braids, who was the leader of the those pulling along the wolves, opened his mouth to say, "Hmph, it's inevitable! As if that Qing Hu Island can stop us? However, as to whether Emperor Yu's hidden treasures are real, it's still hard to say for sure! Your Xiao Yao Palace and my Shooting Sun God Mountain will join hands to advance into the mountain and force them to let us search! If this Gu Yong does not dare to let us go in and search, then it means Emperor Yu's hidden treasures are real!"

Right at this moment——

As the sound of horses' hooves rang out, several dozen warhorses rushed over speedily from behind.

Several dozen cavalrymen jumped down from the horses, and one of them knelt down on one knee, greeting respectfully, "Sir!"

That thick and solid man, who had four braids and wore scale armor, looked disdainfully out of the corner of his eye at the cavalrymen. He scoffed coldly and said, "The God Mountain's information should have reached Jiangning County-City early this morning! Xiao Yao Palace's disciples had already brought over their elders' warhorses early on! Yet you… are only rushing over here now."

That man, who was the head of the cavalrymen, had sweat seeping out from his forehead, yet he did not dare to argue.

"Take the five ink black wolves away. You have to take good care of them. If you don't handle matters well again… Hmph." The thick and solid man humphed deeply. "Go."

"Yes, sir." The head of the cavalrymen said with a respectful attitude.

The head of the cavalrymen then arranged for his men to lead the five ink black wolves away. The Shooting Sun God Mountain was located in Yanzhou, which was the prefecture in the southernmost part of the Land of the Nine Prefectures. As Yanzhou's greatest sect, they would naturally have many mountains and forests, as well as wild areas. The taming of the Ink Black Wolves was one of the Shooting Sun God Mountain's great secrets, and every tamed Ink Black Wolf was very precious.

These tens of people took along the five Ink Black Wolves and left speedily.

Then the eleven experts of Xiao Yao Palace and the Shooting Sun God Mountain stepped onto the great mountain and advanced for a short period of time.

"Look at the sky." A bald-headed, skinny man, who was of the Shooting Sun God Mountain and carried a black sturdy bow on his back, raised his head to look at the sky.

Immediately, the other ten experts also raised their heads to look at the sky.

They saw five snow hawks circling slowly overhead the Great Yan Mountain.

"The Snow Hawks' speed sure is fast. Even though they were far away in the northern part of Yanzhou, the people of the Snow Hawk Hall have already arrived," a purple-robed, bald-headed elderly man said with a smile.