The Nine Cauldrons

Tielian Mountain was a great mountain with a circumference of over ten Li (5km). Of course, it was much smaller than Great Yan Mountain.

However, Tielian Mountain harbored an abundant gold mine within. Currently, this was Gui Yuan Sect’s greatest source of income.

At the foot of Tielian Mountain, a majestic group of one hundred people had gathered. The two leaders of the group had similar features, and they were presently rushing to greet the five hundred Black Armored Army soldiers, who had arrived from Jiangning Shire.

“Haha, Younger Brother Bai Qi!” From a distance, the two leaders let out a clear yell.

Bai Qi finally reached at the destination along with the five hundred soldiers.

“Martial Brother Gui Tao, Martial Brother Gui Qing.” Bai Qi dismounted from his horse and cupped his hands while laughing.

Gui Tao and Gui Qing were both brothers already over the age of 40. They were also Gui Yuan Sect’s famous Double-Bladed Gui Brothers. The younger brother, Gui Tao, was a general of the Black Armored Army and possessed the cultivation of the peak of the Postliminary Realm. His strength was shocking. As for the elder brother, Gui Qing, he was Huafeng City’s City Lord, and his strength was not inferior to his younger brother’s.

The grandfather of these two brothers was a Gui Yuan Sect Elder whose strength was unfathomable. Moreover, these two were the pillars of the Gui Family, and within the Gui Yuan Sect, there were many younger generation disciples of the Gui Family. Typically, people didn’t dare provoke the children of the Gui Family.

“Younger Brother Bai Qi, these war horses are unable to climb the mountain, so why don’t you give these war horses to me temporarily.” Gui Qing laughed.

“Haha, then I will require Martial Brother’s help to look after these horses.” Bai Qi said.

“It’s only natural.” Gui Qing waved his hand and the myriad of soldiers behind him immediately ran forward. From there, they began to corral the horses. They gathered the 500 war horses in a spot at the foot of the mountain, and a few Huafeng City soldiers began to watch over them.

“Let’s go and scale the mountain!”

Immediately, Teng Qingshan and the others began climbing the mountain.

......

Teng Qingshan and the other four centurions were walking together.

“This Tielian Mountain is our Gui Yuan Sect’s most precious treasure! Even Qing Hu Island coveted this treasured mountain. However, envying us is of no use; this treasured mountain is within our Jiangning Shire’s boundaries.” Among the five centurions, the eldest Du Hong exclaimed. “The interior of this mountain is riddled with hidden gold.”

“What use is gold, when the interior of this gold mine harbors a purple gold mine.” The tall and lean Wan Fanxiang said.

“A purple gold mine?” Teng Qingshan inquired, “What is that?”

While traveling on the road, Teng Qingshan had a general idea regarding the gold mine within Tielian Mountain. However, he didn’t know any details about it.

Standing nearby, Tian Shan said: “Qingshan, my brother, the extent of this gold mine is so vast that the difficulty of mining gold is no small feat. Deep inside the gold mine, there is a place where no gold exists. Instead, there is purple gold! According to legend, the Celestial Emperor Qing Lin’s heavenly sword, which he used to sweep the land underneath the heavens, was made of Purple Gold Metal! Zeze, a single tael of purple gold is equivalent to 100 taels of gold. Moreover, the heavenly sword called Purple Gold Immersed was made with over 100 Jins of purple gold. That’s the same as 1,000,000 taels of gold! It is truly a priceless treasure.”

“Even if the Celestial Emperor Qing Lin’s weapons were made of soft iron, they would still be priceless treasures.” Someone next to him also spoke up.

“Truthfully, purple gold isn’t too suited for creating weapons. Although the Celestial Emperor Qing Lin possessed a heavenly sword, he relied on his own hands to create the weapon. The heavenly sword only represented his position. Regarding its hardness, purple gold is slightly inferior to Darksteel! However, purple gold has a venerated status. A few wealthy merchants, sovereigns from various sects, and other sorts of people also like to use purple gold. That’s because they desire reputation.” The tall and lean Wan Fanxiang said.

Teng Qingshan learned a lot from listening.

The reason for purple gold’s exquisite price was because of reputation!

