The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-258

In the house of the City Lord of Wu City, two soldiers at the door were stomping their feet occasionally.

This winter was indeed freezing.

“Please let me enter. I have a message, and I need see the City Lord; it’s about Teng Qingshan.” Sun Feng took out some crushed silver. Their eyes sparkled as they split it. One of the guards smiled, “Teng Qingshan? Nowadays, so many people want to be rich. A few days ago, someone told that he knew where Teng Qingshan was, but after some investigation, it turned out be fake. But because of the money you gave us, we will give a message. Wait here.”

Obviously, the guard was in a good mood as he ran towards the City Lord’s house.

In a small city like Wu City, the guards were just ordinary muscular men, they didn’t have many skills. They would be satisfied just by giving them some money.

A few minutes later——

That guard could be seen running back with a smile, “You’re lucky. The City Lord is not really busy right now, I’ll let you in. But remember this, when we are inside you can’t wander around. You'll have to follow me.” The guard immediately led Sun Feng into the City Lord’s house.

In a training room, in the house that belonged to the City Lord of Wu City.

A short-bearded tough man, wearing a shirt, was waving his sword in the room. His moves were simple, but they were also fast as lightning.

Hu! Hu!

The fierce force of air left grooves on the floor laid with azure green stones.

“City Lord, he is here!” the guard shouted.

The City Lord stopped practicing then he turned around to look outside and smiled. “Come in! Right now, everyone wants to find Teng Qingshan since everyone wants to earn that one thousand taels of gold. The reward for just notifying his whereabouts was one thousand taels of gold, no wonder so many people are trying to find Teng Qingshan."

The guard left and Sun Feng stepped in the training room

“Good saber skills.” Sun Feng praised. “Even the wind brought up by the saber could leave grooves on the azure green stone-paved ground. With such saber skills…..City Lord’s name should be in the《Earthly Ranking》." After saying this, Sun Feng moved in a flash and floated in a weird arc like a leaf. He then stood two Zhang ahead of the City Lord of Wu City.

The City Lord’s eyes brightened as he exclaimed in surprise, “Good Qing Qong!”

Sun Feng laughed and said, “Qing Qong is the only skill I can show others."

The City lord of Wu city was a wise man. Just by looking at his Qing Gong, the City Lord could tell that this quick-witted fellow was an expert. These few days the people who came with reports were mostly ordinary people. Whenever they saw someone who held a silver long spear, they would say that it’s Teng Qingshan, and whenever they see someone holding a big black axe, they would say it's Teng Qingshan.

Because of that, the City Lord was very frustrated and angry.

But….

Normally, powerful experts were not that boring.

“I won’t hide a fact. Actually, I live off everyone.” Sun Feng smiled.

“A godly thief?” The City Lord smiled along.

“I'm just a regular thief. The City Lord is the first to call me a godly thief! I am blushing.” Sun Feng said with a smile, “This is what happened: I was targeting a group of merchants. One of them is just a merchant doing business from Yangzhou to Yanzhou, and his name is Qin Wei. A merchant who traveled this far must be doing a big business. Thus, I wanted to reap some profit through him."

“His group was resting at an inn today. When Qin Wei went to the restroom, I entered into his room and opened his luggage,“ said Sun Feng as he smiled. Actually, these lies were all prepared. Behind the portrait that his teacher gave him, there were the drawings of a luggage case and the Reincarnation Spear and the Splitting Mountain Axe which were hidden within the empty compartment of the luggage case.

As the City Lord listened, his eyes brightened.

“There were just some tea bricks in the boxes. However……...there was a luggage sack in one of the boxes. There was nothing special about it. But it’s me. I’ve seen every way you can hide away treasures, so I easily spotted a hidden compartment. I surprisingly discovered two parts of a spear and a black axe,” Sun Feng said.

Hearing this, the City Lord was shocked.

“Really?” he couldn’t believe it.

“Of course, do you think I was bored?” Sun Feng smiled, “ I was planning to take action, so I already checked the whole company of merchants. That Qin Wei traveled from Yangzhou to Huyue County City of Qingzhou. He then joined the caravan organized by Hu’s Trading Company and arrived at Hu City of Yuzhou! I think there’s a ninety percent possibility of him being Teng Qingshan."

When the City Lord heard this, he started to believe it even more.

Firstly, Sun Feng was an expert and a godly thief. This sort of expert wouldn’t have a bad eyesight. More importantly, they never wasted any time.

Secondly, according to Sun Feng said, that ‘Qin Wei came all the way from Yanghou.

“Haha, I still don’t know who you are,” the City Lord said.

“I am Yan Feng,” Sun Feng replied.

“Oh. Brother Yan Feng, can you stay here temporarily? I will pay you that one thousand gold taels after I confirm that he really is Teng Qingshan. You will just have to wait for a few days,” said the City Lord of Wu City. Sun Feng responded with a smile, “If City Lord doesn’t mind, of course I’m willing to stay. However, if I don’t leave with a thousand gold taels, I will feel bitter.”

After City Lord heard this, he was even more certain.

If the reporter was willing to stay, then the accuracy of this information must be good.

Immediately, The City Lord ordered people to arrange a room for ‘Yan Feng’, He then immediately sent a message to Emperor Yu’s Hall.

……

Since Wu City was really close to the Imperial City, ‘Yu City,’ the message naturally reached Emperor Yu’s Hall very quickly.

At the center of the Imperial City, Yu City, was an extremely large palace. This was Emperor Yu’s Palace and the base of Emperor Yu’s Hall.

In the Nine Cauldrons Palace of the Emperor Yu’s Hall.

