The Nine Cauldrons
chapter-67

All the top notch experts at the bank of the lava lake were ready for action. Everyone was hoping for someone else to be the first to charge in and attract attention before they themselves would charge in. Everyone was thinking the same thing; therefore they were all tensed up and ready, but no one flew out.

“Hmm?” Teng Qingshan jerked his head.

“Hu!”

From the direction of the men from Qing Hu Island, a grey figure shot out towards the center of the lava lake.

“Die!” No one held back as a large number of concealed weapons cut across the sky.

“Haha……” A laughter spread out as the the light of a blade flashed out in front of the grey figure. Only the sound of metal clashing was heard from the large number of concealed weapons that were deflected and fell into the lake, quickly melting as they became a part of the lava flow.

“Du Jiu!” Teng Qingshan’s sharp eyes could tell whom that figure belonged to in an instant. That man in grey robes was in fact the number one expert among the men from Qing Hu Island, ‘Du Jiu’. “Hmm, his back?” Du Jiu’s skill with his blade was obviously not comparable to that of Thunder God Blade ‘Wu Yue’. He was not able to deflect the concealed weapons that were coming from every direction.

There were some holes on his back and his clothes, but a dark gold color could be seen beneath the holes.

“Could it be that his inner armor is made from Godly Dark Gold Metal?” Teng Qingshan was astonished. This Godly Dark Gold Metal was in no way inferior to the ‘Ten Millennia Coldsteel’. Although the Godly Dark Gold Metal did not have the sharpness of the Ten Millennia Coldsteel, it was better in terms of flexibility, making it more suitable to be used to manufacture defensive armor.

But due to its extravagant cost, most people could not bear to spend so much. Furthermore, getting one’s hands on enough Godly Dark Gold Metal to make a set of armor was no easy task.

Du Jiu tossed out a book, stepped on it, and propelled himself to the center of the lava lake!

“Old Du Jiu!” Ji Hong’s face paled.

“Go!” Ji Hong shouted in a low voice.

“Hu!” “Hu!”

Teng Qingshan and Ji Hong leapt up at almost the same time, creating a gust of wind as they flew for the center of the black boulder.

“Hu!” “Hu!” “Hu……”

Teng Qingshan and Ji Hong were not the only ones who took advantage of this opportunity. Over ten warriors leaped up at the same time, including the ‘Black and White’ Elders. Their response was simultaneously, throwing out the concealed weapons in their hands as they flew up. Their target was the same: the man who was at the forefront——Du Jiu!

Du Jiu was in the forefront. Only after intercepting him would the rest then have some hope.

“Swoosh!” Similarly, a stone flew out from Teng Qingshan’s hand.

“Haha, none of you……” Du Jiu was very proud as the two short sabers in his two hands deflected one concealed weapon after another. In Du Jiu’s eyes, he was charging in the forefront, so the one to obtain the Black Fire Spirit Fruit would definitely be him. When the time came, he would throw the Black Fire Spirit Fruit towards the men from Qing Hu Island.

In fact, he actually did manage that he would get his hands on the Black Fire Spirit Fruit.

Just when Du Jiu was feeling elated, “Clank!”, a small stone knocked away the short saber from the hands of the bald old man ‘Du Jiu’. Du Jiu’s smile instantly froze.

That stone contained terrifying energy, causing Du Jiu’s palm to burst and blood to flow down steadily. His whole body was shifted from the stone’s strong impact, resulting in him plunging with his back facing downwards.

His stomach was facing the sky!

This orientation would be fatal!

Du Jiu’s orientation not only changed the course of his flight, but also ensured that he would land in the boiling lava flow.

Moreover!

Since his stomach was facing upwards, he wouldn’t be able to throw items and use the momentum to save his own life.

“No!” Du Jiu’s triangular eyes were filled with horror as he twisted his waist, exerting his strong internal energy to turn himself over so that his stomach faced downwards. He finally had a chance to escape, but after this turn, he could already see the boiling lava flow right before his eyes!

Du Jiu plunged into the lava lake faced down.

There wasn’t even a chance for him to react!

From the moment he was knocked off course to his flip onto the surface of the lava lake, less than the span of one breath had transpired.

“Ahh!” Du Jiu wasn’t even able to finish his shout before the shriek ended!

“Chi chi~~”

The experts above the lava lake could see the scene clearly. The expert from the 《Earth Ranking》, ‘Du Jiu’; the master of the head of Qing Hu Island, ‘Du Jiu’, fell face down on the surface of the lava lake, his head sinking into the lava. In an instance, he became a ball of fire which burnt very quickly, and within the blink of an eye, his bones and flesh melted into nothingness.

All that was left was the pair of battle boots, as well as that dark golden inner armor which slowly sank into the lava.

In just an instant, all that was left of an expert were his battle boots and armor!

“Martial Granduncle!” Gu Shiyou, who was at the river bank, gave out a mournful cry.

“Who…who had caused the death of my Martial Granduncle!” The men from Qing Hu Island were enraged and anxious, but…… There were too many people who had thrown their concealed weapons at the same time. Not just the experts who had rushed in, even the large number of experts at the side had thrown their concealed weapons. Amongst all the closely packed concealed weapons, it was hard to differentiate who had thrown the stone that struck Du Jiu’s saber. It was impossible to tell!

Not many people could even see the stone’s trail clearly with their eyes!

The stone was too fast!

An expert of his generation, ‘Du Jiu’, died just like that after being so domineering for over a hundred years!

