The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-56

Previously, when Teng Qingshan had gone to the Blazing Flame Territory, it had already been night. Today, when he rushed back from the Blazing Flame Territory to Ox-Head Mountain Range, traces of dawn were gradually painting the sky. After all, this round trip covered several hundred Li. Additionally, Teng Qingshan had spent more than half a day searching at Magma Lake.

At that nameless hill on Ox-Head Mountain:

An earthy yellow figure only took two steps from the foot of a mountain and reached the top of the mountain.

“Little Jun, Ah Shou, Little Ping, Ah Dong, wake up quickly. We must get going at once.” The moment Teng Qingshan rushed into the courtyard, he yelled out their names in succession impatiently.

“Teacher.” Teng Shou was the first to rush out of his house, while Yang Dong was the second.

Li Jun and Fu Yuping ran out as well while buttoning up their clothes. This was early in the morning, and stars could still be seen in the sky. Why was Teng Qingshan shouting for them to wake up this early?

“Big brother Teng, what’s wrong?” Li Jun asked.

“Quickly pack your things, we’re leaving straight away,” Teng Qingshan said, while rushing into his own house simultaneously. The moment he entered it, Teng Qingshan first carried the Reincarnation Spear on his shoulder and then placed the Splitting Mountain Axe, stone inscriptions, and so on into a metal trunk. This metal trunk also contained the Dreamy Cloud White Fruit and other important materials.

“Hu!”

Carrying this large metal trunk on his shoulder, Teng Qingshan turned around and walked out from the house into the courtyard.

“Quickly, hurry up,” Teng Qingshan urged.

Li Jun, who was carrying a bundle on her back, had a worried expression on her face. “Big brother Teng, just what is going on?”

“Little Jun,” Teng Qingshan said seriously, “I rushed over to Blazing Flame Territory last night and plucked the Nine Leaf Red Lotus. However…… this information is already known by many people. The implications of taking the Nine Leaf Red Lotus are too great. It’s better for us to leave here immediately…… Ride on Blue Luan and the Whole Gale Eagle to a place where there are no human beings, like the Dreamy Cloud Pool or some desolate and overgrown island.”

Teng Qingshan was very clear that when the Iron Blade Martial Saint, Helian Haoyan, let out that loud roar, the situation had worsened.

So, he had no other choice and could only search for another secret location.

“Nine Leaf Red Lotus?” Li Jun immediately understood the gravity of the situation.

“Big sister Little Jun.” Fu Yuping rushed in from outside the courtyard and said anxiously, “The Whole Gale Eagle is here, but I don’t know where Blue Luan has gone.”

“Blue Luan?” Li Jun was startled.

Normally, Teng Qingshan and the others had not actually restricted the Whole Gale Eagle and the Blue Luan much. As long as they did not go far from the surroundings, then it would be fine.

“Quickly. Hurry and call Blue Luan to come back. We need to get going without delay,” Teng Qingshan said.

“Okay.” Li Jun nodded and immediately raised her head, letting out a resounding cry, “Yowu~~~”

Teng Qingshan looked at Teng Shou and Yang Dong, who were at side, and instructed, “Ah Shou, you and Ah Dong, as well as Little Ping, all of you are to get onto the Whole Gale Eagle’s back. After a while, you need to take good care of Ah Dong and Little Ping. You must not let them fall down from the Whole Gale Eagle’s back.” The Whole Gale Eagle had an extremely fast flying speed in the face of an extremely strong wind.

A moment of carelessness would lead to being blown off. However, with Teng Shou, who had perfected his Supreme Force and was even stronger than the average Innate Hollow Dan Martial Saint, taking care of them, it was only natural that there would be no problems.

“Yes, Teacher.”

“Quickly, let’s go up.”

Teng Shou, Yang Dong, and Fu Yuping, the three people jumped up onto the back of the Whole Gale Eagle in succession. Although it was clearly crowded, it was possible for them to sit properly on the Eagle’s back as Fu Yuping’s body was petite.

Then right at this moment—

“Brother Teng,” a clear and sonorous voice rang out. A flash of lightning fell on the courtyard wall, and it was The Rising Sun Trading Company’s Great Elder, Mu Wang.

He looked at Teng Qingshan and said, “Brother Teng, this Nine Leaf Red Lotus, could it be…… that you want to keep everything for yourself?” At present, Mu Wang was feeling somewhat unhappy.

“Elder brother Mu, let’s have a talk later instead,” Teng Qingshan consoled.

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Two figures dropped onto the courtyard wall almost simultaneously. They were distinguishable as the Iron Blade Martial Saint, Helian Haoyan, and the Martial Saintess, Jiang Yan.

