The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-220

Someone immediately went to collect the map of the maze.

"Brother Wang, you guys had gone after to kill Qing Hu Island's Elder Hu who had escaped. Did you guys succeed?" Ying Haojiang turned to look toward the expert from the Shooting Sun God Mountain. That muscular man with four braids shook his head and said, "He ran the fastest and didn't care for his own life. We lost him after chasing him through two forked roads. We didn't dare to run around and thus headed back. When we turned back, we saw that Yuwen Liufeng wanted to kill Brother Qin Lang!"

In this battle, forty-seven experts from different places had joined forces. Four True Dan innate experts had died, and there were also a few people who were injured.

And on Qing Hu Island's side, six of them had escaped.

"Golden Dan innate experts can eliminate air resistance. They surpass True Dan innate experts with just this one point alone!" Teng Qingshan sighed and at the same time, the muscles on his shoulders contracted as bits of flesh fragments and blood waste flowed out from his wounds. Thereafter, the wound on Teng Qingshan's shoulder stopped bleeding.

Teng Qingshan moved his left shoulder, "Having a sword pierced into the opponent's body and then having the Innate True Origin to burst open inside... This is a very vicious move. Thank goodness I was struck in the shoulder. Mmmm, I can still utilize 70% of my powers!"

...

"There's still one of them here. Why isn't he killed?" A group of innate experts looked at the expert from the Qing Hu Island who had both his legs chopped off and was now seated on the ground.

"Brother Qin Lang had said to keep one of them alive." The Snow Hawk Hall's Elder who escaped from Yuwen Liufeng's sword held his stomach and said, "Brother Qin Lang said that the location of the treasure isn't on the maze's map."

"There really isn't!"

Ten Golden Dan innate experts, including Ying Haojiang, came crowding over.

The fat monk from Mani Temple frowned, "The map on Yuwen Liufeng didn't indicate the location of the treasure either."

"Neither of the two maps that we've gotten has the location of the treasure. Brother Qin Lang, where's the map that you've got?" Quite a number of people looked toward Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan shook his head as well, saying, "It's only after realizing that the location of the treasure isn't listed on the map that I had shouted out to leave someone alive."

The experts from the various great sects felt troubled and they all stared at the man whose legs had been chopped off.

"Elder Wen Qian, it's better for you to speak up. You'll suffer less." Ying Haojiang stared at him.

Everyone stared at him as well.

Qing Hu Island's Law Enforcing Elder Wen Qian still had traces of blood on his face. He threw a glance toward the people around him and smirked, "Haha... You bunch of fools! The maze's map is extremely complicated and there's no way for us to be able to remember them. Everyone carries along the map for fear of getting lost. However... The location of the treasure is but a single dot on the map! There's no issue with remembering that!"

"Haha..."

"The Island Lord had really thought this through! Hmph, even if you guys were to snatch the map, you can forget about finding out the location of the treasure." Wen Qian laughed maniacally, with traces of blood seeping out from the corner of his lips, "You want to get your hands on the treasure? To vie with our Qing Hu Island for the treasure?

Haha... In your dreams!" He then tossed his head fiercely.

Bang!

His head smashed hard into the wall next to him and blood kept flowing out.

"Ahh." The forty over innate experts present could not stop him in time and could only watch as this man committed suicide.

"Hu." A black-clothed Law Enforcing Elder from the Ying Family immediately crouched down and searched Elder Wen Qian's body. He found a copy of the map, opened it up to take a careful look, and then shook his head helplessly toward the others, "There's no indication of the location of the treasure either!"

Everyone had expected this and shook their heads helplessly.

"Qing Hu Island is well-prepared for this." The fat monk from Mani Temple looked at the others, "Everyone... There's no location of the treasure indicated on the map. What do you think that we should do?"

"There's only these few copies of the map. Those who don't have one should first make a copy of them."

There were many people present and although none of them brought a brush, they had a lot of paper.

It was because their clothes could act as paper.

And as for the brush, they would be able to draw if they picked up some crushed silver, sharpen them with a sword, and then dip them with some blood. Very soon, those who wished to get a copy of the map had drawn a copy of it. And Teng Qingshan had gotten one of the maps and did not need to make a copy of it.

