The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-51

“The Great Master has died!”

The Great Master has died!”

……

Within the blood and limb-ridden Iron Mountain Gang’s mountain fortress, the White Horse Gang’s gang members were in chaos. Master Hong Si’s prestige was just too almighty! The White Horse Gang had been built by him alone. Although the lucky members of Iron Mountain Gang who’ve managed to survive have already retreated, Master Hong Si’s death was just too much of a blow to the White Horse Gang, causing the White Horse Gang’s mounted bandits to be in disarray.

“Scram!” Iron Mountain Gang’s Great Leader, Wang Tieshan, frantically rushed towards the southwest.

“Puchi!”

His Splitting Mountain Saber hacked those who stood in his way, into two. With the ensuing chaos, Wang Tieshan decided to use the opportunity to quickly rush into Great Yan Mountain.

“You White Horse Gang bastards, listen to me! I, Wang Tieshan, will return again! The surviving White Horse Gang Masters should wash their necks and wait for me, Wang Tieshan, to cut them down. If you’re afraid of death, then disband the White Horse Gang when you return! Haha…” A wild laughing sound reverberated through the entire stronghold. However, no one knew where Wang Tieshan had run off to.

“You let Wang Tieshan escape?” A male with a knife scar, donned in armour and riding a Scarlet Flame Horse yelled.

“Third Master! Wang Tieshan ran extremely quickly, moreover, at that time, everyone was concerned with Great Master…” The horse thief from the White Horse Battalion was somewhat helpless.

“Father, Father.”

At this moment, a figure flew over and instantly kneeled beside Master Hong Si’s corpse – it was the Young Master, Hong Zhenjie.

“Zhenjie.” The male with a knife scar opened his mouth and consoled, “Stop crying, big brother has died. However, right now, the most important thing is to defend from Wang Tieshan! Today, we have annihilated his Iron Mountain Gang and killed his two brothers; he will fight us to the death! You also heard his last words just now.”

The Young Master, Hong Zhenjie, stood up: “Third uncle, I understand. This time, our losses were extremely large. My father, my martial brother and my second uncle have all died! In reality, only you and I remain. In the future, I have many things to request of third uncle.”

The man with a knife scar nodded his head and sighed: “This time, our White Horse Gang lost numerous people and horses.”

“Mhm…”

Hong Zhenjie surveyed his surroundings; this time, the White Horse Gang had brought over 6000 men and horses. Those that perished in the fight were over 1000 people. However, the amount of people who suffered injuries were many and furthermore, a myriad of them had become handicapped. With such handicaps, their fighting prowess would naturally suffer a steep decline and they would merely be mouths to feed.

“This sort of challenge is something our White Horse Gang can overcome.” Hong Zhenjie spoke with confidence.

“Although Wang Tieshan is troublesome, he is only one person and is not too much of a threat.” The male with a knife scar furrowed his eyebrows and said, “The worst to have had happen was Eldest Brother’s death! Eldest Brother had significant power over Yi City’s various gangs. Numerous gangs pledged their allegiance to us and even paid us taxes because of Eldest Brother. However, since Eldest Brother has perished, those gangs of all size will become unrestrained.”

Listening to this, Hong Zhenjie was somewhat distressed.

A Great Master of a powerful gang had to keep his people under control. Otherwise, seeing as his underlings do not even acknowledge him, his enemies would most likely attack.

“My White Horse Gang has been in Yi City for tens of years, our foundations are deeply rooted. Thus, it isn’t something that can be shaken by mere words,” Hong Zhenjie snorted, “Nonetheless, what third uncle has said makes logical sense. This time when we accept gang members, the most problematic will be replacing White Horse Battalion’s tens of brothers who were molded by father for over ten years.” The very core of the White Horse Gang was the White Horse Battalion.

200 members of the White Horse Battalion wielded more fighting strength than over 2000 normal horse thieves.

This was also Master Hong Si’s imitation of Gui Yuan Sect’s “Black Armored Army”, which was an elite team of men and horses.

“Zhenjie, the sky darken soon. Are we going to temporarily stay here and wait for tomorrow morning before heading out?” The man with a knife scar inquired.

Raising his head and looking at the sky, he found that the sky was already approaching dusk. Hong Zhenjie nodded his head in affirmation, “We should first, carefully count the number of brothers who suffered injuries and the number of brothers who died. Everyone should participate!” Hong Zhenjie felt somewhat worried. When his father, Master Hong Si, was still alive, he could enjoy life to his heart’s content as a Young Master, since he could rely on his father.

However, once Master Hong Si died, Hong Zhenjie felt that the Emperor’s seat of Yi City was not something easy to sit in.

In the Great Yan Mountain.

A low and muffled pitter-patter sounded from the bones in Teng Qingshan’s entire body as it, once again, grew larger, returning to his original height. His appearance had also returned to its regular state. Although the adjacent Teng Qinghu had seen this once before, he still found it hard to believe.

“Qingshan,” Teng Qinghu worriedly spoke, “Just now, I heard the last words of the fleeing Iron Mountain Gang’s First Leader. This Wang Tieshan is going to fight the White Horse Gang to the death. I would assume that our Yi City is going to be enveloped in chaos. In the future… I’m afraid that our Teng Jia Village will not be in a peaceful situation.”

