The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-93

Zhuge Yun and his younger sister Zhuge Qing walked along a small path in Gui Yuan Sect. By now, Zhuge Qing had taken off her face veil.

"Sister." Zhuge Yun called out, but Zhuge Qing showed no reaction.

"Sister!" Zhuge Yun called out again.

"Ah!" It was only then did Zhuge Qing snap out of her deep thought. When she saw her brother was smiling devilishly at her, she could not help but recall what she was thinking and blushed. She retorted, "Brother, why did you have to shout?"

"What was going on in your mind earlier? You only heard me after I called out a few times." Zhuge Yun grinned.

"I..." Zhuge Qing's face turned red.

Zhuge Yun said in a soft voice, "Have you taken a fancy upon some talented young man? Could it be Brother Teng?" Zhuge Qing's face turned so red that it was as if blood could drip out of it. She said, both embarrassed and angry, "Brother, stop it." Zhuge Qing was going to be of age after the Yearly Sacrifice and this was the age in which one would usually fall in love.

Zhuge Yun's had high expectations of men since her elder brother, Zhuge Yun, was a genius. She would not take a fancy on most of the young men in the sect.

When Teng Qingshan appeared out of nowhere and fought for the position of the Centurion, Zhuge Qing had already noticed him. This time around, she only came because Zhuge Yun invited Teng Qingshan out for a meal. Most importantly... The strong and vicious force that Teng Qingshan had used to kill Qing San had shocked Zhuge Qing.

Zhuge Qing felt emotionally confused. Anyway, her impression of Teng Qingshan was even greater now.

This feeling was still far from being called love.

But at the very least, there were already hints of Teng Qingshan in Zhuge Qing's heart.

"I've guessed as much. It's no wonder. It's nothing strange to like an outstanding talent like Brother Teng. The other martial sisters in the sect are all trying to find out more about Brother Teng, who is a First Rated Warrior at the age of sixteen. Sister, you'll have to be careful. If Brother Teng is snatched away by someone else, it'll be too late for you to have any regrets." Zhuge Yun teased.

"Hmph, you just love teasing me, don't you?" Zhuge Qing turned and refused to look at Zhuge Yun. However, Zhuge Qing wondered, "Could it be that I've really fallen in love with Brother Teng?"

Love was something very vague.

It was very hard to be certain that one was in love.

All sorts of thoughts gushed out in Zhuge Qing's mind and she was very confused.

"The two of you! Where have you been to so late at night?" Just then, a familiar voice rang out from nearby.

Zhuge Yun and Zhuge Yuanhong turned and saw that in front of that house, Zhuge Yuanhong, who was dressed in white, sat before a chessboard and held a book about chess by himself. A very complicated game was set up on the chessboard.

"Father!" Zhuge Yun and Zhuge Qing called out and walked over.

"Father, you're playing chess again. Let me give you a massage." Zhuge Qing ran up behind Zhuge Yuanhong and massaged his shoulders and back.

"Yun, where did you guys go?" Zhuge Yuanhong smiled and asked.

Zhuge Yuanhong was an amiable father. Although his son and daughter held a bit of respect and fear for him, there was usually a lot of frolicking between them.

"Sister and I treated Teng Qingshan and Teng Qinghu to dinner." Zhuge Yun said helplessly. "But I hadn't expected to encounter troublesome stuff halfway during the meal. Brother Teng Qingshan met an old enemy and even killed that person out of fury."

"Oh?" Zhuge Yuanhong's expression did not change in the least as he wore a faint smile, "Tell me the entire story in detail."

"Father, so this happened." Zhuge Yun immediately started to talk about what had happened and Lady Qing who was giving Zhuge Yuanhong a massage also joined in. After a short while, the entire story was told.

Hearing that, Zhuge Yuanhong nodded and said approvingly, "This Teng Qingshan is decisive even in killing!"

