The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-69

“Bubble~~”

The lava’s scorching steam could not contain the excitement of the surrounding warriors. They all wished to witness the battle between Teng Qingshan and that demonic beast!

“Hu!”

A figure flew from the banks of the lava lake towards the black boulder in the center of the lake. Teng Qingshan noticed with his acute senses, “Hmm? It’s that silver-haired old man! To think that he’s coming back!” Among the five experts who had been sent flying by the Red Scaled Beast, one had died, while another was crippled. Even the Black Elder was fearful of the Red Scaled Beast.

Only the silver-haired old man by the name of ‘Wang Yun’ flew back towards the boulder!

“He’s merely a warrior in the Postliminary Realm, there’s nothing to be concerned about!” Once he landed, Teng Qingshan quickly made an attempt to dash for the Black Fire Spirit Fruit.

The Red Scaled Beast was resting its massive head on the black boulder while locking his crimson eyes on Teng Qingshan. Suddenly, a hint of jest reflected in his eyes. From the white teeth of the Red Scales Beast, a long flashing red shadow emitted, cutting off the Black Fire Spirit Fruit at the speed of lightning!

In just that short moment!

The Black Fire Spirit Fruit vanished!

Leaving only the translucent Spirit Root, which was strongly rooted within the cracks of the black boulder.

“You evil creature!!!” Flying over in the air, the silver-haired old man ‘Wang Yun’ gave an angry shout.

“You’re courting death!”

Teng Qingshan’s face paled as he gave off a low shout. The Reincarnation Spear in his hands immediately turned into a flash of lightning, piercing towards the head of the Red Scaled Beast in the lava lake.

“Growl~~” The Red Scaled Beast gave off a conceited growl as it quickly submerged itself into the lava.

“Pu!”

The Reincarnation Spear was thrust into the lava and recovered in an instant.

“This Red Scaled Beast is doing this on purpose!” Teng Qingshan was annoyed. “When it sent the five of us flying, it had more than enough time to eat the Black Fire Spirit Fruit, but it didn’t! It deliberately waited for me to head over, giving me a falsified hopeful that I could retrieve the Black Fire Spirit Fruit before it suddenly ate the Black Fire Spirit Fruit!”

The tongue of the Red Scales Beast was like that of a venomous snake, flying with swift speed.

With a dash and a curl, the Black Fire Spirit Fruit was gone, pulled into the Red Scaled Beast’s mouth.

Teng Qingshan had no time to react.

“All of this was obviously within the Red Scaled Beast’s control. Hmph! Seems like it hasn’t forgotten the injury that I have inflicted on it previously.” Teng Qingshan understood that the intelligence of this Red Scales Beast was in no way inferior to that of a human. “But to me, the Black Fire Spirit Root is far more important than the Black Fire Spirit Fruit!”

These thoughts flashed past his head in a moment.

Teng Qingshan immediately looked towards the ‘Black Fire Spirit Root’ embedded in the black boulder. The translucent Black Fire Spirit Root had a special glow to it that faintly emitted a mysterious energy. It was this energy that was able to nurture a treasure like the ‘Black Fire Spirit Fruit’.

“The Black Fire Spirit Root contains a mysterious energy. A normal person can gain the strength of ten thousand Jin in an instant after consuming it. I wonder what sort of state I can reach after I eat it and absorb all of its given potential.” At that moment when Teng Qingshan wanted to pull out the Black Fire Spirit Root —

“Hu!” The light from a blade slashed towards Teng Qingshan.

It was the silver-haired old man, ‘Wang Yun’, who had just landed on the boulder.

“Hmph!” Teng Qingshan snorted coldly as he held the Reincarnation Spear in one hand, giving a back-handed thrust. Teng Qingshan thrust the end of the spear shaft towards the silver-haired old man ‘Wang Yun’ while using his left hand to remove the Black Fire Spirit Root!

“Bang!”

The long saber and Teng Qingshan’s Reincarnation clashed fiercely.

Bang!

The fierce clash created a deafening sound of exploding air! Created by the burst of internal strength, a strong gust of wind spread out, creating ripples on the surface of the scorching lava lake.

Teng Qingshan was thrown off by the attack and had to take three steps backward.

