The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-203

A figure appeared ten Zhang away in a flash as it sprinted stealthily through the forest. Having six years experience as the leader of the hunting squadron, Teng Qingshan knew the Great Yan Mountain like the back of his hand. Going over hills, jumping off cliffs, or going through the forest, Teng Qingshan’s route wasn’t more than ten li, despite the fact that the mountainous road to the destination was forty Li.

Within fifteen minutes, he arrived at the Gourd Valley.

“Bang!”

A figure fell from the cliff of Gourd Valley and crashed heavily onto the ground like a meteorite. Only Teng Qingshan, whose body was strong to its current point, would have the audacity to descend this way. Ordinary innate experts might have strong Innate True Origin Qi, but their bodies were definitely much weaker when compared to Teng Qingshan’s.

Innate True Origin Qi could resolve force, but if even half the force of impact produced by a fall from a hundred-Zhangs high cliff acted on one’s body, those innate experts would still be dead!

“Bang!” A big stone pit appeared where Teng Qingshan landed.

Supporting himself with one hand, Teng Qingshan leaped up and darted towards the Bottomless Pit.

Teng Qingshan had already noticed when he was on the cliff…that there was no one else in the Gourd Valley. He soon arrived at the location of the Bottomless Pit.

“Father and Uncle Yongxiang were encircled here…..” Teng Qingshan scrutinized the surroundings. Blood stains, flesh, broken bones, and crushed iron could be seen on the ground. However, there were no corpses.

“This place was cleaned!” Teng Qingshan could tell with one glance.

There was so much blood and so many pieces of crushed iron on the ground, thus, many people must’ve died. Only weapons could be seen around. There were both wooden long spears and Damascus Steel long spears.

“Damascus Steel Spear!” Teng Qingshan looked at the two blood-stained Damascus Steel Spears in the bushes and immediately rushed over. He picked up a Damascus Steel Spear and saw the knife mark on the lower end of the spear. Teng Qingshan’s pupils constricted, and his heart seemed to stop as he thought, “This… this is Father’s Damascus Steel Spear!” Teng Qingshan had seen his father’s spear since he was young.

He’d seen it for many years, so of course he recognized it with a single glance.

“Father even dropped his weapon! Those bastards from Qing Hu Island!” Teng Qingshan’s eyes reddened, and anger boiled in his chest.

“There are many pieces of iron scrap here. This iron scrap should be from the heavy armor of the Silver Dragon Soldiers! There are so many crushed pieces…and blood stains…thus, many people must’ve died!” Teng Qingshan deduced, “The broken pieces of heavy armor were cut in a very orderly fashion. It’s impossible for father’s Damascus Steel Spear to inflict such marks. It should be a very trenchant sword that sliced through these heavy armors! If it were an expert, the expert would’ve stabbed the enemy to death quickly, and would never have wasted time with slicing the heavy armors into pieces! This heavy armor was also cut so thoroughly that it doesn’t seem like the doing of a human…..They must’ve encountered a demonic beast!”

Teng Qingshan judged as he stared at the broken and crushed iron scraps that didn’t seem like they were the doings of humans.

“Eh?” From the corner of his eyes, Teng Qingshan saw a large amount of ash ten Zhang away.

Teng Qingshan immediately walked over.

“Many logs of wood were burned here! There’s even the smell of burnt corpses…a cremation must’ve been done!” Teng Qingshan could easily deduce what had happened.

After those Silver Dragon Soldiers had encircled his father, uncle, and the others, they’d encountered a powerful demonic beast! And after the beast had killed those Silver Dragon Soldiers…more Silver Dragon Soldiers had arrived. Of course they couldn’t leave the corpses of their brothers unburied in the wilderness, so they’d cremated their bodies nearby.

Those soldiers also cremated the corpses of the hunters.

Some undamaged sabers and heavy armors were taken away by the Silver Dragon Soldiers.

“No!”

Teng Qingshan thought as he furrowed his brows, “If they’d successfully killed Father, they should’ve left immediately. Even if they encountered a demonic beast, they shouldn’t have fought it here! This means that…the soldiers encountered the demonic beast while they were still fighting Father, thus, they didn’t manage to escape!”

“Where did that demonic beast come from?”

Teng Qingshan turned and looked towards the Bottomless Pit.

“Whew!” Teng Qingshan sprinted beside the bottomless hole and said, “Other than the Purple Radiant Flood Dragon, I’ve never seen any other demonic beasts in these Great Yan Mountain! Which means…that the demonic beast didn’t like staying in the forest of the Great Yan Mountain! This demonic beast must be inside of the Bottomless Pit.”

“And Qing Hu Island…was also searching for an underground palace.”

Teng Qingshan also saw blood on the drooping vine beside the Bottomless Pit, and thought to himself, “Someone from Qing Hu Island must’ve gone down into the pit!”

With this, Teng Qingshan immediately leaped down.

Whew! Whew!

As Teng Qingshan fell rapidly, a fierce wind was produced. The Bottomless Pit was very humid, with a faint smell of blood. Although the Bottomless Pit was dark, Teng Qingshan could still see. After he’d eaten the Black Fire Spirit Root and repeatedly researched its energy, Teng Qingshan had obtained night vision.

“Eh?” Teng Qingshan forcefully stabbed the muddy and rocky walls of the pit with his hands!