“Martial Saintess.” Li Jun could not help but look at the Martial Saintess, Jiang Hu. Considering their striking resemblance toward each other, Li Jun naturally had to take notice of the Martial Saintess.

“Mister Teng,” the Iron Blade Martial Saint, Helian Haoyan, said with a smile, “This Nine Leaf Red Lotus, I think you should just take it out. Then we’ll divide it together.”

“How will we divide it?” Teng Qingshan asked in response.

“Take out the Nine Leaf Red Lotus, and we’ll discuss further as to how it should be divided,” Helian Haoyan said.

Right at this moment, the Blue Luan pierced through the air rapidly, leaving a fiery red afterimage.

“Little Jun, get onto Blue Luan’s back,” Teng Qingshan instructed her while he paying careful attention to the several people before his eyes. He feared the Iron Blade Martial Saint and the rest of the people with him would mount a sneak attack upon Li Jun, Teng Shou, and the others.

……

Currently, the Whole Gale Eagle had already been spiralling in midair for a while. Teng Shou, Yang Dong, and Fu Yuping, these three people were on the Whole Gale Eagle’s back. As for Li Jun, she had just jumped suddenly onto the Blue Luan’s back.

“Don’t blame me.” The thoughts of the Iron Blade Martial Saint, Helian Haoyan, began to stir. A thread of Innate True Origin entered the pocket at his chest, piercing easily into the jade bottle inside his pocket.

“Hu~~”

The liquid turned into a colourless and odourless gas, and started to pervade the air with great speed.

……

Teng Qingshan had put up a guard. However, when he realized Li Jun had already jumped onto Blue Luan’s back, he finally felt at ease and hoisted up the large metal trunk, wanting to jump up onto Blue Luan’s back. Then suddenly——

“Eh?”

Teng Qingshan felt like there was something wrong in his body. He also felt slightly dizzy and couldn’t help turning pale with fright. “Oh, no! Little Jun and the others……” In a flash, Teng Qingshan controlled his blood flow and reversed it, forcing the poison, which he had breathed in, out of his body. Simultaneously, he shouted loudly, “There’s poison, stop breathing!”

“There’s poison?”

The responses of the Rising Sun’s Martial Saint and the others were slightly slower than Teng Qingshan’s, but they had also perceived it immediately.

“There’s poison!”

“Someone poisoned the air.”

The Rising Sun Martial Saint, Mu Wang, the Iron Blade Martial Saint, Helian Haoyan, and Martial Saintess, Jiang Yan, all yelled out sternly almost simultaneously. At this moment, among the four great martial saints, including Teng Qingshan, it was completely unknown as to who had let out the poison.

“Little Jun.” Teng Qingshan raised his head to look at her.

As the Whole Gale Eagle was hovering at a high altitude, Teng Shou, Yang Dong, and Fu Yuping were all unaffected in the slightest. However, Li Jun had just jumped onto the Blue Luan’s back. The Blue Luan was flying at a mere height of two or three Zhang…… Li Jun and Teng Qingshan had breathed in the poisoned air almost simultaneously, but she didn’t have Teng Qingshan’s ability to force out the poisonous air.

‘There’s poison. Stop breathing!’ When Teng Qingshan’s shout rang out, Li Jun was already feeling dizzy, and she thought, “There’s poison? I’ve been poisoned.”

On the Blue Luan’s back, Li Jun swayed back and forth like she was drunk. Although she hadn’t completely lost consciousness, she simply had no way of controlling her body. Her body then tilted to the side and fell from Blue Luan’s back.

Li Jun just felt dizzy……

“Poisoned? I… Am I going to die?”

Image after image appeared in her mind.

During her childhood at the Fu household, she had her parents’ love and had passed her days as a carefree young Miss of the Fu Family.

There was also the image of that nightmarish night. In just one night, her clan had been slaughtered, and she and her mother had fled in a flurry. At that time, all she’d been able to do had been to rely on her mother.

When a bandit shot her mother dead with an arrow, Li Jun had felt that everything was over and that the sky had collapsed. Right at her greatest moment of despair, Teng Qingshan had appeared, killing all the bandits with a lightning-like warblade. At that moment, she felt she had someone she could rely on.

Perhaps, it was because she was grateful, or maybe because of some other thought… but at that very moment, she had already desired to follow Teng Qingshan, even if it was as a maid……

After that, Li Jun had found a master. Furthermore, she had gone on to become a highly respected core disciple of the Heavenly God Palace and even learned the language of beasts. In a short period of time, Li Jun had transformed from a pitiful orphan into an important member of the Heavenly God Palace, with a position comparable to that of a Golden Dan Innate Expert. However, she hadn’t been happy at all because she had always been worrying about Teng Qingshan.

Every piece of news about Teng Qingshan had made her nervous and worried.

