The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-125

Which Tie Yi Hall?

Was it the Tie Yi Hall that was on par with the Gui Yuan Sect as the second strongest sect in Yangzhou? Was it the one that controlled all of Chu County?

Teng Qingshan glanced over at Jin Tao, who stood alone in a corner. He was leaning against a wooden pillar, as he rested with his eyes closed.

“Dear Lords. Dear Lords!” The white-haired old man shouted loudly. “That black monster could enter our village from anywhere. Please find a good location and stay on guard. When night has fallen, I am certain that all of you will be able to locate the monster and kill it!”

The old man spoke to the warriors who were present with an attitude of awe and respect.

“Chief Jin is right. Let us spread out and watch each other’s back. This will prevent the monster from escaping.” Someone shouted. Many other men shouted in agreement.

“Hu!” With a tap of his feet, Jin Tao, the expert from Tie Yi Hall who had been resting with his eyes closed earlier, headed straight for a distant rooftop like a passing shadow. He then flew off to a rooftop further away, and he eventually disappeared from sight.

In an instant, all the warriors and experts either slipped into alleys or jumped to the rooftops. Every one of them was searching for a good location.

Duan Hou quickly urged, “Brother Qin Lang. It is easiest to spot the monster from the rooftops. I will be heading off first to find a good spot.” Having said that, with a tap of his feet, he reached the rooftop with a great speed, but with steps as light as a feather. After a few more flashes, he also disappeared.

Teng Qingshan smiled. “Duan Hou’s Qing Gong seems to be a notch higher than Jin Tao’s.”

Teng Qingshan also leapt up to the rooftops, lithe as a swallow as he regulated his internal strength and adjusted the weight of his body. He ran atop the roof at great speed, dashing straight for the northeast direction of Jin Jia Village. He then sat cross-legged on top of one of the rooftops and quietly meditated, waiting for the arrival of the black monster.

……

“Chief, will those warriors be able to defeat that monster?” The men from the village all looked towards the white-haired old man.

“Sigh.” There was a tinge of sadness in the eyes of the white-haired old man as he sighed, “Do we have any other choice? We can only seek assistance from these warriors. If it still doesn’t work, we will go through with out earlier decision . In five days, if the monster is still not dead, our clansmen will begin relocating and leave this place!”

The men, who were not afraid of death, all turned silent.

“Everyone hang on a for a bit longer and keep up the surveillance tonight.” The white-haired old man said.

“Yes, Chief!”

These ten-odd men were the elites of the village. Each of them held onto sabres and spears as they headed off to begin surveillance in ten-man teams.

Each of these warriors quietly waited in the hazy night.

Duan Hou laid down freely on the rooftop, as he crossed and shook his legs.

“Black monster. Hmph hmph. To be able to devour a person in an instant, if that guy did not lie to me, that black monster is probably a demonic beast!

‘Easy going Hou was another self-proclaimed title that he went by.

That mischievous pair of eyes swept across the surroundings, and his ears occasionally twitched.

“It’s been four hours, why it is not here yet?” Duan Hou mumbled.

Suddenly —-

“Chi!” An extremely soft sound came. Duan Hou’s eyes gleamed and he leaped to the ground from the roof with a flip, not making a single sound.

With two soft steps and a flip, he arrived in the courtyard of one of the houses.

The doors to the central hall was opened!

With the daily appearance of the monster, who would dare to leave the doors to their central hall open?

“It can open doors? And the sound of the opening of the doors was so soft. If it wasn’t me, Duan Hou, but another First Rated Warrior, they probably would not be able to catch the sound.” Duan Hou was surprised. “Legend says that demonic beasts are able to use their head to think as human does. It seems that this is the truth.” Duan Hou has already determined that the monster was a demonic beast.

Duan Hou pulled backed to a corner of the courtyard silently. In the dark, if one did not pay much attention, it would be hard to realise that there was a person in the corner of the courtyard.

Hu!

Duan Hou only felt a gust of wind. A large black shadow appeared in the courtyard. Duan Hou only saw its tightly packed scales reflecting the night light. With another flash, the black shadow leapt out of the courtyard.

“Thinking of escaping?!” Hou Duan leaped up and quickly pursued after the black figure, which had headed out of the courtyard. With a wave of his hands —-

Swoosh!

A flying knife cut across the air and struck the black shadow.

Clank!

Sparks flew off the tightly packed scales with a crisp sound. The large black figure slipped into an alleyway and disappeared from Duan Hou’s sight.

“Such a scary body. It seems to be close to one Zhang tall, has four limbs……and is covered with tightly packed scales. Those scales are really……” A chill ran through Duan Hou. He was a First Rated Warrior. It was quite astonishing that his flying knife was not able to pierce through the scales of the monster. Within that short moment, he was only able to capture a blurred glimpse in the darkness of the night.

As for the details, he was not able to see clearly.

Duan Hou raised his head and shouted, “Monster!”

“Black monster!”

The loud shout resounded like thunder above Jin Jia Village.

“Seize the monster!” In that moment, loud shouts filled Jin Jia Village, and the doors to every household were smashed open. Almost everyone from every household dashed out. Within a few breathe’s efforts, Jin Jia Village was filled the clansmen, each of them were in an enraged state as they held on to their weapons.