Everyone looked at the map and all of them were guessing the place with a higher probability that the treasure would appear.

"Alright, everyone now has a copy of the map." Elder Shi from the Xiao Yao Palace smiled and said, "The routes of the maze are very complicated and I think that each sect has their own thoughts... I think all of us should go our own way. Everyone can take whichever route they wish to. It'll all depend on one's luck to see who will be able to get Emperor Yu's treasure."

"Our Mani Temple will make a move first." the fat monk said.

The eleven innate experts from Mani Temple were the first to leave.

Very soon, the people from the Xiao Yao Palace had left as well.

The people from the Shooting Sun God Mountain were the third group to leave.

"Brother Qin Lang, we're making a move. Why don't you join us?" That white-robed young man, Liu Xiu, said. The other three innate experts who weren't part of any sects also looked toward Teng Qingshan.

"Which route are you guys taking?" Teng Qingshan asked.

"The left forked path and then toward the alley at the back." Liu Xiu said.

Teng Qingshan shook his head and said smiling, "I'm fine. You can go on ahead."

"You'll really be at a disadvantage if you decide to move alone." Liu Xiu tried to persuade Teng Qingshan.

"Liu Xiu, if you're not leaving, then we'll head off first. Brother Qin Lang is probably thinking of trying his luck to get his hands on the treasure. Let's not create trouble for him." The old man Zhong Lilin said. The young married lady in green clothes by the name of Shui Fei and the young man by the name of Bai Lihong both looked at Liu Xiu disapprovingly.

Zhong Lilin, Shui Fei, Bai Lihong, and Liu Xiu were all reputable characters in the land of Nine Prefectures. However, the name 'Qin Lang' was not famous at all. Thus, the four of them would naturally be on better terms with each other.

Liu Xiu threw a glance toward Teng Qingshan before shaking his head helplessly and said, "Let's go."

Groups of people departed but Teng Qingshan kept his head lowered, looking at the map of the maze.

After a short while——

Teng Qingshan was the only person left in this alley.

"Everyone thinks that they'll be able to succeed if they each choose a path which they think is right?" Teng Qingshan shook his head and smiled. He had gotten some experience from the training as a hitman, which was very helpful to his current situation. "With the way they are approaching this, they have less than 1% chance to find the treasure!"

Teng Qingshan smiled as he observed the map. "In fact, it's not impossible to find the path to the treasure from looking at this map."

"The first point is that the palace's entrance is definitely the right path." The starting point of the path to the treasure is the palace's door! There was no doubt about this.

"Emperor Yu had spent so much effort in creating this palace, and the maze is so complicated! It's impossible for the route to the treasure be so simply located in a small area of the maze. Otherwise, won't the other areas be created for nothing and rendered useless? Therefore, the correct path should be one that covered a large part of the palace! This is the second point!"

"The third point is that without a map, it'll definitely be very hard to find! Moreover, there is definitely only one route. Therefore, there should be only one route which can arrive at this spot. The other routes would be able to reach it!"

Teng Qingshan continued to filter through the routes based on these three points.

There were three paths from the palace's entrance and each of them had their own forked paths. One of them reached a dead end after extending out for merely several tens of Zhangs.

With it being such a short route, it was definitely the wrong one!

The routes which covered only a small area were definitely wrong!

The routes that could be arrived through other paths would definitely be wrong as well!

"If I were to eliminate the routes like this, there would probably not be many paths that would fulfill these conditions. At least when there aren't many routes, I can test them out one by one." With how Teng Qingshan tried out the routes objectively, with each path spanning about several tens of Lis, and with his speed, he would be able to go through a few routes.

He continued to look and eliminate…

He spent a long time searching and eliminating the routes.

In the pitch-black alley, other than Yuwen Liufeng and the other few corpses, Teng Qingshan was the only living person squatting there. He looked at the map, eliminating and searching through the routes.

In the afternoon, the sun hung high up in the sky.

At the north gate of Gui Yuan Sect in Jiangning County City:

A member of the Black Armored Army, who was riding a Green Maned Treading-in-Snow Horse, quickly got off the horse.

