The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-35

Teng Jia Village was engulfed in joy. The village first set about repairing the broken gate, but once night time arrived, every clansmen went to the training field to celebrate with a feast. Up till now, the Iron Mountain Gang had gone to a number of villages in order to collect their annual fee, so the the clansmen from the Teng Jia Village were quite worried….

Once they arrived in Teng Jia Village, what sort of repercussions would they bring?

The unknown is mankind’s greatest fear.

However, today’s result was to everyone’s satisfaction. Using only 200 taels of silver to end the potentially disastrous affair, and not a single clansman dying in the process? How could this not be worthy of celebration?

“Haha… Qingshan.” Teng Yunlong raised his wineglass. “Throughout all of today, my heart was stuck in my throat. Nonetheless, the outcome was amazing. We were able to resolve the problem with only 200 taels of silver. Without the threats of the Iron Mountain Gang and the White Horse Gang, our Teng Clan can happily spend our days in Yi City!”

In this world, if villages like the Teng Jia Village could eat their fill and dress warmly, they would consider it to be a happy day.

“Today’s resolution was all due to Qingshan.” The adjacent Teng Yonglei laughed as he raised his wine glass. “Qingshan, come. Your uncle offers his glass to you. This is for saving my life!”

Teng Qingshan proceeded to stand up and raise his glass.

The group of people who were in charge of affairs in the Teng Clan sat around a table. Everyone drank to the man of honor as all sorts of food flowed around the table. At this point, Teng Yunlong said, “Everyone knows that this mountain cannot house two tigers. The Iron Mountain Gang and the White Horse Gang will definitely fight it out, so in the following days, Yi City will be quite disorderly.”

“Mhm.” Teng Yongfan nodded his head. “The Iron Mountain Gang may have left today, but everybody should intensify their training. Moreover, we must take extra precautions.”

“Mhm. Qingshan, you should go to Great Yan mountain during the day time for the intensive training. You should leave in the morning, and it would be best to return in about 2-4 hours. Otherwise, you can leave at dusk,” Teng Yunlong said. Teng Qingshan also nodded his head. “Understood, grandfather.”

Teng Qingshan knew that bandits would need at least four hours to travel to Teng Jia Village.

Furthermore, the bandits would have to return to their lair before dusk. This was because this was an ancient society, and so electricity didn’t exist. Once darkness arrived, it would truly be pitch black. Unless the moon on that night was extremely round, travelling in the night with 100-1000 people would be an exceptional nuisance.

Therefore, Teng Yunlong planned everything out with this in mind. After all, Teng Qingshan was the village’s number one expert.

Today, if it were not for Teng Qingshan, 10,000 taels of silver would most likely have been extorted from the Teng Clan.

……

Time elapsed peacefully; everything went according to Teng Yunlong’s predictions. It was impossible for Yi City’s White Horse Gang and Iron Mountain Gang, the two largest factions, to remain tranquil. They repeatedly confronted each other, and massacres would often occur. Both the White Horse Gang and the Iron Mountain Gang suffered heavy losses.

The White Horse Gang had many men as well as a large money reserve.

On the other hand, the Iron Mountain Gang had three leaders, each of whom were powerful experts.

The Great Leader, “Wang Tieshan”, could split mountains open with one saber strike. It was unknown how many experts perished under his blade.

The Second Leader, “Wang Tiefeng”, wielded two red copper hammers. People claimed that the red copper hammers were dyed by fresh blood.

The Third Leader, “Wang Tiehai”, was equipped with a Iron Essence Spear. He held the reputation as Yi City’s number one spear expert.

These three brothers were fully aware of the White Horse Gang’s Master Hong Si and his reputation. However, they were still willing to establish a gang in Yi City. Without strength, why would they bother trying? They had even attracted internal energy experts from various regions. Although these martial internal experts had decent strength, they were extremely difficult to deal with considering that they faced horse thieves and bandits.

The Iron Mountain Gang experienced a ferociously cataclysmic rise to power.

What about the White Horse Gang?

Master Hong Si was already over 70 years old. Although he was the peak of the Postliminary Realm, he had yet to step foot in the Innate Realm. His body’s martial capabilities had naturally declined, and so he was no longer as robust. Master Hong Si was capable of facing one of the Wang brothers. However, there was no way that he could take on all three brothers at once.

Although the White Horse Gang also had three leader, the other two leaders, in terms of strength, were significantly inferior to Master Hong Si. Furthermore, despite being internal energy experts, when compared to the fearsome and eminent three Wang brothers, their strength was also slightly mediocre.

Nonetheless, a camel that is starved to death is still larger than a horse (TLN: Chinese idioms are weird). The White Horse Gang had 8000 men; how could they be trifled with?

Moreover, Master Hong Si’s competent son, also known as the young master, was at prime of his life and had a robust body. He was known as the White Horse Gang’s second strongest expert, only inferior to Master Hong Si.

……

These two large factions fought for many years without resolution. On the other hand, Teng Jia Village experienced extremely peaceful days.

In the blink of an eye, a year had passed. There were only a few days left until the yearly sacrifice.

Within Teng Qingshan’s home.

“Sister Lan, in a few days, your family’s Qingshan will be 16 and will step into adulthood in a few days. He can also find a wife.” A woman laughed as she pulled on Yuan Lan’s hand, “My niece, Xiao Yuan, can be called the flower of our Great Li village. She is 15 this year, and has just become an adult. If she were to marry your family’s Qingshan, they would be a perfect couple matched by heaven!”