The glorious Celestial Emperor Qing Lin unified the land under the heavens as an emperor. He constructed the Nine Cauldrons, which represented the Nine Prefectures. It was worshiped by everyone. Celestial Emperor Qing Lin used the rare purple gold to construct the heavenly sword that unified the land under the heavens. Therefore, purple gold was extremely precious.

Using purple gold was giving oneself prestige!

“Younger Brother Bai Qi, I heard that in the last centurion competition, there was someone called Teng Qingshan who was 16... ah... he should be seventeen now. He successively defeated a multitude of people, and even the disciple whom Senior Wei Wuya was most proud of, Yue Song, was defeated by his hands. I’ve heard that he is in this battalion.”

A sound heard from far ahead couldn’t help but cause Teng Qingshan to raise his head.

Bai Qi and the Gui brothers were walking together. Just at that moment, Bai Qi turned around and brought the Gui brothers over.

“Martial Brother already recognizes these four people. As for this new person, he is Teng Qingshan!” Bai Qi pointed at Teng Qingshan while speaking, “Qingshan, this is Huafeng City’s City Master, Senior Gui Qi, and this person is Lieutenant Gui Tao.”

When Huafeng City Master Gui Qing glanced at Teng Qingshan, he instantly smiled warmly and said: “Junior Brother Qingshan, I have even heard of your famous name in Huafeng City. Haha... you are about the same age as Junior Martial Brother Yun, and your strength is equally shocking. It seems that in the future, my Gui Yuan Sect will have to rely on you, Junior Brother Yun, and Junior Brother Zang Feng.”

Lieutenant Bai Qi’s face suddenly fell.

“Brother, Junior Brother Bai Qi’s current strength improved by leaps and bounds! I’ve heard he has almost reached the large success stage of his “Nine Spears facing the Morning Sun”. His strength, compared to Junior Brother Zang Feng, shouldn’t be that much different.” Lieutenant Gui Tao laughed.

At this point, Lieutenant Bai Qi proceeded to laugh and say: “In the past few days, my “Nine Spears facing the Morning Sun” has improved while I was at Longan. Occasionally, I would comprehend something, and I ultimately managed to make a breakthrough in comprehending this “Nine Spears facing the Morning Sun”. If I were to spend a bit more time cultivating, I would be able to master the technique to the large success stage. Of course, compared to Martial Brother Zang Feng, I am still a bit lacking.” Although his speech emitted modesty, his face contained a trace of arrogance.

Bai Qi was rather content with his ability to comprehend the ways of the spear.

In his eyes, when compared to the number one in his generation, Lieutenant Zang Feng, he wasn’t too inferior. However, in order to be more modest, he didn’t dare say this.

“Eh? Then I shall offer my congratulations to Junior Brother.” Gui Tao and Gui Qing couldn’t help but be slightly surprised.

“That’s right, younger martial brother, how are we going to arrange the defense duties for this gold mine?” Du Tao said, “We should deal with it today because tomorrow morning, my battalion will immediately start heading back to Jiangning Shire!”

“This is only natural.” Bai Qi turned around and commanded, “Tian Shan, you will lead 100 of your soldiers to be in charge of the gold mine’s first area!”

“Yes.” Tian Shan bowed.

“Du Hong, you will lead 100 of your soldiers to be in charge of the gold mine’s second southern area!”

“Yes” Du Hong bowed.

“Liu He! You will lead 100 of your soldiers to be in charge of the gold mine’s third western area!”

“Yes!” The short man called Liu He bowed.

“Wan Fanxiang, you will lead 100 of your soldiers to be in charge of the gold mine’s last area, the fourth area!”

“Yes!” The tall and lean Wan Fanxiang bowed.

At this moment, amongst the five great centurions, Teng Qingshan was the only one who hadn’t received a mission.

The adjacent Du Qing exclaimed in shock: “Junior Brother, you plan on letting Brother Qingshan lead his troops and watch over the purple gold mine? This is brother Qingshan’s first time leading troops and also his first time defending this area. Thus, he is not too familiar with the job. In my opinion... you should swap him with another person.”

“There’s no need! Qingshan’s strength isn’t bad, so I have faith that he will do fine.” Lieutenant Bai Qi looked at Teng Qingshan, “Qingshan, am I right?”

Teng Qingshan cupped his hands and received the order.

......