The experts near the lava lake only lamented for a short while before turning their attention to the black boulder in the middle of the lake. It was because at that moment, a group of experts landed on top of that black boulder at almost the same time. There were many experts, but there was only one Black Fire Spirit Fruit!

Who would it belong to?

Therefore, kill!

“Hu!” A long saber slashed towards Teng Qingshan, who tilted his body, and hid behind another warrior while he kicked towards the warrior in front of him. The warrior in front of him quickly dodged and attempted to pierce his sword towards a middle-aged man with greying temples.

The width of the black boulder was slightly more than one Zhang.

That meant that there were over ten people standing on top of the rock, which was about three meters long and wide. What would the scene be like?

Teng Qingshan’s spear had a length of nine chi and six cun. With a wave of his spear, he could cover the whole surface of the black boulder. Therefore, this battle was extremely desperate and required everyone to be very meticulous.

“Second brother, let’s go!” Using Iron Plank Bridge, an old man dodged a slash and followed with a strong step as he flew towards the side of the lava lake, spinning. Within the span of a few breaths, the old man had already suffered from a slash. He was considered lucky. Those who had less luck were doomed.

……

“Hu!”

A large saber slashed towards Teng Qingshan furiously.

“You must be courting death!” Teng Qingshan was agitated. This bald strong man, with a large saber, had tried to attack him consecutively. With a shake of his spear, it smashed against the big saber as if it were a long dragon.

Bang!

Internal strength was overflowing!

It was a direct clash of their strength!

“What?” The moment when Teng Qingshan’s Reincarnation Spear smashed down, the face of the bald strong man suddenly paled!

On the rock, that was slightly over one Zhang wide, there were many people engaged in their own battles. Not many would try to have a direct brawl of strength. This was because a clash from any of these experts would be a clash of over ten thousand Jin. The impact from these clashes would tend to make them back down. Those who were strong would only take a few steps back.

Those who were not as strong would take more steps backwards.

In such a small space, one step backwards could mean stepping into the lava.

Taken by surprise, the bald strong man was knocked off his feet and sent backwards, flying through the air. Actually, with Teng Qingshan’s abilities, he would not need to take any step backwards, but he still needed to maintain his pretense. Teng Qingshan knocked the sword from another expert as the spear in his hand pierced towards the bald strong man——

The Reincarnation Spear had a length of nine chi and six cun!

The face of the bald strong man paled, and he quickly did a flip in midair, but just as he turned over, he saw a shadow flying in his direction from the corners of his eyes.

“No!” The bald strong man could not hold back his shout as he used his large saber to block the attack.

“Bang!”

The moment the Reincarnation Spear was thrust, with a single shake of the spearhead, the thrust turned into a smash!

It fiercely smashed into the chest of the bald strong man, causing the bald strong man to fly like a meteorite, smashing into the lava with a ‘boom’. “Boom!” A ball of flames rose up, signalling the death of another strong expert.

“Go!”

Another three injured experts flew away from the black boulder, including Tie Yi Hall’s ‘Wei Canglong’! From the beginning of the battle until now, it had only been a short while, but already close to ten experts had either died or escaped.

Within just a short span of time, there were only six experts left.

The two from the Gui Yuan Sect——Teng Qingshan and Ji Hong.

Two from Xiao Yan Palace——The Black and White Elders.

An old man, who wore grey robes, had silver hair, and carried a saber. Teng Qingshan had not heard of this person before.

The sixth person was an old lady with a scar on her face. She was holding a curved blade, and her movements were swift and unexpected.

……

“Old White!” Exchanging glances, the Black Elder and White Elder were able to understand each other’s thoughts. They were aware that among the six people on the black boulder, their biggest threat was the men from the Gui Yuan Sect. This was because the Gui Yuan Sect, like themselves, also had two experts.

As for the other two, they were unaffiliated with any group.

“Chi!”

A black sword was thrust towards Teng Qingshan. Withdrawing his spear, he deflected the black sword, but the white sword followed, thrusting at him from behind.

Obviously the two Black and White Elders were trying to work together to deal with Teng Qingshan.

The longer the spear, the stronger its power, but in such a restricted area, there were very close to each other. For most practitioners, the strength of their spears would decline in a small place packed with multiple people.

“Hu!”

At that moment, a flash of cold light headed for Teng Qingshan. It was the old lady with a scar on her face. Seeing her, Teng Qingshan’s turned pale. “These three are thinking of dealing with me first!” Teng Qingshan had once killed Meng Tian and made a name for himself. Of course everyone would want to deal with the expert from the 《Earth Ranking》 first and foremost.

“Qingshan, be careful.” With a wave of his long saber, Ji Hong slashed towards the old lady.

Teng Qingshan’s eyes turned cold as the Reincarnation Spear in his hands became as swift as a swimming dragon. The spearhead and the spear shaft could both be used for defence. The shadows of the black and white swords were like frost, while Teng Qingshan’s spear was flexible and swift. Even if both of them attacked at the same time, he could quickly block their every attack.

“Look, that Teng Qingshan is so strong. To think that he could fight off the two ‘Black and White’ Elders from Xiao Yan Palace with only his spear!”

“The two Black and White elders are both experts listed in the 《Earth Ranking》. To think that they are not able to kill Teng Qingshan in a short period even though they are working together. The defence of Teng Qingshan’s spear skills is truly formidable.”

All of the people were astonished.

“The five of them, including the Black and White Elders as well as Teng Qingshan, had made a name for themselves, but who is that silver haired old man? To think that he could also be on par with them.”