The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-75

The Red Scaled Beast recognised the human immediately. It was the person that it wanted to kill the most!

For the past twenty-plus days, it wasn’t like no warriors had came to search the underground passageways. Those who braved the journey, especially those who entered the tunnels, once they came across the Red Scales Beast, they all became its meal! Not only had it just evolved, which transformed its armored scales crimson red, its abilities had also been raised substantially.

It was absolutely confident that it could kill this human in front of it!

Die!

The Red Scaled Beast silently crept out of its nest on its four feet. Its pair of red eyes, larger than copper bells, contained blatant murderous intent!

“Hmm? It can see me?” Teng Qingshan saw the Red Scaled Beast headed in his direction, and was especially shocked to see the murderous intent in its eyes. He then laughed coldly, “But……I’m afraid that this Red Scaled Beast does not know that I can see it as well.” Teng Qingshan glanced at the Red Scaled Beast and turned his gaze away.

He pretended to not see the Red Scaled Beast while secretly conserving his energy!

The Red Scales Beast silently crept closer. When it was ten Zhang away from Teng Qingshan, its pupils began to dilate——

“It’s getting close, it’s getting close!” Teng Qingshan fully relaxed his entire body.

“Hu!”

Teng Qingshan only felt the Red Scaled Beast turning into an enormous red beam of light as it pounced over——

“Hur!”

With a loud bellow, Teng Qingshan’s eyes snapped wide open. The initially completely relaxed body, like a bow, shot out an astonishing power in an instance. The rocky ground below Teng Qingshan shattered into ash with a low rumble, and an astonishing power circulated from his feet to his waist. His pants were stretched out, and with a twist of his body——

The energy coursed into his two hands; the muscles on his arms coiled around and stretched out his sleeves, revealing a pair of robust hands with a tinge of dark red color.

“Swoosh!”

A flash of silver lightning pierced towards that massive red light!

The strength of 210,000 Jin from his body! The ninth level of the Vigor of the Reckless Bull! Exploding at full blast!

The Pursuing Shadow Spear Art! An explosive power of 270 thousand Jin!

“Clank!”

The piercing sound of metal clashing!

“Boom!”

Teng Qingshan’s Reincarnation Spear clashed with the beast’s red sharp claws, and the compressed air that had exploded resembled invisible Qi blades flying towards the surroundings. With a series of rumbling sounds, crushed stones were sent flying about. Deep grooves formed on the rock walls in the tunnel as dust was sent flying.

“Growl~~!” The Red Scaled Beast was shaken and sent flying back more than one Zhang. Its massive body tumbled off the ground and quickly regained its stance. The eyes of the Red Scaled Beast turned a crimson red as it let out a fiery growl, as if it had fallen to madness. Once again, it pounced towards Teng Qingshan!

It had already evolved!

The majesty of a demonic beast was not something humans should mess with!

The strong impact also made Teng Qingshan take three steps backwards. “What a demonic beast. Its claws are long and resemble four sharp godly weapons! To think that it clashed heads-on against my Reincarnation Spear.” In the short exchange earlier, Teng Qingshan realized that the demonic beast’s weapon was its sharp claws! Not only that, the Red Scaled Beast was able to deflect the Reincarnation Spear with its sharp claws in such a short window. It goes to show that its reflexes were also extremely fast!

Strong power, fast reflexes, strong defence!

This was the Red Scaled Beast!

Facing the Red Scaled Beast’s frenzied pounce——

“Evil creature!” Teng Qingshan hollered, charging up at the speed of lightning and pointing his Reincarnation straight at the Red Scaled Beast!

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!”……

The continuous strikes of the Reincarnation Spear were as fast as lightning, and each strike was very strong, containing a shocking amount of power! Furthermore, each spear strike was also augmented by an astonishing rotational energy. When the endless spear strikes were combined together, even the powerful Red Scaled Beast could feel its massive body falling into a large invisible tornado!

“Bang!”

Teng Qingshan’s body knocked against the rock walls on the side, causing the rock to crack and dust to fall.

However, Teng Qingshan behaved as if nothing had happened as he charged towards the Red Scaled Beast once again!

“Bang!” The Red Scaled Beast’s massive body had also knocked repeatedly against the rock walls in the tunnels. There was no other way around it since the width of the tunnel was only so wide. With such a massive body, the Red Scaled Beast had no way of making big movements while battling against Teng Qingshan in the dark tunnels. The two of them were restricted within this small space!