Then at the Great Prairie, Li Jun had finally encountered Teng Qingshan! She had felt very happy, unprecedentedly so.

When Teng Qingshan had been about to leave and go out to sea, Li Jun had decided in the end that…… regardless of where he went, even if it was out to the desolate and uninhabited, boundless sea, she would still want to follow him. Even if it was through mountains of daggers and sea of flames, she would still follow him willingly… even if…… she could only wait upon him silently as a maid.

……

Regardless of whether it was the Fu family’s young mistress’ birthday, or an immortal mountain goddess’ birthday, Li Jun had never served anyone before.

However, as she followed Teng Qingshan, she was willing to do so.

She washed Teng Qingshan’s clothes……

Cooked tasty food for him……

Observed him practice his fist art……

And watched him wage war with other strong experts……

While Teng Qingshan taught her the way of the whip art……

“Li Jun!” An anxious voice reached Li Jun’s ears.

“Big Brother Teng is calling out for me. It’s big brother Teng.” Li Jun was already close to losing consciousness. She wanted to speak to him, but she had no way to speak at all. It was to the extent that she couldn’t even open her eyes.

“Little Jun, you’ll be fine. You’ll definitely be fine.”

As she heard the anxious voice and even felt waves of warmth, Li Jun‘s mood brightened. “Big brother Teng is worried for me…… and he is probably hugging me right now.”

“Plop!”

A tear droplet dripped onto Li Jun’s face.

“Is it raining? Or is it…… big brother Teng’s tears……”

“Big brother Teng’s, you’re…… you’re crying for me?

“He’s crying……”

Then Li Jun lost all consciousness.

……

When Li Jun fell from Blue Luan’s back, Teng Qingshan had felt a pain stab his heart, and he’d rushed out unconsciously to catch the falling Li Jun.

This young woman who had been accompanying him through wind and rain……

“Little Jun’s breathing is weakening! Her pulse as well!”

Teng Qingshan panicked.

He felt like his head was going to explode.

When they’d gone out to sea, Teng Qingshan had hardened his heart and said, “Alright, from this day onward, I am your big brother!”

Teng Qingshan had also always thought that……

What he felt for Li Jun were the feelings an elder brother had toward his younger sister—concern and pity. As for the secret special feelings Teng Qingshan had toward Li Jun…… Sometimes, he would want to hug her. Other times, he would secretly want to kiss her…… Teng Qingshan had thought these were all because he had been thinking of Li Jun as his wife from his previous life, Cat.

Every single time he had that sort of feeling, Teng Qingshan had thought they were all because of Li Jun’s and Cat’s identical appearances!

However…

At this moment, Teng Qingshan was heartbroken, and the only person in his mind was this young lady who had been silently devoted to him. When he had wanted to go to Godly Axe Mountain, Li Jun had followed him. When he had wanted to cultivate arduously at Ox-Head Mountain, she, a girl in the prime of her youth, had also stayed inside the desolate Ox-Head Mountain.

Li Jun had knitted clothes for him…… and watched him dressed in the clothes she’d made.

She had also cooked delicious vegetable and meat dishes for him…… and watched happily as he ate.

Image after image of warm scenes flashed through his mind.

Family!

It was family. Being with Li Jun gave him the feeling of having a family!

“Why… why does my heart hurt like this?!”

“Isn’t it because of Cat that I have special feelings toward her?”

Teng Qingshan’s body shivered slightly. His gaze could not help sweeping over the Martial Saintess, Jiang Yan, before him, more specifically at that appearance which resembled that of his own wife.

“Jiang Yan and Cat look similar as well. Why… why is it that I’ve never had that kind of feeling of wanting to hug Jiang Yan tenderly? Why is it that I don’t have that special feeling toward her?”

“No!”

Teng Qingshan’s body suddenly trembled, and his eyes opened wide and round.

In this moment, Teng Qingshan realised……

“I… I… I’ve fallen in love with Little Jun?”

Love… if it was not said clearly, it would stay unknown.

Li Jun, the girl who seemed very ruthless but was actually pure and simple. It was to the extent that she didn’t even have the scheming ability of a little girl like Fu Yuping. Li Jun didn’t know how to capture a man’s heart. She only knew how to devote herself and watch over him silently. Unconsciously, Teng Qingshan had already fallen for her. However…… time after time, he had persuaded himself that his love wasn’t for her but for Cat.

After persuading himself as such time after time, Teng Qingshan had believed it!

…That the one he loved wasn’t Li Jun but Cat!

It had even been to the extent that he’d said to Li Jun, “From today onwards, I’m your big brother!”

This had left Li Jun with no choice but to wait silently……

However, Teng Qingshan was now aware of this!