"Brother Liu, why are you in such a hurry?"

"Help me look after my horse." The soldier tossed the reins to the other person and ran inside at rapid speed.

...

Outside the study of Gui Yuan Sect's Sovereign, Zhuge Yuanhong.

"Sovereign, Centurion Liu Tong, a personal guard of Commander Teng, requests for an interview." A disciple in green clothes called out respectfully.

"Let him come in." A calm voice rang out.

Liu Tong quickly ran in, half knelt down and said, "Liu Tong pays respect to the Sovereign."

"What's the matter? Speak up." Zhuge Yuanhong threw Liu Tong a glance. The latter quickly said respectfully, "Last night, Commander Teng led his personal guards to his hometown, Yi City's Teng Jia Village. This morning, all members of the Teng Jia Village has been moved are rushing toward Jiangning County City."

Zhuge Yuanhong immediately put down the book in his hand, frowning as he looked at Liu Tong.

It was a small issue for two thousand over people to be moving to the Jiangning County City. When some big salt merchants move, in just one manor alone, they would have over one hundred people in the family, and with the addition of servants, guards, and others, the numbers would add up to be close to a thousand. It was very easy to help settle down over two thousand people moving into Jiangning County City. But... Why was the Teng Jia Village moving for no reason?

Thinking of how the Qing Hu Island's island was stationed at the Great Yan Mountain, Zhuge Yuanhong had a bad feeling.

"Qing Hu Island hasn't reached the extent of raising their hands against ordinary villagers, right?" Zhuge Yuanhong thought.

"Sovereign, the people from Qing Hu Island had been seizing a lot of hunters from many villages near the Great Yan Mountain yesterday. They had also seized three hunters from the Teng Jia Village. Out of the three of them, one of them was Commander Teng's cousin! One of them was his uncle, and another... was his father!" Liu Tong quickly said, "And last night, his cousin managed to escape... He said that the Qing Hu Island had given the orders to kill all the hunters they've brought back. Commander Teng's father and uncle didn't manage to escape. They should be dead!"

Zhuge Yuanhong's countenance turned grim.

"Qing Hu Island!" Zhuge Yuanhong could not hold back his anger and slam down on the table.

"The entire village moved this morning. However, with over two thousand people moving across a distance of over three hundred Lis, they would probably only arrive in four days. Early this morning, when the village has just set off, I've rushed over by myself to report the situation to Sovereign." Liu Tong quickly said, "Sovereign, Commander Teng had entered the Great Yan Mountain all by himself!"

Zhuge Yuanhong's eyes were agape.

"What?! Qingshan entered the Great Yan Mountain? What nonsense!"

Zhuge Yuanhong was clear about how the situation was like on the Great Yan Mountain. It was fine for the Qing Hu Island's army to be there. However, probably experts from various great sects across the land of the Nine Prefectures would head there as well. Zhuge Yuanhong was a little worried at the thought of how Teng Qingshan had entered the place all by himself.

"Little Tie." Zhuge Yuanhong shouted.

"Sovereign." the disciple in green clothes who was outside bowed.

"Pass down the orders! Get the Black Armored Army's three thousand soldiers from the first and second division to bring along their war horses, weapons, and immediately gather at the training ground! Quickly! There mustn't be any delays!" Zhuge Yuanhong bellowed.

"Yes." It was rare for the green-clothed disciple to see the Sovereign acting so anxious. He did not dare to move slowly and quickly ran off in the direction of the Black Armored Army's camp.

"I'll have to get Elder Yan to come along with me for this as well." Zhuge Yuanhong was very clear that the situation on the Great Yan Mountain was very grave. He had long expected that...under the charms of Emperor Yu's treasure, it would be very normal for those innate experts to kill each other. Teng Qingshan being alone there, would be like a small boat on the great seas, and could lose his life at any moment.

Hu!

Zhuge Yuanhong immediately got up. "Liu Tong, you may leave." At the same time, Zhuge Yuanhong grabbed his own weapon and took great strides and headed out of the room, looking for Elder Yan.