“To think that the strength of this demonic beast has increased by so much after one transformation!” Teng Qingshan was also astonished.

Unless necessary, Teng Qingshan did not want to use the ‘Toxic Dragon Drill’.

That was because once he used it, especially when the opponent was a massive creature like the ‘Red Scaled Beast’, even if it penetrated, it would be hard to finish it off! Then……with the Red Scaled Beast’s fast reflexes, he would simply throw a claw towards Teng Qingshan directly! By then, Teng Qingshan would be faced with great danger.

The ‘Pursuing Shadow’ spear art had a weaker impact than the Toxic Dragon Drill.

But it was superior since that its attack was endless and had no flaws!

“Growl~~~” The infuriated Red Scaled Beast roared. It had been deeply enraged! To think that it was not able to deal with one human even after it had transformed! The fanatic Red Scaled Beast was like a moving steel fort as it attacked Teng Qingshan repeatedly. The eight claws on its two front limbs were the godly soldiers!

It wanted to tear Teng Qingshan into shreds!

A human and a demonic beast!

They frenziedly exchanged moves again and again. Currently, the Red Scaled Beast had already a height of close to 2.7 to 2.8 Zhang, with a length of about five to six Zhang. Its massive body contained an incredible amount of power. On the other hand, while Teng Qingshan’s height of seven chi and six cun (1.9 metres) seemed weak, his body also contained power that would not pale in comparison to that of the Red Scaled Beast!

A human and a demonic beast, both were equipped with ultimate strength!

“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”

Wherever they passed by in their battles, the thin walls of the mountain collapsed; the thick rocks were split as smashed stones were sent flying, and the immense pressure of Qi blades were also sent flying about.

Ever since the human and the demonic beast had first engaged in their battle, Teng Qingshan’s ‘Pursuing Shadow’ spear art had continuously created an invisible tornado that suppressed the demonic beast. Each time they clashed, Teng Qingshan was able to advance, and the demonic beast was forced to back off. At that moment, the Red Scaled Beast had already been forced back to the entrance of its nest!

“Now!” Teng Qingshan’s eyes gleamed.

As this was the nest of the Red Scaled Beast, the space was much larger! Teng Qingshan could now dodge his opponent’s sharp claws and display his ultimate skill.

“Hu!” He controlled the skill ‘Crossing Worlds’ with his body and maximized limits of his body’s energy. Teng Qingshan slipped next to the Red Scaled Beast, channeling the energy into his right arm, and the Reincarnation Spear in his hand immediately became an awl that pierced towards the back of the brain of the Red Scaled Beast at an amazing speed. As it got closer and closer——

Boom!

The Reincarnation Spear unleashed a strong rotational energy that was channeled out from within. The Reincarnation Spear was so strong that even Teng Qingshan was not able to be have full control over the spear art!

“Swoosh!”

The spear was like silver lightning!

“Growl~~” The Red Scaled Beast had been aware of the danger when Teng Qingshan flipped to its side. It roared furiously as it tried to dodge with its massive body. Furthermore, its tail, which had been unable to reach Teng Qingshan when they were in the tunnels, also turned into a shadow and whipped towards Teng Qingshan!

“Chi —”

The Reincarnation Spear’s spearhead was made with Purple Radiant Coldsteel, and its sharpness was unparalleled.

It pierced through the outermost layer of the armored scales with much difficulty and then into the thick muscles underneath the scales. Fresh blood immediately flowed out from the cracks on the surface of the red armored scales!

“Not good.”

The moment Teng Qingshan had thrust his spear, the tail of the Red Scaled Beast appeared before Teng Qingshan.

He was not able to retrieve his spear to block in time!

Teng Qingshan was only able to pull back his Reincarnation Spear with his left hand while his right arm, like a swimming dragon, barely managed to block off the attacks with the Dragon Style of the Twelve Postures of Xingyi. The strong and powerful right arm then instantly turned into a slippery cobra, as the fist and arm clashed furiously against the Red Scaled Beast’s dragon tail.

“Bang!”

Teng Qingshan was smashed into the rock walls facing the side of the nest as if he were an missile. With a loud sound, a large cavity was carved into the walls.