“The monster is here!”

Someone shouted immediately.

“The monster headed towards the north!”

Loud cries sounded. When the place was filled with people, it was of course easy to discover the monster.

……

Teng Qingshan looked towards the southwest. He had picked the northeast location of the Jin Jia Village, but the monster had appeared in the southwest. It was no wonder that he had not detected anything.

“Monster? It should be a demonic beast! And it should not be a monster with much powers. If this monster could match up to the flood dragon from the Frost Jade Pool, there would be no need for it to behave so secretively, nor to be fearful of humans!” Teng Qingshan turned into a bolt of lightning as he dashed towards the directions of the shouts.

Obviously there would be people shouting out loud wherever the monster ran to.

Demonic beasts had intelligence!

And of course, pride as well!

If a demonic beast was as strong as that flood dragon, it would not need to act so secretively, escaping when coming across a big crowd of humans.

It just had to kill!

“Use heavy weapons to attack that monster!” A loud cry came from far away. The one who had shouted was the warrior ‘Jin Tao’ from Tie Yi Hall.

Jin Tao was chasing at rapid speed as he held on to his saber.

“Chi —” Jin Tao looked down at his left arm. There was a huge scar. Even after he sealed the acupuncture points, blood continued flow.

“This demonic beast, can only be considered mediocre amongst other demonic beasts. If there were more people, it would be possible to capture it, but it is a pity, mmm. Report to the sect, that demonic beast must be living in the Blazing Mountain!

……

Everyone could not catch up, but Teng Qingshan was able to see the large black figure clearly. They were far away, about forty Zhang apart, but with Teng Qingshan’s vision, he could still see in the dim moonlight

Teng Qingshan shortened their distance at rapid speed by using «Crossing Worlds»

One of them was escaping, the other was chasing. Soon, they dashed into the Blazing Mountain to the north of Jin Jia Village. The reason Blazing Mountain, was named so was because there had been a volcanic eruption a very long time ago. Of course, it was something that had happened long ago. At present, the Blazing Mountain was now covered by vegetation.

After entering the mountain, the black figure unexpectedly increased its speed with great flexibility.

“Haha, you better stop attempting to escape!” Teng Qingshan laughed out loud.

From the initial distance of forty Zhang, after running for a few Li, there was now only a distance of not even three Zhang between him and the black figure.

“Growl~” The demonic beast panicked and gave a loud growl, as if attempting to threaten Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan could now see the demonic beast clearly. It is about nine Chi tall (almost 3m), with four limbs, a long face and long mouth. Its head looked a bit similar to that of a crocodile from his previous life. Or it could be said that it had the head of T-Rex, with sharp and short protruding awls on its back. And its strong physique, including the stomach, were all covered in tightly packed scales.

Those strong four limbs were similar to a lion’s, just that they were covered with scales. The four limbs all had sharp claws.

“No wonder it could swallow a human whole!” Teng Qingshan understood immediately at the sight of this appearance. “With such a big head and long mouth, it should be no tough feat to swallow a person whole when it opens its mouth, but……the demonic beast is only so big, how can it swallow three people in one go? It’s stomach can hold so much?”

Teng Qingshan discovered that the stomach of this demonic beast is only slightly inflated.

“Swish!” Teng Qingshan leaped up strongly to be directly above the demonic beast.

“Growl!” That demonic beast raised its head and opened its mouth, attempting to take a big bite.

“You’re courting death!” Teng Qingshan held his Reincarnation Spear and thrusted!

Pursuing Shadow Spear Art – strength of eighty thousand Jin!

“Clank!”

A crisp sound sounded. That demonic beast rolled on the floor after receiving a pierce of such strong power. It quickly followed with a flip.

“What strong scale armor!” Teng Qingshan focused his vision, and discovered that only only a single scale had cracked. There was another layer of scales under that cracked scale. “What a pity, it’s strength seems to be mediocre, falling over with just one strike of my spear. It is no wonder that Jin Tao had called out loudly for people to employ heavy weapons.” Teng Qingshan also understood the weakness of this demonic monster.

Although the dense of its armor of scales was strong, its strength was only mediocre.

“Howl”

The demonic beast raised its head and gave a loud howl. Unexpectedly, its whole body turned red and faintly emitted red light.

“Boom!” The demonic beast turned into a red afterimage and fled far into the distance.

“What speed.” Teng Qingshan gave chase.

Hu! Hu!

Within a few breath, the monster fled to the peak of the mountain.

“Let’s see where you will be escape to now.” Teng Qingshan was also surprised. The full speed of the fleeing demonic beast was actually comparable to his fastest speed.

When it reached the mountaintop, the demonic beast jumped off a cliff without any hesitation.

Teng Qingshan stood at the side of the cliff and looked down into the deep valley. With a cold laugh, he jumped down as well, but at the moment he jumped, for every ten metres he descended, he would clutch on to the protruding rocks to reduce his speed. Within a short while, Teng Qingshan reached the bottom of the valley.

“Hmm?” Teng Qingshan looked around the surroundings. The demonic beast was already nowhere to be seen.