Zhuge Yuanhong did not care about the Gold Sword Clan at all... In his eyes, they were like insignificant ants that would die with just a stomp. They were not worth wasting much effort on.

"Oh right, Father." Lady Qing quickly said, "When Brother Teng killed that man called Qin San, he also easily defeated Qin San's two senior martial brothers.

"It's only after we asked Brother Teng later that we found out... Brother Teng had reached the sixth stage of the "Vigor of the Reckless Bull"!"

"Sister is right," Zhuge Yun also said excitedly. "He's really at the sixth stage. He reached the sixth stage within only one day. Teng Qingshan even said that he was able to cultivate this fast because most of his eight extraordinary meridians were opened up and cleared."

"Oh?" Zhuge Yuanhong's eyes lit up.

Lady Qing said, "If Brother Teng were to have a contest with Brother Yue Song again, he'll definitely be able to defeat him easily." A hint of craftiness then flashed in Lady Qing's eyes as she said in a soft voice, "Father, Brother Teng has cultivated to the sixth stage. The monument only has the cultivation of the first six stages. Should we give Brother Teng the cultivation methods of the remaining three stages as well?"

Zhuge Yun could not help but glance at his younger sister and smiled. "That's right, Father. Brother Teng doesn't have any secret manuals to cultivate at the moment and won't be able to progress. It'll be a waste of time." Zhuge Yun said.

"You guys seem to be on very good terms with Teng Qingshan."

"But the "Vigor of the Reckless Bull" is our Gui Yuan Sect's Human Class cultivation manual after all! Although the first six stages can be revealed, the last three mustn't be easily given out. Teng Qingshan has merely just joined our Black Armored Army after all." Zhuge Yuanhong said, "We'll see how it goes after he has stayed in the Black Armored Army for a few years or has gained great merit."

"A few years? Gained great merit?" Although Lady Qing appeared very quiet before others, she would often act spoiled before her father. "Father, didn't you allow that Yue Song free access to all of our Human Class secret manuals? He has also just joined the sect."

"You can't compare Yue Song with Teng Qingshan." Zhuge Yuanhong intentionally did not agree to this. Yue Song was Wei Wuya's disciple. Wei Wuya had asked Zhuge Yuanhong to take care of Yue Song, thus, of course he would take care of him in a cordial manner.

Lady Qing stood still. She purposely wore a grim expression and refused to speak another word.

"Oh, it seems that my precious daughter has taken a fancy to that Teng Qingshan. Since that's the case... Yun, you should accompany Qingqing to the secret chamber to take a complete copy of the "Vigor of the Reckless Bull".

Find a time and give it to that Teng Qingshan!" Zhuge Yuanhong said helplessly, "There's no other way out. My daughter wants to give Teng Qingshan the secret manual. If I don't give it to him, I won't get any massage in the future."

"Yes, Father!" Zhuge Yun answered readily.

Lady Qing's face was a little red.

"Father, I'll be going to sleep." Lady Qing immediately ran off.

"Father, I'll be heading back first as well." Zhuge Yun said and followed after Zhuge Qing.

Zhuge Yuanhong looked at his children and a faint smile appeared on his face. He then looked in the direction of the Black Armored Army. "Teng Qingshan actually managed to cultivate to the sixth stage at one go. My assumptions were right. He gained so much inner strength because he had some kind of fortunate encounter and consumed some kind of heavenly and earthly treasure. The heavenly and earthly treasures had changed his physique and cleared up many of his meridian channels... I'll give you the "Vigor of the Reckless Bull". We shall see how far you can go with just this "Vigor of the Reckless Bull"! Want to become my son-in-law? I'll have to assess you carefully!"

Zhuge Yuanhong decided to stop thinking and was once again immersed in his game of chess.

...

Late at night.

Teng Qinghu had gone to sleep very early but Teng Qingshan sat cross-legged in the courtyard, meditating. He had already trained his Internal Martial Arts to the extreme from a long time ago and he now had perfect control over his organs, the flow of the vital energy and blood in his body, as well as other aspects. In this state of quiet meditation, his breathing was so weak that it couldn't be detected and his heartbeat had slowed down to only a few beats per minute.