“My body has long since achieved the state of ‘the merging of toughness and flexibility’, but I was still injured. In terms of the defence, I am still far away from the Red Scaled Beast’s armored scales.” Teng Qingshan glanced at his right arm. A large wound had appeared on the right arm, ripping it open. However, with Teng Qingshan’s abilities to control his energy and blood, he was able to seal his wound without dripping a single drop of blood.

The Red Scaled Beast’s dragon tail whipped strongly; if Teng Qingshan had met it head-on, he would probably have suffered from heavy injuries.

After all the Red Scaled Beast’s defence was too strong; every part of its body was a weapon!

“Growl~~” A large amount of blood flowed out from the wound on the back of the Red Scaled Beast. It opened its big mouth as it roared furiously!

To think that a human was able to inflict serious injuries on itself!

He must die!

Suddenly, a beam of pure-white flames shot out from its gaping maw! Before the flame reached him, Teng Qingshan quickly tapped on the rock walls and leaped to the other side in shock.

“Chi chi~~” That piece of rock had be reduced to smithereens.

Teng Qingshan’s face paled in shock. “The flames spewed by the Red Scaled Beast is able to melt gold and dissolve metal! The stories are true. But this Red Scaled Beast seems to be very tired!” Teng Qingshan had also realized that after the Red Scaled Beast had spewed out flames, it was starting to pant heavily, as if it were exhausted.

“Growl~~” Looking at Teng Qingshan, it was once again enraged.

“I am not fighting with you anymore!” With a quick glance, Teng Qingshan saw the massive black-colored armored scales on the side of the nest and slipped over. He grabbed them with his right arm, gave a tug, and circled them around his shoulders. Then, resembling a gust of wind, he slipped out of the hole had been created by the Red Scaled Beast’s own flames.

After slipping out of its nest, with a quick glance, Teng Qingshan found a small narrow passageway on the left. “Yes, this is it!”

“Growl~~” The enraged Red Scaled Beast knocked apart the rocks and followed.

“Hmph.” Teng Qingshan slipped into the narrow passageway and dashed more than ten Zhang away. The Red Scaled Beast roared furiously at the entrance, knocking and clawing for a couple of Zhang deep before stopping its futile attempt. There was no way that its massive body could enter the passageway that was one Zhang high!

As it destroyed a depth of a couple of Zhang, Teng Qingshan had already ran tens of Zhang away.

“Growl~~~” The Red Scaled Beast continued to roar furiously for a while before it eventually left. With its intelligence, it could understand that although it had just transformed, it was still a distance away from reaching its peak. If it had sufficient fire-attribute energy in its body, it would not be exhausted from just a spew of flames.

……

Carrying the big, rolled up lump of armored scales, Teng Qingshan quickly climbed through the deep crevice and soon reach the entrance of the cave.

Looking at his battered self, Teng Qingshan took at a look at the black armored scales that were rolled up into a lump. “When rolled up, this lump of armored scales already reaches the height of a person! If it was spread out completely, it would probably cover an entire courtyard.” Thinking back on the recent battle, Teng Qingshan was also clear, “That Red Scaled Beast must have just transformed! Its height was only about 2.7 or 2.8 Zhang even though the records show that that it would be over three Zhang tall. And those flames…it was clearly exhausted after just one spew.”

The prowess of the white flame was terrifying!

“In terms of prowess, this white flame should be similar to the black mist spewed by the Flood Dragon within the Frost Jade Pool. But that Flood Dragon was able to spew it continuously. It was still spewing the black mist after I jumped off the cliff. It was obvious that it paid no heed to the black mist!” Teng Qingshan deduced.

That Flood Dragon should have been living for very long time and harbored shocking energy within its body.

On the other hand, the Red Scaled Beast had just transformed and was still young, therefore the energy it stored was too little.

“In my battle with the Red Scaled Beast, my strength was in no way weaker, it was just that its armored scales were too strong. The Toxic Dragon Drill probably failed inflict any fatal injuries.” Teng Qingshan was well aware that if he were to risk his life, he would have a fifty to sixty percent chance to kill the Red Scaled Beast which was still very young, but the Red Scaled Beast could kill him as well.

It was not worth risking his life for!

“With these armored scales, our mission is also complete, so now we can head back to Jiangning. These scales are quite heavy. The whole lump must be over 10,000 Jin.” Teng Qingshan looked at the curled up lump of black armored scales next to him, picked it up and slipped out of the cave, leaping downwards.