Males become adults at 16 years while women become adults at 14. Most males find a wife once they become adults.

“I have never seen Xiao Yuan before. What is her character like?” Yuan Lan was slightly interested.

“This, I don’t need to tell you. If you find others, they will all say that Xiao Yuan is a polite and good child. In the future, she will definitely show filial respect to her parents in law. Furthermore, she can do every form of housework,” The woman subsequently said.

The adjacent charming young woman, who was listening in on the conversation, wrinkled her nose and harrumphed. “Second aunt, the wife my brother is looking for is not simply anybody. At the very least, she must pass my test. In the recent few days, the sheer amount of people who have come to our house to discuss matchmaking has led to our doorstep becoming flattened. My brother should choose wisely.”

“Oh, Qingyu,” the woman laughed. “That’s also correct. There are very few people like Qingshan in Yi City. What sort of woman doesn’t want to be married off to someone like Qingshan?”

“Of course.” Qingyu proudly lifted her head.

“However, in the past two years, whenever a boy in our Teng Jia Village became an adult, many young women from the other village would wished to marry him,” the woman laughed. “Many matchmakers came for my son, Er Wa. I don’t even need to mention your family’s Qingshan. After all, Qingshan is our Teng Jia Village’s number first-rated hero.”

TLN: Er Wa is probably a nickname.

Due to the White Horse Gang and the Iron Mountain Gang’s skirmishes, especially because of the Iron Mountain Gang’s pressure, many villages faced difficult times.

Comparatively, Teng Jia Village, which had already lived quite pleasantly before, lived even better now. So, many ladies in the surrounding villages all wished to marry into the Teng Jia Village.

As for Teng Qingshan, he was the village’s number one man. His reputation had risen to the point where people spoke of him slaughtering a group of wolves at a mere age of ten. Being able to lift 10,000 jin was insignificant compared to this… all kinds of legends had caused many young ladies in other villages to indulge in fantasy. In this sort of era, the most admired people were strong, brave men.

Suddenly, the courtyard door creaked open. A youth gripping a Damascus Iron Spear proceeded to stride in.

“Brother.” Qingyu subsequently stood up and ran over to him.

“Qingshan has returned.” The woman stood up and enthusiastically greeted him.

“Er Niang.” Teng Qingshan also smiled, “It’s already noon. Er Niang should eat lunch with us.”

“It’s okay.” When the woman saw Teng Qingshan, she looked slightly awkward and proceeded to smile and say, “My family’s lunch is almost ready, so I will take my leave first. Sister Lan… you should carefully consider what we just discussed. My niece, Xiao Yuan, really is a good young lady. She is definitely not a bad choice.”

Yuan Lan also smiled as she proceeded to see her out.

“Another matchmaker here.” Teng Qingshan helplessly laughed.

“Brother, I find that you’re quite happy today. What’s the momentous occasion?” Qingyu and Teng Qingshan were brother and sister, so when they were together, it was very easy for Qingyu to notice when Teng Qingshan was especially happy.

“You even noticed this.” Teng Qingshan smiled as he spoke.

“Of course! Who do you think I am? I am the sister of the Teng Village’s number first-rated hero,” Teng Qingyu said while giggling.

“Mhm, it really is a happy occasion. However, even if I tell you, you will not understand. Oh, father has returned. Let’s get ready to eat lunch.” Teng Qingshan’s mood today was quite good. Starting two years ago, he would enter the mountain to train in the early morning before the first ray of light had even emerged in the sky. He would run around while carrying a large stone in the mountain.

He would stay there for an hour before returning to eat breakfast.

During the daytime, Teng Qingshan would stay in the village and cultivate either his Xing Yi Martial Arts or his spear arts.

Today, he had finally broken through the last barrier.

“I didn’t realize that as one’s body became stronger, it would be harder to open the meridians. Nonetheless, I have finally opened my last meridian… from today onwards, all the meridians in my body will be completely unobstructed.” Teng Qingshan felt carefree in his heart. After the past two years of training, his current strength was much higher than that of two years ago.

All of his body’s inner qualities had improved. Of course, the rate of advancement was not as much as the “Strongest Plan’s” four years of improvement.

“My current strength is about 30% higher than that of two years ago. However, who would’ve thought that I still wouldn’t be able to reach the bottom of the Frost Jade Pool?” Teng Qingshan thought to himself. “Today, I have finally opened all of my meridians. Starting tomorrow, I will start training my Xing Yi Martial Art’s Grandmaster skill, “Godly Tiger Form Technique”! When my strength has improved by a large margin, I will once again attempt explore the depths of the Frost Jade Pool.”

“Qingshan.” His father, Teng Yongfan, had also sat down in preparation for the meal. “On the way back just now, I saw Er Niang.”

“Brother Fan, you saw her?” Yuan Lan placed the rice bowls on the table while smiling and said, “She is matchmaking for her niece. Our family’s Qingshan still has a few days before he becomes an adult, and there is a plethora of young ladies who wish to marry him. Every one of them is as beautiful as a flower.”

“Qingshan, what do you think? When do you plan on getting married?” Teng Yongfan asked while grabbing his chopsticks.