“An expert! An absolute expert much stronger than Meng Tian.” Teng Qingshan was astonished, but he immediately became excited and smiled. At the same time, he took a turn at lightning speed, and waved his Reincarnation Spear in a curving arc with internal strength that could be seen by the naked eye as he smashed towards the head of the silver-haired old man.

“Clank!”

Teng Qingshan could clearly felt the strange impact that was transmitted through his spear. “What a powerful expert! I’m not sure where he appeared from. To be able to keep his strength hidden, there’s no such man listed in the 《Earth Ranking》. He must be a reclusive expert who has gone through tough training over tens of years.” The spear in Teng Qingshan’s hand remained swift and agile.

“Swoosh!”

With a pull of his spear, a silver light flashed as the spearhead pierced forward. It pushed forth as if it were a thunderstrike, accompanied by a sharp whistle

“Clank!”

When the silver-haired old man blocked the spear attack, he could feel that it contained a strange rotational energy, as if it would send the saber in his hand flying. The silver-haired old man’s heart sank. “Hmph, I can’t afford to be wasting time here with this chap! I’ll have to end the battle quickly!” His blade became lit with a dazzling series of light.

“Hu!” “Hu!” “Hu!”

Nine rays of light shot out from the old man’s blade, but they were met simultaneously Teng Qingshan’s lightning-fast spear shadows!

Each shadow clashed with one of the flying blade lights.

“Hmph.”

The moment they began exchanging moves, the silver-haired old man lowered himself and slipped like a fish towards the side of the Black Fire Spirit Root. What was strangest of all was that with a simple wave of the old man’s left hand, all that Teng Qingshan managed to see was just a shadow——

The Black Fire Spirit Root was gone!

“Haha, Teng Qingshan, as expected, you are the top expert of the younger generation. I had trained for tens of years, but could only best you by a little.” With a loud laugh, the silver-haired man had already reached the center of the lava lake.

“Leave the Black Fire Spirit Root behind!”

With a holler and a step on the black boulder, Teng Qingshan headed for the banks of the lava lake. However, he was left astonished by the old man’s might. “In that short instant earlier, each slash from this old man contained an impact of at least ten thousand Jin. Not only that, he was able to display those extremely peculiar skills even under such a situation. Even I was not able to react in time!”

Strange!

Yes, it was truly strange!

Teng Qingshan had even thought that in terms of nimble movements, even if he were to utilize all of his abilities, he would not be a match for the other party. “This old man should be able to rank amongst the first few on the 《Earth Ranking》. He was an opponent not to be missed!” There was no way that Teng Qingshan would let this opponent off, not just because he wanted to have a battle with him.

More importantly, Teng Qingshan was hell bent on obtaining the Black Fire Spirit Root!

……

Coincidentally, the silver-haired old man was headed towards the men from Qinghu Island.

“Stop him!” The Young Master of Qing Hu Island, ‘Gu Shiyou’, bellowed, causing many experts behind him to line up and brandish their spears. Tens of spear shadows enveloped the the silver-haired old man as if it were a fishing net, but the silver-haired old man landed on the bank of the lava lake and immediately made a nimble dodge.

“Hu!”

Like a fish, he slipped through the crowds of the experts from the Qing Hu Island.

“Ahh!” “Ahh!” “Ahh!”……

A series of blood-curdling screams filled the air as fresh blood splattered. The silver-haired old man had easily charged through the crowd from Qing Hu Island.

“Kill him and snatch the Black Fire Spirit Root! He is only one person and won’t be a match for our combined might.” Someone shouted, but it was obvious that most of the warriors who were enjoying the show were not greedy for the Black Fire Spirit Root. Although the Black Fire Spirit Root would easily allow one to become a First Rate Warrior and improve their physique…

Even if ordinary warriors managed to get a hold of it, they would not be able to keep it for themselves.

Once he passed through the obstacles from the Qing Hu Island, the silver-haired old man left nimbly with swift speed like a fish that had escaped into the sea.

“Don’t think about escaping!”

With a loud holler, Teng Qingshan instantly increased his speed by thirty to forty percent as he rapidly gave chase.