Teng Qingshan walked with Teng Qinghu in the forest while stating, “This time, the White Horse Gang suffered immense losses; Master Hong Si and the Young Master both died. Furthermore, the White Horse Battalion lost a plethora of men and horses.”

“The Young Master died?” Teng Qinghu was overjoyed.

He was halfway up the mountain and, thus, unable to clearly see what was happening below him. He only heard what Wang Tieshan had said while fleeing because the latter had infused internal strength into his voice.

“Mhm, he died.” Teng Qingshan nodded his head. He had personally killed him so he was naturally certain.

“It’s good that he died!” Teng Qinghu said in a harsh voice.

“The Iron Mountain Gang’s losses were even more. Amongst the 20 something mounted bandits with internal strength and the 3000 core gang members, if one didn’t die, then he fled. This time, the Iron Mountain Gang has been destroyed! However…” Teng Qingshan’s eyebrows creased, “With the White Horse Gang’s immense losses, the other gangs in our Yi City will definitely start causing trouble.”

Teng Qingshan and Teng Qinghu continued to walk forward from where they were in the great mountain.

Although Teng Qingshan knew that the future would be chaotic, he was not worried! This was because with the Teng Jia Village’s military force, especially the birth of the group of new Internal strength experts, the Teng Jia Village, fundamentally, was not afraid of a normal gang.

Moreover, the White Horse Gang had suffered such large losses that its priority would be placed on other gangs. It would most likely not find trouble for other villages.

……

The sky was covered in a field of darkness and it was already the latter half of the night when Teng Qingshan and Teng Qinghu crossed the great mountain and arrived outside the Teng Jia Village’s entrance.

“Who is it!” The guards at the Teng Jia Village entrance saw the two distant blurry figures and proceeded to yell out.

“It’s me, Qingshan.” Teng Qingshan called out. Although Great Yan Mountain was large, if Teng Qingshan were by himself, the 100 kilometers of travel could have been completed in an hour. According to the speed calculations of his previous life, it would be equivalent to traveling 56 kilometers per hour. This was a mountain pass so only people like Teng Qingshan could do something like this.

Teng Qinghu’s speed was much slower and the two spend eight hours before they arrived at Teng Jia Village during the later half of the night.

“Qingshan has returned?” Many people immediately ran over from the martial training field.

Teng Qingshan and Teng Qinghu entered from the side entrance where they saw the Clan Chief, Teng Yunlong, and both Teng Qingshan’s as well as Teng Qinghu’s parents.

“Qingshan, you’ve scared me silly.” Teng Yunlong laughed as he walked over, “When I thought of two youngsters going with the White Horse Gang, I got scared. It’s a good thing that in the end, you two returned alive.”

With the borrowed light emitted from the torch adjacent to the entrance, Teng Qingshan saw that his grandfather’s eyes contained wisps of blood. It seemed that his grandfather was unable to feel relieved until he came back! Everyone couldn’t be at ease and each one of them didn’t sleep. Instead, they all waited on the martial training field.

“Grandfather.”

“Grandpa.”

Teng Qingshan and Teng Qingshu felt their elders’ concern.

“You two probably have been through a lot today. Come, we’ll speak about it at my place.” Teng Yunlong said, “Ah Lan, you women should return home and sleep first. Yongfan, you and your brother come with me.” Immediately, Teng Qingshan and the others were led to the Clan Chief, Teng Yunlong’s, residence.

Inside the central room, after closing the door, there were five people inside the room.

They were, Clan Chief Teng Yunlong, Teng Yongfan, Teng Yonghang, Teng Qingshan and Teng Qinghu.

“What was the result?” The second they arrived, Teng Yunlong proceeded to ask a question.

Teng Qingshan opened his mouth and explained, “The White Horse Gang and the Iron Mountain Gang both suffered heavy losses. The Iron Mountain Gang seems to have been completely eliminated. Amongst the normal gang members, only a paltry few managed to escape. As for the experts, only the Great Leader, Wang Tieshan, escaped! On the other hand, the White Horse Gang… also suffered extremely heavy losses. Master Hong Si and his son, the Young Master, both died.”

“Master Hong Si died?” Teng Yunlong, Teng Yongfan and Teng Yonghang were all gobsmacked.

The three words, Master Hong Si, were a gold plated sign.

In Yi City, Master Hong Si was the local despot! It could be said that he controlled the life and death of many many people.

“The old thief surprisingly died? It’s good that he died!” Teng Yunlong couldn’t help but erupt into loud laughter. He laughed so hard that tears started to roll out of his eyes, “I didn’t think that, within my lifetime, the old thief would die first.”

“The f*cking old thief finally died,” Tong Yonghang also swore.

Teng Qingshan was able to understand the grievances of his parents’ generation. In the past tens of years, the White Horse Gang were tyrannical abusers. When Teng Jia Village was weak and small, it suffered from too much humiliation. The women who, were captured during his father’s generation, have still not been forgotten, forming unpaid debts of blood that continue to force their cry for retribution.

“How did the old thief die?” Teng Yunlong proceeded to ask.

“I was on the waist of the mountain and therefore, unable to see clearly. However, Qingshan snuck into the fray and was able to distinctly see,” Teng Qinghu stated matter-of-factly. Teng Yunlong and the two others instantly looked towards Teng Qingshan.