Sitting cross-legged and meditating with a clear state of mind for two hours was equivalent to having rested for six to eight hours. When the darkness before daybreak passed away and the first hint of light appeared in the world, Teng Qingshan opened his eyes.

Teng Qingshan immediately got up and practiced the Three Postures for fifteen minutes. He then stopped, "Back then, everyone thought that the Grandmaster Realm was the greatest limit of the Internal Martial Art. Martial Ancestor Ji Jike created the 'Godly Tiger Form Technique' that can allow one to further advance from the Grandmaster Realm! Right now, I've reached an unprecedented limit. Then would I be able to be like Martial Ancestor Ji Jike, creating an even more powerful secret technique, building on the foundation of the predecessors and continue to increase the prowess of the Internal Martial Arts?"

The Internal Martial Art was Teng Qingshan's core.

Right now, the Godly Tiger Form Technique already had no effect on Teng Qingshan and his physical strength has reached a limit, meaning that there was no way for it to increase any further.

"The Xing Yi Martial Art originates from the 'Three Postures' and I can only try to look for the answer from it. But how do I go about doing it?" Teng Qingshan had also sensed that in the process of developing his spear arts, his fist arts mastery had also increased a lot more than what he had achieved in his previous life. However, this currently was of no help in raising his physical attributes.

"Forget it. For a thousand years, no one had been able to attain a further breakthrough to bring the Internal Martial Arts to a higher peak. I mustn't rush it! Right now, the only way for me to get stronger is to rely on inner strength!" Teng Qingshan was well aware of this.

Currently, he had cultivated the "Vigor of the Reckless Bull" to the sixth stage.

His meridian channels would be able to withstand an explosive force of about thirty thousand Jin. With the immense strength of one hundred and eighty thousand Jin in his two arms, if he were to combine the power from his muscles and his inner strength to release them explosively at once, then his arms would be able to release a force of over two hundred thousand Jin.

To powerful cultivators…

The physical body was more fragile and it was considered good if one had a strength of about one to two thousand Jin. Compared to inner strength, this amount was negligible. It was the contrary for Teng Qingshan as his physical body was stronger.

"It's a pity that I only have the cultivation manuals of the first six stages of the "Vigor of the Reckless Bull"! I wonder when I'll be able to get my hands on the cultivation manuals of the remaining three stages." Teng Qingshan thought.

...

On that morning, the Black Armored Soldiers began their morning training again after breakfast.

"Heh!" "Ha!"

The soldiers wore heavy armor and thrust their longspears time and time again.

Teng Qingshan practiced his spear arts next to his troop of one hundred men. However, his practice was different from what the others were doing. The rate at which Teng Qingshan was thrusting his spear was extremely fast and it created over ten phantom images. Spear shadows after spear shadows were created ceaselessly as if it was a cycle.

"Sir!"

"Sir!"

The soldiers who were practicing their spear suddenly shouted.

"Hmmm?" Teng Qingshan turned to look at them and one of the soldiers pointed out to a distance away, "Sir, over there!"

Teng Qingshan turned and saw that on the training ground, Zhuge Qing, who was wearing green clothes, was waving toward him. It was only then did Teng Qingshan drew back his spear and walked over.

"Lady Qing, why have you come?" Teng Qingshan was a little surprised.

"Oh, it's because of my brother," Zhuge Qing said, "Last night, he asked for this "Vigor of the Reckless Bull"from Father. However, he is busy cultivating now. Therefore, he asked me to make a trip here to pass this "Vigor of the Reckless Bull" to you. This is the complete book, with the content for all nine stages. She then took out a book that was wrapped up in a cloth.

Teng Qingshan was overjoyed, "Help me extend my thanks to your brother. And thank you Lady Qing, for having troubled you to make a trip here."