Since he was wearing the Heavenly Hawk Claws, he easily inserted his hands into the wall three Chi deep before he stopped.

“There’s a deep hole.” Teng Qingshan noticed a slanted deep hole on the wall above. Half of a body was stuck on the wall before the hole, and the upper body part of the corpse wore heavy armor. The body was divided in two at the chest area. “A demonic beast must’ve darted out from the mud and cut the Silver Dragon Soldier that was climbing up the vine in two. The powerful force of impact even propelled this half of his body into the muddy and rocky wall.”

The nightmarish scene could be distinctly deduced.

Teng Qingshan pulled out his hands!

Whew!

Teng Qingshan descended again. Even during a dark night like this, Teng Qingshan’s eyesight had no difference than his eyesight during the day. Because the walls of the Bottomless Pit were uneven, Teng could see splashes of water at the bottom of the pit after he fell over ten Zhang down.

“Chichi!” When he was one Zhang away from the bottom, Teng Qingshan halted forcefully.

“So many corpses……” Teng Qingshan approached the bottom and found that it was filled completely with water. Dead bodies that were cut in half float atop the water. Every single corpse wore heavy armor. The corpses were torn, and the heavy armor was broken.

“There are no blood stains in this water. It must be connected with other bodies of water. The blood stains have flowed away.”

The water was rather clear. Although it was pitch-black, Teng Qingshan could still see the stones at the bottom of the water.

“Is the water deep?” Teng Qingshan jumped in gently.

As expected——

Teng Qingshan was only waist deep in the water and was already stable.

“There’s a passageway in front.” Teng Qingshan advanced slowly along the wide waterway. The water was very shallow, and only reached Teng Qingshan’s waist.

However, the waterway had a height of three to four Zhang, and the walls were all made of rock. The rocks of the wall were like beehives, and burrows could often be seen. The width of the waterway fluctuated—some were very wide, and some were very narrow.

“The demonic beasts’ lair?” Teng Qingshan thought.

As Teng Qingshan continued forward, he could feel the water getting deeper and deeper……At this moment, the water had reached his neck.

“Eh?” Teng Qingshan’s pupils constricted as he stared at a black monster in a small hole on the wall ten Zhang away.

“Darksteel Centipede?” Teng Qingshan immediately recognized the monster.

The large white eyes of the Darksteel Centipede stared at Teng Qingshan. As the underground waterway was completely black, even innate experts couldn’t see far away.

“The Darksteel Centipede thought that Teng Qingshan couldn’t see it…and dived into the water stealthily, swimming towards Teng Qingshan slowly.

“Bastard!” A cold gleam flashed across Teng Qingshan’s eyes, and he continued forward, pretending to see nothing.

Finally, Teng Qingshan dived into the water. With the Teng Qingshan’s internal organs, it’d be fine even if he stayed underwater for several hours. His physical qualities were equal to even some powerful demonic beasts.

It was pitch-black in the water.

The Darksteel Centipede swam with its trenchant claws and twisted its ironlike body as it moved slowly and silently towards Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan advanced at the bottom of the water. As he wore heavy armor and carried the Reincarnation Spear and the other items on his back, he naturally sunk to the bottom of the underground lake…

“Sou!”

Suddenly, several claws that were as sharp as knives slashed towards him at the same time. The Darksteel Centipede was underwater as its claws instantly became like arrows, shooting directly towards Teng Qingshan. The scissor-like fangs in its big mouth opened and were about to cut apart Teng Qingshan. This centipede had cut many Silver Dragon Soldiers in two this way.

“Blub~~”

At the bottom of the underground lake, the water flow suddenly quivered as Teng Qingshan stretched his hands out at lightning speed and grabbed the two fangs in the Darksteel Centipede’s mouth.The Darksteel Centipede immediately responded with a roar.

A cold beam flashed in Teng Qingshan’s eyes as he exerted force with his hands!

“Hiss~~” The two fangs and even the roots of the fangs were directly torn apart, causing the Darksteel Centipede’s head to be torn apart too. The green blood dyed the lake water green, and the Darksteel Centipede stopped moving.

In a state of complete darkness, the experts of Qing Hu Island, and even one or two of the innate experts would be killed by the stealth attacks of demonic beasts. Teng Qingshan clearly knew that if he didn’t have night vision, it would’ve been impossible to still be this at-ease when the Darksteel Centipede attacked him stealthily.

“Hua!”

Teng Qingshan began swimming under the water.

With Teng Qingshan’s control of his muscles, and with the help of the Innate True Origin, his swimming posture was perfect. He swam quickly, like a fish. He also realized that the lake underground was boundless, and after he swam past the waterway, he entered a vast underground lake, whose end couldn’t be seen even with his night vision.

Completely dark…it was good to be under the water.

Such an environment was most suitable for killing!

……

At the waterway that Teng Qingshan had just swam past were numerous immeasurably deep burrows on the wall that looked like beehives. One hundred Zhang deep inside one of the burrows——

“Pitter-patter!”

A drop of milky water occasionally dripped through the cracks above.

A body covered with blood was curled here. He managed to open his mouth and caught the drops of milky water. Although he wasn’t moving at all, and seemed to show no signs of breathing. Even his eyes were closed, but when he opened his mouth strenuously, it meant that… he was still alive!

“Lan, wait for me at home!”

This determined belief resonated in his mind again and again.