The Nine Cauldrons

“Clang!”

A saber split the shaft of a long spear in half. It continued along its trajectory and gouged a large wound into a villager’s body. Flesh flew into the air, and blood flowed freely.

“Second Brother!” The other villagers grabbed the injured man and put him behind them. Simultaneously, they thrusted the spears in their hands to resist the saber-wielding mounted gangsters.

“Haha...” The gangsters laughed wildly.

“Hu!” A violent gangster draped in iron armor with a scarf wrapped around his head suddenly swung his saber from atop his war-horse, his saber rushing towards the head of a villager. This villager was not able to defend himself and was about to be hacked to death.

“Die!” The gangster laughed heartily.

Just at this time—

“Whew!” A Damascus Steel Spear ripped through the air and, after a “Clang” sound, clashed against the saber. The wielder of this spear was Teng Jia Village’s great Spear Master, Teng Yongxiang. He was one of the clan’s great heroes; after practicing the Tiger Fist for four years, he had attained internal strength, and his physical strength had undergone a drastic increase as a result.

“Get off!” Teng Yongxiang roared.

The Damascus Steel Spear abruptly thrashed in the air and subsequently knocked the saber to one side. It continued along its path and smashed into the gangster’s body. A “Peng” sound rang out, and the gangster was tossed into an adjacent gangster before falling onto the ground.

“Lululu”

All of the mounted gangsters finally stopped. The leader of the mounted gangsters, who had already penetrated deep into the ranks of villagers, was a bald and brawny man riding on a Scarlet Flame Horse. He turned his head towards Teng Yonglei and actually started guffawing. “Haha, there is a rumor that your Teng Jia Village’s men are brave. It seems that you do have a bit of strength; you haven’t disappointed me.”

The Iron Mountain Gang’s tactics of gaining money was quite simple: they would first beat a few people without worrying about killing them and then extort money.

The great leader of the Iron Mountain Gang was “Wang Tieshan”. A long time ago, he had said in their headquarters, “We are robber and bandits! Because normal villagers are afraid of bandits, they will pay an annual protection fee! If they are not afraid, why else would they pay a fee? The White Horse Gang has amassed extremely profound strength. Our Iron Mountain Gang has just recently been established, so we must use fierce tactics to terrify Yi City. When it comes to these peasant villages, we must first kill a few people and disregard their lives. This way, these commoners will be extremely terrified of us and give us money. Otherwise, they will think our temper is good! Hmph... as for their strong men, get rid of them. If anyone resists, kill them for me!”

The Iron Mountain Gang had a total of three leaders. The other two heavily endorsed their older brother’s words.

The three brothers had wandered throughout the nine prefectures for dozens of years and had already formulated their own understanding of the ways of the world.

Want money?

Fierce tactics must be used!

“Second leader, that youngster’s strength isn’t bad. I will deal with him.”

“Let me do it. I can get rid of him in two strikes.”

Surrounding the leader was a group of men riding cyan-maned war horses. These men strived to outdo each other.

These cyan-maned war horses were the Qing Prefecture’s “Cyan Bristled Horses”. Each was sold for a couple hundred taels of silver. Other common horse thieves would ride on earthly yellow horses; these were Yang Prefecture’s native horses and were sold for only a couple tens of taels of silver. A gangster’s ranking could be determined by the horse he or she was riding.

“Everyone retreat!” Teng Yongxiang subsequently said.

The villagers on the training field cautiously retreated together while holding up their long spears. At this time, many of the clansmen who were residing in the village had made their way to the training field. Considering that the village had over 2000 residents, it could be considered to be quite a big village. Teng Qingshan, Teng Yongfan and others were rushing over.

“San Zi, I’ll give you a chance. Deal with the guy holding that Damascus Steel Spear.” The leader sneered.

The enemy’s strong men must be eliminated!

“Yes, second leader.”

Behind him, one of the men among the eighteen seated on the Cyan Bristled Horses was holding a two-finger-wide long saber. The knife backing was quite thin, and it looked very similar to a sword.

“Old man, die.” San Zi sneered. Teng Yongxian was already over 40 years old.

“Hu.” The gangster named “San Zi” leapt up into the air and unexpectedly reached a height of one Zhang. He seemed like an eagle spreading his wings as he pounced on Teng Yongxiang. The long saber was raised above his head and carried a fearsome strength as it chopped downwards.

Teng Yongxiang stood calmly and firmly held the long spear in his hands.

“Xiu.” Teng Yongxiang suddenly opened his eyes, and his spear stabbed out like a poisonous dragon exiting a cave.

“Hm?” The young gangster’s face changed as he flew through the air. The long saber in his hand rapidly sped up and created a mirage as it slashed against the Damascus Steel Spear’s head.

“Clang!” “Clang!”

Two consecutive sounds rang out, and the Damascus Steel Spear was resolutely knocked to the side.

“Hmph.” The young gangster coldly laughed as he executed a different saber move. He flipped his hand as he thrusted at Teng Yongxiang’s stomach.

“Yongxiang!” At this moment, Teng Yongfan, who had just come from the weapon store, saw this scene from a distance. His face changed greatly, but it was too late for him to help.

Just then—

“Stop!”

A thunder-like voice resounded. The yell frightened the horses so much that they started to jump about. This, in turn, scared a few gangsters, who fell off their steeds and proceeded to roll onto the ground. Simultaneously, a fearsome and shrill whistle sounded.

“Whew!”

The whistle was an extremely terrifying sound.

A flying knife slashed through the air!

“An expert!” San Zi’s face changed dramatically. The flying knife’s speed was extremely quick, and there was no way that he could dodge it.

“Pu!”

A ray of cold light flitted across the scene.

