The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-234

In the pitch-black lake waters, many of the other innate experts were still searching assiduously for Teng Qingshan after he had disappeared from Wang Kehou’s eyes. The temptation of the two cauldrons was just too great! No one was willing to give up the notion of obtaining them. Only after Wang Kehou and Wu Xiu of Snow Hawk Hall told them the news did they reluctantly resign themselves to the situation.

“Qin Lang is really Teng Qingshan?” The experts gathered together.

“How is it possible for Teng Qingshan, a seventeen year-old kid, to kill Tie Jiu, a True Dan innate expert so easily?”

“There’s just no way that it’d be possible for a seventeen year-old to kill a True Dan innate expert.”

“Hmph. Why is it impossible? According to the Shooting Sun God Mountain, Teng Qingshan had already killed an Emptiness Dan innate expert during Qing Hu Island’s siege on Yanjiang City. He is already an innate expert. Isn’t that right, Gu Island Lord?” Wang Kehou looked towards Gu Yong for confirmation.

The group of experts from Mani Temple, the Ying Family, the King of Beasts Wu Hou, and Shooting Sun God Mountain were all in a good mood, as all of them had gained quite a lot.

The experts from Snow Hawk Hall, Hong Tian City, and Qing Hu Island, however, were quite upset. They had come from distant lands and had expended much of their energy for nothing! They hadn’t obtained a single treasure and had even lost a few innate experts! Of these three, Snow Hawk Hall and Hong Tian City weren’t too upset; their losses had not been too great, so they felt only slightly disadvantaged.

Qing Hu Island, however, was different!

The treasure map had originally belonged to them, and the treasure had almost been in their grasp! Alas, both had been taken away, and eight of their innate experts had died! Even worse, right now they didn’t even have a single cauldron!

Facing the ridicule of Wang Kehou from Shooting Sun God Mountain, Gu Yong responded with a cold harrumph, “Since so many of you saw that it was Teng Qingshan, then what’s the point of asking me? Men……Our Silver Dragon Army is still stationed above, so forgive us for not staying!” With a wave of his sleeves, Gu Yong signalled immediate departure to his men. As they were leaving, however–

“Gu Island Lord, everybody now knows of this underground lake and that the treasure has already been retrieved. Why would you take a detour to go back?” The King of Beasts Wu Hou asked with a smile.

Gu Yong and the others stopped, their facial expressions contorting in anger.

The men of Qing Hu Island had a belly full of resentment.

“Take a detour?” Gu Yong and his men stared at Wu Hou.

Wu Hou smiled and released his grip, since the two cauldrons were bound to his sides through the Innate True Origin. He then leapt up towards the lake’s hard rock ceiling.

Wu Hou swung his fist.

“Bang!” “Bang!”……The sound of rock being blasted apart resonated continuously throughout the cavern as a large amount of crushed rocks flew in all directions into the lake waters. Each of Wu Hou’s punches could easily blast a hole of two to three Zhang in depth and width. He grabbed on to the rocks and continuously climbed as he repeatedly punched in front of him.

Wu Hou ascended right away in this manner.

In Wu Hou’s tunnel, the waters rose right behind him, stopping after reaching a height of about eight to nine Zhang.

“This Wu Hou is really……” All the experts watched in shock, eyes wide and mouth agape.

The layer of earth between the surface and the lake was over one hundred Zhang thick.

A long tunnel more than a hundred Zhang long could not be easily blasted simply by punching. Because of the layers of rocks and soil, when a hole was punched, the rocks and dirt on the sides could fall. Therefore……blasting a hundred Zhang long passageway was very difficult and troublesome.

Even if the Golden Dan innate expert blasted a way out, it was possible that the tunnel would be entirely blocked again when he climbed to the earth’s surface.

Therefore, if a person wanted to get out, he needed to blast the way out once. If seven experts wanted to get out, most likely all seven experts would have to blast their own tunnels. Plus, since innate experts could not fly, if the rock walls collapsed severely to the point that there would not even be a place to grab, they would fall.

Thus, it was extremely troublesome.

The King of Beasts Wu Hou was powerful and brave. He had confidence in himself, and so he decided to play this game.