The black chairs were arranged in a neat order, and the powerful experts of the Emperor Yu Hall were walking into the Nine Cauldrons Palace one after the other. These experts were talking with each other while waiting for the last person to enter. He was a black-haired man dressed in a long black cloak inlaid with golden colored patterns. As soon as that person entered the room, everyone stopped talking.

“Lord!” Everyone greeted politely.

The Lord of Emperor Yu’s Hall scanned the crowd with his profound-looking eyes. A faint glow could be seen in his pupils. With a faint smile on his face, he spoke, “Everyone must be confused and wondering about why I hastily gathered all of you here. This matter can be considered small because it’s only about Teng Qingshan. However, this matter can be also considered big as well since it involves the weapon of Emperor Yu, the Martial Ancestor of Emperor Yu’s Hall!”

Immediately, the experts clamored.

"The Splitting Mountain Axe that belonged to Martial Ancestor Emperor Yu?”

“Someone found Teng Qingshan?”

The Lord of the Emperor Yu’s Hall stretched his hand and gestured downward. Instantly, everyone became silent. He continued speaking, “There was a message coming from Wu City. The City Lord of the Wu City said that a godly thief found the two parts of a spear and a black axe when he tried to steal from a merchant that had traveled a great distance to do business!”

“The name of that merchant is Qin Wei! He departed from Yangzhou and joined another caravan after he left Huyue County City. He reached the Wu City at Yuzhou.” The Lord of Emperor Yu’s Hall stared at the crowd and said, “Tell me, everyone. What’s the possibility of this person being Teng Qingshan?”

“Lord, so many people claimed they found Teng Qingshan, but none of their claims have been true. Nine out of ten were fake.”

“Not necessarily. If he was called a godly thief, he must have some skills. These type of people won’t lie.”

“What is this rush for? We can wait until we find Teng Qingshan.Going now will be a waste.”

......

In the Nine Cauldrons Palace, the high-positioned men of Emperor Yu‘s Hall had different opinions.

“Hyue County City?” Suddenly, A silver-haired old elderly man said with a frown, “As far as I know, a month ago, Huyue County City was capturing people everywhere while trying to find Teng Qingshan. I reckon that these big actions were made by Xiao Yao Palace and Qing Hu Island. They must have found out that Teng Qingshan is at Huyue City.”

When he mentioned this, more people started to believe in the story.

This could be real. That Qin Wei could be Teng Qingshan.

“The Lord said that Qin Wei is from Yangzhou….. Teng Qingshan was in Yangzhou.”

Clearly, the majority of the people here believed this.

The Lord of Emperor Yu’s Hall smiled, “According to the City Lord of Wu City’s message, that godly thief is really good at Qing Gong and can be considered as an outstanding Postliminary Realm expert. Right now the thief is staying in the house of the City Lord of Wu City. With the information we received before…..I think there is good chance that Qin Wei might be Teng Qingshan!”

“That black axe...If it was part of Emperor Yu’s treasure, it must be the Splitting Mountain Axe . Shall we take it?” someone asked

A tall man wearing a black robe said shouted “Of course we need to take it back!. That axe belongs to our Martial Ancestor, Emperor Yu! Thus, it naturally belongs to Emperor Yu’s Hall! In this whole world, Emperor Yu’s Hall deserves to possess it the most.”

“Yes, we have to get the Splitting Mountain Axe back.” People shouted after him.

An old lady said, “Everyone, Emperor Yu left his orders. He didn’t say to dig out his treasures, but rather that the treasure belongs to whoever deserves it! Also, no matter how powerful that Splitting Mountain Axe is, it is still an axe. It has no particular uses. Why bother with it? We’re not even sure if it's really the Splitting Mountain Axe.”

“Hmph. Martial Sister, I don’t think your words are right.” that skinny old man stared at her, “ They want us to keep on searching! But now, it is already found. When the other sects were fighting over the Elixir of the North Sea, we didn’t even go. Now, we just want to take back the weapon that belonged to the Martial Ancestor. What's wrong with that?”

That old lady said, “Martial Brother, you do mean that we shall kill Teng Qingshan and take the Godly Axe? Isn’t this helping Qing Hu Island without gaining anything from them?”

“We don’t have to kill Teng Qingshan. We just need to force him to give the axe to us,” said the thin old man.

“If you do not kill him, he will definitely escape, it will be very hard for us to find him again.” The old lady said, “Although we don’t care about Qing Hu Island, they suffered a great loss. There’s no need to provoke the Blind Swordmaster.”

The Blind Swordmaster?

The disciples of the Emperor Yu’s Hall became quiet. In terms of Postliminary Realm experts and innate experts, the Emperor Yu’s Hall prevailed. Yet, how could Emperor Yu’s Hall be stronger than an Emptiness Realm Expert?

During the few times when the Blind Swordmaster attacked, the few supreme sects had determined that the Blind Swordmaster must be in the pinnacle of the Emptiness Realm! One could say that he was one of the few most terrifying people in this great land of the Nine Prefectures. Plus, the Blind Swordmaster's sword art was extremely acute and terrifying. Although Emperor Yu’s Hall, the Ying Family, and Mani Temple weren’t scared, no one wanted to mess with that blind man.

“How about this? Since that Teng Qingshan is at Wu City now, he should be staying in a while. Send a message to Qing Hu Island! I believe that their people will arrive Wu City before dawn of tomorrow! By that time, our men will follow him and let Qing Hu Island kill Teng Qingshan. As for the Splitting Mountain Axe…..If Emperor Yu’s Hall take it, Qing Hu Island wouldn’t dare to say anything.” The Lord of Emperor Yu’s Hall had made up his mind.