The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-325

The Divine Bird Blue Luan and the Whole Gale Eagle were on the bow of the boat as they looked at the gloomy and chaotic sea ahead.

The Blue Luan turned its head to emit a few calls at Li Jun.

“Big Brother Qing, Little Blue said that there is absolutely no way to sail past the two thousand to three thousand Li chaotic region of sea.” Li Jun looked at Teng Qingshan, who was staring at the chaotic sea while smiling unperturbed. “When compared with Bright Moon Island’s Nine Rhythm Treacherous Current, this two thousand to three thousand Li chaotic region of sea is not as difficult to pass!”

“All of you get some rest, and when tomorrow morning arrives, the tungsten wood vessel will have pass through this region of sea.” Teng Qingshan spoke as he proceeded to turn towards the mast, wishing to lower both sides of the sails.

Li Jun’s eyes were wide opened. “Big Brother Teng, you still want to dive into the sea?”

“Go into the cabin, Little Jun.” Teng Qingshan didn’t say much as he removed his shoes and threw them into the cabin.

He strode towards the bow of the boat and grabbed the iron rope, carrying it on his shoulder, He then turned his head and grinned towards Li Jun. “Be good and take a nap. Come out after the tungsten wood vessel stops shaking.”

“Be careful,” Li Jun quickly said.

Before her voice died away, Teng Qingshan jumped up and dived into the gloomy and chaotic seawaters like a sharp arrow.

“Plop!” The water splashed in all directions.

The iron rope continually sunk deeper into the depths of the sea, and soon, with a clang sound, the iron rope was stretched perfectly straight.

“Walla~~”

A portion of vigorous and unparalleled power transmitted through the iron rope to the whole tungsten wooden vessel. The speed of the tungsten wood vessel that was slowly moving forward instantly increased.

Boom—

It splitted the waves as it sailed forward.

The tungsten wood vessel was like a swordfish as it rapidly dashed in the sea.

The momentary rapid rise in speed caused Li Jun’s body to involuntarily take two steps back. “Screech~~ Screech~~~” When the Whole Gale Eagle and Blue Luan noticed that the tungsten wood vessel had sped up, the both of them excitedly cried out.

The cry echoed out into the sky from the sea!

The tungsten wood vessel set sail onwards with astonishing speed in the “Demonic Region of Sea”; the region of sea that would cause the inhabitants of the Northern Sea Continent to have a change of expression whenever it was mentioned.

……

The night descended, but the tungsten wood vessel was still rapidly advancing.

With the arrival of dawn, the tungsten wood vessel still moved at the same speed.

The sun rose above the sealine, gradually rising until it was suspended high in the sky to the west. The tungsten wood vessel finally exited the chaotic sea.

The tungsten wood vessel exited the next day during the afternoon. The ocean appeared very tranquil as the tungsten wood vessel also slowly advanced north.

On the deck of the tungsten wood vessel.

“Screech~~” The Whole Gale Eagle held an Iron Leaf Fruit in its mouth and then carefully placed it beside Blue Luan.

Blue Luan took a glance before then closing its eyes to rest, not taking a single bite.

Upon seeing this, the Whole Gale Eagle could only blink its eyes helplessly.

“Big Brother Teng, look at Little Grey and Little Blue.” At this moment Li Jun was smiling so brightly that her eyes narrowed into small crescent moon shapes. “Little Jun, look!” Teng Qingshan’s voice rang out, causing Li Jun to turn her head in surprise, only to see Teng Qingshan pointing distantly towards the northwestern direction.

There was an island in the northwestern direction.

“Big Brother Teng, we also saw an island before, and it was basically uninhabited. “Li Jun carefully observed the distant island. “Could it be that there are people on this island!”

“There is smoke!”

Looking at the island, Teng Qingshan’s eyes shone. With Teng Qingshan’s eyesight, he could indeed see the thick smoke on the distant island.

“There are signs of human habitation, surely, there are people.” Teng Qingshan quickly lowered the sail and used both of his hands to row the two oars. The powerful strength he exerted caused the oars to move extremely quickly and vigorously.