“He is crazy.” Ying Jianghao sneered. “Let’s go. We should go back the way we came. I would rather spend more time then blast a way out.” With this, the innate experts from the Ying Family swam back in the same direction with their two cauldrons.

“We will be leaving too.” The long-browed old monk said. Right away, the Arhat Expert of the Mani Temple left with the experts of the Ying Family.

“Island Lord Gu , let’s leave together,” Wang Kehou of the Shooting Sun God Mountain said with a smile.

“No need. We can leave by ourselves,” Gu Yong said in a deep voice and immediately rushed towards the Bottomless Pit along with his men.

Everyone could tell that Gu Yong was very angry right now. He was just suppressing his anger.

The men of Qing Hu Island departed at a frightening speed. They couldn’t bother to chat with the other sects, and only focused on swimming rapidly the whole way.

“Island Lord, I still don’t understand how Teng Qingshan could reach the True Dan Innate Realm.” Zhao Danchen’s eyes emitted a cold light. Of course he could not understand……As a matter of fact, Teng Qingshan’s Innate True Origin was only in the Emptiness Dan phase. Yet an Emptiness Dan innate expert could kill a True Dan innate expert.

Qing Hu Island’s men could not imagine that. Actually, they were not the ones to blame for this. Who could even think that there was a training method such as Internal Martial Arts?

Whether it was his previous life or his current life, Teng Qingshan had spent most of his energy on Internal Martial Arts. As for his inner strength, it was just an adjunct to his Internal Martial Arts. He relied on the Scarlet Fruit to reach the peak of the Postliminary Realm, but the thing that Teng Qingshan really relied on was still Internal Martial Arts. Teng Qingshan’s system was different from other innate experts’.

“Of course I don’t understand. I don’t know where this sh*t came from!” Gu Yong clenched his teeth. The murderous intent in his eyes was very obvious.

Many people would be surprised if they heard Gu Yong say the word ‘sh*it’, since Gu Yong was a very serious person. However, the other four innate experts were also furious. Rage burned in their hearts, and the resentment was still there!

“Eight innate experts have died. Qing Hu Island has lost forty percent of our innate experts!” As Gu Yong thought about this, his heart ached!

“We didn’t even get one cauldon!”

His heart ached even more as he thought about the cauldrons that were filled with the Elixir of the North Sea!

“The nine cauldrons should be Qing Hu Island’s possession,” the lady said, gnashing her teeth.

“Hmph……” Zhao Danchen sneered coldly. “We didn’t even manage to get one. Originally, Qing Hu Island could have obtained all nine cauldrons, which would have increased our power drastically. One to two hundred years from now, Qing Hu Island’s power would have increased twofold and would have been able to deal with Emperor Yu’s Hall and the Ying Family. However, we’ve lost forty percent of our innate experts instead.”

“They even gave the other sects the benefits!” General Lan was so angry that fire shone in his eyes.

Qing Hu Island’s power had not increased, but rather it had decreased.

Secondly, Qing Hu Island had not managed to obtain anything, but had even helped their opponents and had made them stronger. This time, when compared to the other sects, the Qing Hu Island’s suffered loss had been too great. Although it might have appeared to be the loss of forty percent of the experts, the actual loss……was far worse than only this!

“Stop talking!” Gu Yong roared.

Zhao Danchen and the other three looked over and saw……that Gu Yong’s complexion was already gloomy to the point that it seemed as if a thunderstorm would be coming. Gu Yong was the Island Lord, and no one felt more pain than him. Simultaneously, he hated Teng Qingshan even more now! Gu Yong had never hated anyone to this point! To the point that he wanted to eat Teng Qingshan’s flesh and drink Teng Qingshan’s blood!

“It’s clear now,” Gu Yong said in a deep voice, “that Teng Qingshan grew up in the Great Yan Mountain and was naturally very familiar with the Great Yan Mountain. Therefore, he could easily find the entrance of the Bottomless Pit!”

“He must have done it intentionally to go against Qing Hu Island. Before Elder Hu died, the roar……It’s obvious that Teng Qingshan was all the elders’ main murderer. He didn’t attack, but he intentionally instigated the massacre.” Gu Yong was right. If Teng Qingshan hadn’t shouted in the Heavenly Flood Palace, Elder Hu and the others might have escaped to the other passageway within a second.