……

The two experts, one escaping and one giving chase, disappeared from the vision of so many experts in the blink of an eye. Now, there was no longer any Black Fire Spirit Root or Black Fire Spirit Fruit in the center of the lava lake. Of course, while the Red Scaled Beast could be hidden somewhere within the lava, no one dared to provoke it.

“To think that so many experts died. It was truly exciting this time around.”

“Mmm, even the White Elder from Xiao Yan Palace died. That Virtuous Water Zong Qiyan was also devoured by the Red Scaled Beast! Old Li from our very own Xuyang County also fell into the lava lake and died; Qing Hu Island’s ‘Blade of Life and Death’ Du Jiu also died…… The number of fine experts who died is more than we can count with two hands.”

Each of them had nothing but praise in their hearts.

As the saying went, man would die for wealth, and birds would die for food!

But the finest experts had already removed themselves from their lust for ‘wealth’. The only things that could made them crazy were natural treasures such as Spirit Fruits or Spirit Flora; as well as the precious and rare materials that could be used to create godly weapons.

“That Wang Yun was really strong; to think that he would be able to grab the Black Fire Spirit Root! That Teng Qingshan seems to be slightly weaker than him.”

“Teng Qingshan is not weak, it was just that the movements of that Wang Yun were strange and flexible. In a real battle to the death, it would be hard to tell who would be the winner between the two. Didn’t you see that the Black and White Elders combined were not able to suppress Teng Qingshan? With these skills, tsk tsk…… rumors have it that Teng Qingshan is only seventeen years old.”

“To be so strong at the age of seventeen, how scary!”

……

No one expected that in this fight for the Black Fire Spirit Fruit, the Red Scaled Beast had been the one to get it in the end.

Frankly, the Red Scaled Beast was fortunate that the Black Fire Spirit Fruit happened to grow in the middle of a lava lake, which enabled the beast to sneak up and snatch it away. If it hadn’t been the case, with so many warriors fencing it in, probably tens of First Rate Warriors working together would be enough to suppress the Red Scaled Beast. Afterall, it had yet to evolve.

In the battle for the Black Fire Spirit Fruit, there were no winners among the warriors.

Large droplets of sweat appeared on Ji Hong’s forehead as he endured the pain of losing his arm and called out, “Alright, the Black Fire Spirit Fruit has been eaten by the Red Scaled Beast. Let’s head back for now. As for the armored scales that the Red Scaled Beast will shed……will depend on our luck and look for them slowly in the future.”

“Commander, Qingshan……” Teng Qinghu spoke out anxiously.

Ji Hong took a look at him and squeezed out a smile, “Qingshan’s has high defensive skills with his spear. Although that Wang Yun kept his skills hidden, it would not be easy for him to defeat Qingshan. Furthermore, none of us are a match for that Wang Yun.”

By then, all the other groups had dispersed, and occasionally a few of them came up to greet Ji Hong.

“Martial Granduncle!” Guan Lu suddenly spoke out.

“Hmm?” Ji Hong looked at her.

“I will lead thirty elites from the Black Armored Army to assist Teng Qingshan.” Guan Lu declared.

Ji Hong contemplated for a moment. Guan Lu’s abilities were not bad, and the Black Armored Army was good at attacking as a team. The combined efforts of thirty elites could definitely be of a threat to that Wang Yun. He nodded and said, “Mmm, that’s good as well, but Guan Lu, you’ll need to be careful. Do not split up the team of thirty elites from the Black Armored Army.”

Guan Lu nodded.

“If you want to go, go quickly.” Ji Hong told her.

“Follow me!” At Guan Lu’s order, thirty elites followed her into the passageway in the deep lake.

Ji Hong looked at his amputated arm and took a look at that boiling and scorching lava lake. If not for Teng Qingshan, he would have lost his life today. Ji Hong lamented to himself, “I am already so old and have already lost my right arm and my vitality. My abilities will definitely drop! Sigh, I should relinquish my commander position! Hmm……Who should be appointed as the new commander? Teng Qingshan? I owe him for saving my life, but he is still inexperienced and has not been stationed in our Black Armored Army for that long! I’m afraid that that group of elders from our Gui Yuan Sect will not trust Teng Qingshan.”