“Huahua~~”

The tungsten wood vessel’s speed immediately soared as it rushed toward the island.

A moment later--

“There’s certainly a thick smoke” Li Jun quickly said in a pleasant surprise.

Teng Qingshan smiled, yet his heart felt moved. He had undertaken this journey for more than half a year, precisely speaking, he had been on Bright Moon Island for almost four months. He had been out in the sea for almost a year.

“We’ve finally found people from the Northern Sea Continent.” Teng Qingshan’s gaze suddenly swept past an area in the distance.

“What?” Teng Qingshan’s brows creased.

In the distant part of the sea, one could see an enormous ship. The enormous ship was exiting from the island in front of them. Due to the distance being too far, the enormous ship looked like it was the size of a fingertip from Teng Qingshan’s current location.

“This island has contact with the fleet of the outside world?” Teng Qingshan thought to himself.

Whilst pondering over this, the tungsten wood vessel had quickly approached the shore.

“Big Brother Teng, there are definitely people on this island, and there must be many of them!” Li Jun said with confidence.

“Oh?” Teng Qingshan smiled at Li Jun.

“Look at the beach, there are many footprints.” Li Jun said while pointing.

Teng Qingshan laughed and threw down the iron anchor to steadily halt the tungsten wood vessel.

“Come on, let’s get off the boat.” Teng Qingshan picked up the Reincarnation Spear and jumped off the vessel along with Li Jun.

“Screech~~” The Blue Luan immediately flew over as it turned its head toward the Whole Gale Eagle and let out two cries. The Whole Gale Eagle immediately responded with a resounding cry as it obediently circled above the tungsten wood vessel twice before returning to the deck.

Li Jun covered the smile on her mouth. “Big Brother Teng, Little Blue told Little Grey to stay behind and watch the vessel.”

“There’s nothing it can do about it even if it isn’t happy, with Blue Luan’s strength, it has no choice but to be obedient.” Teng Qingshan also smiled. Regarding the Whole Gale Eagle and Blue Luan’s relationship, both Teng Qingshan and Li Jun had often laughed about this subject while at sea.

“Let us go and have a look around the island.”

Teng Qingshan glanced at Li Jun. “Follow me closely and don’t walk away.” Li Jun could feel Teng Qingshan’s concern as she responded yes and obediently followed beside Teng Qingshan. Meanwhile, Blue Luan flew above both Teng Qingshan and Li Jun.

The island could not be considered small.

As Teng Qingshan and Li Jun walked for roughly half a Li on the neglected road, Teng Qingshan’s complexion slightly changed.

“What's the matter?” Li jun asked in surprise.

“A burning smell!” Teng Qingshan gaze turned sharp. “The smell of a burning corpse!”

“Ah.” Li Jun sucked in a mouthful of cold air.

Teng Qingshan’s six senses were very sensitive. Although it was still far away and Li Jun could not smell it, Teng Qingshan already did. “Big Brother Teng, for there to be a smell of burnt corpses, what happened on this island? Could it be that you made a mistake?” Li Jun did not dare to believe it.

“Definitely not.” Teng Qingshan’s brows creased as he grasped the Reincarnation Spear.

He walked yet another four to five Li.

Teng Qingshan and Li Jun came across an area of human settlement.

“This, this is—” Li Jun’s complexion turned pale.

Teng Qingshan narrowed his eyes, which displayed a flickering indistinct cold ray. They were met with corpses strewn all over on the ground in front of them. Some of the corpses had their heads chopped off, some had a large and bloody hole in their chest, while a few fragmented corpses were everywhere.

A few of the resident’s wooden houses and such were constantly burning while occasionally producing a pitter-patter sound.

Just from what they could see, at the very least, a hundred people had lost their lives.

“A massacre?” Teng Qingshan was suspicious, even in the Nine Prefectures on earth, massacring would cause anger from both people and deities. A few bandit gangs would only occasionally slaughter an entire village for the sake of intimidating other villages.

Within the Nine Prefectures land, massacres were rarely seen.

“Little Jun.” Teng Qingshan noticed that Li Jun’s complexion had turned pale and there was something wrong with the look in her eyes.