But because Teng Qingshan was constantly keeping an eye on them and had shouted fast enough, Yuwen Liufeng, Elder Hu, and the others had not had time to escape.

“Whether it’s the future threat that Teng Qingshan poses or what he did this time….” Gu Yong’s eyes looked swift and fierce as he exclaimed in anger, “Teng Qingshan must die! And he can’t die too easily! Otherwise, the elders wouldn’t be able to rest peacefully in their graves!”

Zhao Danchen and the other three nodded.

……

Among the different sects, there were happy ones and uncomfortable ones. There were also sad and angry ones……Regardless, everyone headed towards the Bottomless Pit.

At this moment, in another Bottomless Pit…

The walls of the Bottomless Pit had numerous caves, making it seem like a beehive. In one of the topmost caves.

“Whew!”

Teng Qingshan leaned on the wall and finally felt relaxed.

Since his arrival in Teng Jia Village until now, it had been one day and one night, yet too many things had already happened. During this one day and night, Teng Qingshan had not dared to relax at all……His nerves had been constantly feeling tense until now, until his moment of relaxation.

He had gone to Teng Jia Village the previous night and had moved the Teng Jia Village the following morning. He had then dived into the bottom of the lake to find the men of Qing Hu Island, and had saved his father after that! After sending his father back, he had gone back to join the army of innate experts.

He had infiltrated the group of innate experts, had pressured powerful men, and had searched for Emperor Yu’s Treasure with Qing Hu Island’s move.

From beginning to end, not much time had passed by.

But it had been a time of hardships and dangers.

“Qing Hu Island, you didn’t see the lives of my father and of the other hunters as lives. This time……retaliation has descended upon your heads. I wonder if all of you felt satisfied by the results.” Teng Qingshan sneered coldly. “Eight of your innate experts have died, and you probably haven’t even obtained any of Emperor Yu’s Treasure.

When Teng Qingshan kicked the six cauldrons, it was because he’d had a plan. Five of the cauldrons had flown in other directions, but only one went towards Xiao Yao Palace’s men and Qing Hu Island’s men.

Teng Qingshan knew that the Long-browed Old Monk, the King of Beasts Wu Hou, and the experts of Xiao Yao Palace were all there. If Qing Hu Island’s men would have wanted to take the cauldron,many of their men were bound to die. As for the other cauldrons, it would be impossible for Qing Hu Island to snatch them.

Therefore……

When Teng Qingshan kicked, Qing Hu Island was destined to have a sad ending.

“Yes. I only lost the human skin mask. The other losses aren’t too bad.” Teng Qingshan stared at the Reincarnation Spear. Its shaft had lost a piece of metal, making the thickness of the area in question to be a mere two-thirds of the thickness in other areas. “Looks like I will have to fix it with the Star Patterned Steel,” Teng Qingshan thought.

“This Elixir of the North Sea……is too conspicuous. If I place it in the cauldron, it will easily reveal my identity when I’m outside.

Teng Qingshan stretched his right hand and stuck it into the wall next to him. He easily grabbed a hard piece of rock as big as a wine jug. Teng Qingshan then started molding and carving this large rock, eventually hollowing it until it turned into a stone wine jug. Teng Qingshan had carved this rock just like an ordinary person would have payed with mud.

“Alright.” Teng Qingshan looked at this stone wine jug with a smile. He then grabbed one of the cauldrons at the side and took off its lid.

“Walla~~” The Elixir of the North Sea flowed into this stone wine jug just like real wine. Even after being poured, the Elixir of the North Sea only filled twenty percent of this wine jug. Teng Qingshan then did the same thing again, pouring the Elixir of the North Sea from the other cauldron into the wine jug. He even used his Innate True Origin to scrape any remaining drops of the liquid into the wine jug.

After all, every drop of the Elixir of the North Sea was extremely precious.

Finally, every last drop was now in this stone wine jug, but the wine jug was barely even half-full.

Teng Qingshan grabbed the stone wine jug. He had obtained these two cauldrons with his life at stake. His Teacher would be very excited if he saw the Elixir of the North Sea in this jug. Looking at the stone wine jug, Teng Qingshan laughed, “Haha, you might look ugly, but you are even more precious than the lives of all the innate experts from Qing Hu Island!”