“AAAAH!” San Zi let out a painful cry as he fell to the ground. He lay on the ground while clutching his stomach as fresh blood unceasingly flowed out. Blood also flowed from a bloody hole in his back that was caused when the flying knife had pierced completely through his body. The knife continued along its trajectory and buried itself in a wooden fence on the training field.

“An expert!” The second leader, seated upon the Scarlet Flame Horse, turned his head towards the location where the flying knife had originated.

The other gangsters mounted on their Cyan Bristled Horses also turned their heads.

What greeted them was the sight of a delicate-featured youngster wearing plain cotton clothing. He was already standing in front of the Teng Jia Village’s clansmen.

“Such quick speed.” The second leader was alarmed. Other people were unable to tell where the loud yell came from, but the second leader was able to pinpoint the location of its origin. “That cotton-clothed youngster was originally tens of meters away, but within the blink of an eye, he arrived here. This sort of speed really is quick. Moreover... his internal strength is extremely strong.”

Just from the yell, the second leader was able to distinguish that the opposing party was an internal strength expert.

“Qingshan!”

“Qingshan, you’ve come.”

Each member of the Teng Jia Village was filled with joy. Teng Qingshan nodded his head and looked at the adjacent Teng Yongxiang. “Uncle, are you alright?

“I’m fine, but Qingshan, you should be careful. The gangsters have a number of experts,” Teng Yongxiang whispered. “Especially the leader riding the Scarlet Flame Horse and wielding red copper hammer. It was him that blasted the entrance of our Teng Jia Village with one strike of the hammer. He definitely has the strength of 10,000 jin; in other words, he is a first-rate martial arts expert.”

If one were to have 10,000 jin of martial strength, he would be considered first-rate martial arts expert.

“Don’t worry, Uncle. I’ll deal with this situation,” Teng Qingshan said while letting out a breath of air. He had been in his family courtyard cultivating the three Xing Yi Postures when he heard the sound of horse hooves. He immediately rushed to the scene, but he was a bit too late. The gangsters had already broken the door, hacked some people apart, and made a move on Teng Yonglei.

Teng Qingshan’s house was quite far away from the training field. After all, this was a village that contained over 2000 people.

Fortunately, Teng Qingshan was extremely fast and had managed to make it just in time.

“Greetings to all of the men from the Iron Mountain Gang.” Teng Qingshan cupped his hands. His gaze was like a knife as he scanned the Iron Mountain Gang’s group of gangsters. Earlier, due to the loud yell, many gangsters had fallen off their horses in fright. Thus, it seemed that most of these men were slightly afraid of Teng Qingshan.

“Haha... what an incredible person!” The second leader loudly praised. “I didn’t realize that the Teng Jia Village had such a strong person. I really admire you.”

“You were able to destroy our entrance with one strike. I also have great respect for you,” Teng Qingshan replied in a clear voice.

After talking for a while, the rest of the village’s men had already arrived at the training field. Teng Yunlong had already appeared but did not said anything.

“Nonetheless, since you have injured men from my Iron Mountain Gang, so you must compensate my brothers. You have two options: One, you pay 10,000 taels of silver, or two, you fight against thirteen of my men. If you survive, then I will forget everything that happened,” The gangster leader said in a domineering manner.

This second leader clearly realized that if they were unable to suppress Teng Qingshan today, they would not be able to collect many taels of silver from Teng Village.

“Hm? Then I will find out for myself what sort of techniques the men of your Iron Village Gang possess,” Teng Qingshan said while faintly smiling.

“Very good! At least you have guts.” The leader of the gangsters waved his hand. “Create a circle. Brothers, go and find out what sort of strength these Teng Jia Village men have.”

The mounted gangsters immediately created a large circle.

“Qingshan.” Teng Yunlong, Teng Yongfan, and a few others stood on the side and called out in a worried voice.

“Qingshan, if you cannot fight against them, we can just give them some taels of silver.” Teng Yunlong said in a soft voice. Yuan Lan also looked worriedly at her son.

“Don’t worry, Grandfather.” Teng Qingshan warily smiled. His smile seemed to affect Teng Yunlong and the others. “Since the leader of the Iron Mountain Gang wants me to instruct thirteen of his expendable men, I should give him some face. I will just help him instruct his subordinates.“ Teng Qingshan deliberately let the mounted gangsters hear his words.

“Hmph, such big talk. You should be afraid of having your tongue cut off!” Angry voices sounded, and the thirteen men riding the Cyan Bristled Horses jumped off.

Hua! Hua! Hua!

In mid-air, each of the thirteen men took out a sharp sword from a sheaths on his backs.

“If you have the qualifications, come over here and fight us.” The thirteen youths each held a long sword. When it came to fighting on horses, sabers were the superior choice, but when it came to fighting alone, long swords held the advantage. These youths all had long sword on their backs. It was obvious.......they have been immersed in sword arts for a long time.

“The mounted gangsters have created a large circle for Qingshan to enter. If the mounted gangsters don’t keep their promise, he will be surrounded, and it will be extremely dangerous for him,” Teng Qinghu whispered apprehensively.

“Qingshan!”

“Brother Qingshan!”

Countless clansmen looked perturbed as they watched Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan smiled as he raised the long spear in his hand. He proceeded to walk towards the empty center of the mounted gangsters’ circle. One man faced a myriad of mounted gangsters. Moreover, the thirteen men who all held swords had already encircled Teng Qingshan. Their leader sneered and said, “I will give you a chance to make your move first. Otherwise... you won’t have a chance to do anything.”

“Do you believe that I only need one strike to pierce your throat?” Teng Qingshan smiled as he looked at the man holding the sword.

This man’s expression slipped slightly. Everyone had seen Teng Qingshan’s impressive knife-throwing skills.

The leader of the thirteen men yelled. “Martial brothers! Attack!”