“What's the matter, Little Jun?” Teng Qingshan walked over and placed his hand on Li Jun’s shoulder.

All of a sudden, Li Jun grabbed onto Teng Qingshan as tears incessantly fell down. Teng Qingshan’s mind was keen as he suddenly recalled… That very same year, a few evil bandits had burst in and massacred her entire family, only Li Jun and her mom was able to escape. In the end, even her mother was unable to escape death.

Massacre…

“Sigh…” Teng Qingshan softly patted Li Jun’s back.

Quite a while later, Li Jun came out from Teng Qingshan’s embrace as she calmed down. She spoke softly, “Big Brother Teng, I'm sorry that I made your clothes wet.”

“Don’t worry.” Teng Qingshan said in comfort, “Learn to become stronger, Little Jun!”

“Ok!” Li Jun raised her head and glanced at Teng Qingshan before she nodded in response.

“Let’s go and see if there are any living things on this island.” Teng Qingshan could sense that Li Jun’s current state of mind was relatively disordered as he pulled Li Jun by her hand and continued forward onto their journey.

Two people advanced forward.

Li Jun raised her head to look at Teng Qingshan who was in front of her—his tall body, firm expression in his eyes, as well as the burst of warmth spreading through the coarse hand that was holding onto her—All of those caused Li Jun’s heart to become tranquil; she was like a wandering and helpless boat that have finally found a harbor.

A trace of a bashful smile emerged onto Li Jun’s face as she let Teng Qingshan lead the way while they continued down on the road.

……

On the island, Teng Qingshan pulled Li Jun by her hand and they walked for quite a while, seeing only corpses along the road. The corpses amounted to around seven hundred to eight hundred! If one included the corpses that Teng Qingshan did not see… then, it could be estimated that at least a thousand people died in the entire island!

There was not a single living thing!

“Truly cold-blooded!” Teng Qingshan looked at the surrounding thick smoke that rolled around, suddenly recalling that when they had reached the shore before, they had seen an enormous ship. “Most likely, the people on that enormous ship had something to do with the deaths of the people on this island!”

“Big Brother Teng”—Li Jun pointed towards the distinctly tall house that was not very far away—“Look over there on the ground.”

Teng Qingshan swept his gaze and immediately locked onto the ground; there was a badly damaged book that was more than half burnt.

“A book?” The bottom of Teng Qingshan’s heart was full of joy.

“Yes… Several thousands of years ago, Emperor Yu had come to the Northern Sea Continent! And now, several thousands of years have passed on the Northern Sea Continent, who knows what it has become now?” Teng Qingshan clearly understood this point.

In accordance to Emperor Yu’s words, when he was there in the past, the land of the nine prefectures had a population of several hundreds of millions.

Now, there are actually ten times as many people!

What the Northern Sea Continent like after several thousand years? No one knows.

“A book!” Teng Qingshan immediately ran over and picked up the book. As far as Teng Qingshan was concerned… books are a good method of potentially increasing his understanding of the Northern Sea Continent.

Both Teng Qingshan and Li Jun stared at the badly damaged book. The cover of the book was made of yellow leather paper and as they opened the book—

“What?” Teng Qingshan wrinkled his brows.

Li Jun blinked her eyes.

“Big Brother Teng…“ Li Jun looked at Teng Qingshan as he looked back at her. Both of their expressions were as innocent as they could be.

“I was most afraid of this!” Teng Qingshan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

All of the words in the book were Chinese characters, however, every stroke seemed very awkward and every word looked like a drawing to them.

“We can’t read it!” Li Jun’s face was filled with helplessness.

She was a young lady from a wealthy family and was taught excellently to understand the four arts since when she was little. However currently… she could not read any of the words. It was as if she became illiterate.

“I was worried about this the most! When Emperor Yu had arrived in the Northern Sea Continent that year, its population was already several million. It was estimated that they had already formed characters at that time! It had passed it from generations to generations. Even though several thousands of years had passed, it is impossible for their writing to be exactly the same as the writing of the nine prefectures.” Teng Qingshan shook his head while helplessly smiling. “I didn’t expect that I would be unable to read. Even though we have this book, we still can’t understand it.”