On the second day, Lieutenant Gui Tao led his 500 troops and left for Jiangning Shire. As for Teng Qingshan and the other troops, they stayed garrisoned on Tielian Mountain. However, aside from the Black Armored Army soldiers, approximately another 1000 troops from Huafeng Ciy and Yi City were helping to defend.

Nonetheless, the responsibility of the purple gold mine was so significant that normal soldiers were not allowed to intervene in this matter.

In the eyes of the Gui Yuan Sect, only the Black Armored Army was worthy of this task.

......

At the break of dawn, Teng Qingshan was walking along Tielian Mountain. There were many Black Armored Army soldiers, garrison soldiers, and miners in the midst of hard labor.

“Purple gold is incomparably precious. A tael of purple gold is the equivalent of 100 taels of gold, which is also 10,000 taels of silver! Ordinary people will only make 20 taels of silver in a year. One tael of purple gold is something that they will never accumulate in their lifetime. Purple gold is capable of moving one’s heart, so many people will put their life at stake to obtain purple gold.” After defending for one day, Teng Qingshan completely understood why manning the purple gold area was such a poor assignment! It was tedious!

Protecting the area well without any mistakes was your duty, but it didn’t reap any rewards.

However, if an accident happened, it was your responsibility, so you would receive punishment.

Therefore, since the purple gold mine area was such a popular area, being in charge of defending it was an arduous and unrewarding task.

“It seems that this Bai Qi will really oppose me to the bitter end.” Teng Qingshan squinted his eyes and expeditiously walked to the east.

“My Lord!” The neighboring soldiers and Black Armored Army Soldiers respectfully saluted when they saw Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan lightly nodded and continued to advance forward.

As a martial artist, one had to undergo bitter training everyday. If one wanted to establish oneself in this world, one had to rely on strength. Morning training seemed to be a habit among the Black Armored Army soldiers. Of course, the centurions and lieutenants were no exception.

“Haha... Old Du, although your spear’s strength is large and profound, its speed is lacking a lot. You should continue to train harder.” When Teng Qingshan heard the complacent laughter from the west, he instantly recognized that it was Lieutenant Bai Qi’s voice. After walking a bit closer, Teng Qingshan immediately saw Lieutenant Bai Qi and the other four centurions in the distance.

Amongst them, Du Hong had fallen to the ground and was presently using the spear to support him as he stood up. It seemed that his leg had been injured.

“Comparing notes?” Teng Qingshan laughed.

Within the Black Armored Army, the centurions, lieutenants, and officers were all First Rated Warriors. In order to increase their strength, these people would compare notes with each other. Of course, there was a prerequisite that they couldn’t kill.

“Qingshan, we are already doing morning training. Why have you just arrived?” Tian Shan yelled from afar. Amongst the five of them, he had the best relation with Teng Qingshan.

“I was cultivating my spear arts in my residence for a while.” Teng Qingshan gripped his Reincarnation Spear as he walked over. He proceeded to laugh as he looked at Lieutenant Bai Qi, “Lieutenant Bai Qi’s spear arts truly are terrifying. Even Old Du is not his opponent! I’ve heard that Lieutenant’s “Nine Spears facing the Morning Sun” has almost reached the large success stage. I don’t know if he dares to compare notes with his subordinate?”

Teng Qingshan’s voice was clear and resounding. The plethora of surrounding Black Armored Army soldiers, regular soldiers, and a few people working hard all heard him.

Dare?

Dare and “be willing to” had two different meanings.

Teng Qingshan asked if he dared to, thus, his intent to provoke was too severe. If Lieutenant Bai Qi didn’t agree, then that could only mean that he didn’t dare compete with Teng Qingshan. If a martial artist lacked courage, then in the future, he would be mocked surreptitiously by people in the Black Armored Army.

“Junior Brother Qingshan is truly savage.” Tian Shan and the other four centurions snickered.

When the surrounding myriad of Black Armored Army soldiers saw this, their eyes lit up.

Would Lieutenant Bai Qi ultimately dare to accept the challenge? (TL: find out next time on Dragonball Z)

As for Lieutenant Bai Qi, his face was flushed red. He subsequently let out a laugh and said, “Teng Qingshan! At such a young age, you managed to defeat people in quick succession at the Centurion Competition. Thus, it is only normal that you are arrogant and conceited. However, as a lieutenant, today, I will let you know the meaning of ‘there are heavens outside of heaven’!” (TL: This proverb basically means that there is always someone better than you)