The Nine Cauldrons

It took less than an hour to get to Yi City from Teng Jia Village.

Neigh~~~

Teng Qingshan and Teng Qinghu started to slow down as they approached the entrance of Yi City.

“Quickly! Get out of the way! Get out of the way!” The instant the city guards saw Teng Qingshan and Teng Qinghu’s horses and suits of armor, they hastily ordered those who were nearby and in the way to move to the side. The city guards then respectfully allowed Teng Qingshan and the other two into Yi City.

“Brother!” Teng Qingyu exclaimed as she widened her eyes, looking back at the city guards.“ The Black Armored Army is really powerful! Even the city guards didn’t dare to collect any fees.”

“Collect fees?” To her side, Teng Qinghu laughed and said, “Qingyu, even the Lord of Yi City has no right to collect money from Qingshan. Qingshan is a lieutenant now, and according to the army hierarchy, the Mayor is equal to Qingshan in rank!” It didn’t matter if one was in the government or in the Black Armored Army—they were all controlled by Gui Yuan Sect anyways.

Therefore, ranks also existed in areas other than the army.

Jiangning County had a total of nine cities, with the City Lord of the nine cities having a similar status to a lieutenant of the Black Armored Army.

However, lieutenants and commanders were part of the Black Armored Army!

Thus, the City Lords and County Guards would naturally feel slightly inferior to their military counterparts in their hearts.

“Lord Lieutenant!”

At the door of the restaurant, several soldiers were chatting in groups of three to five. The moment they saw the two war horses galloping forward, a soldier immediately shouted.

“Little Yu, get off the horse.” Teng Qingshan completely halted his horse, allowing his sister to carefully jump down. Since the Azure Mane Treading in Snow Horse was taller than eight chi (8.75 ft), it was a little too tall for Teng Qingyu.

A soldier immediately took the reins of Teng Qingshan’s war horse the moment he dismounted.

“Lord Lieutenant! The Lord of Yi City has been waiting for you in the restaurant to the left,” A soldier softly notified.

Teng Qingshan turned his head and looked to the left. Coincidentally, the Lord of Yi City was walking out of the restaurant towards Teng Qingshan, with many people following closely behind. A soldier in the restaurant had most likely told the Lord of Yi City after noticing Teng Qingshan riding in the streets.

“Haha, Lieutenant Teng, the wine pot was heated three times while waiting for you.” That Yang Ke laughed out loud and said, “However, I finally get to meet the youngest lieutenant of the Black Armored Army! It’s a pity that it’ getting quite late now. Otherwise, I would have definitely drunk to the fullest with you!”

“I will drink to the fullest with you the next time I am back in Yi City,” Teng Qingshan said with a smile.

“Brother Qingshan,” A sound rang from from behind Yang Ke’s back. “Eh, this voice is.....” Teng Qingshan looked behind Yang Ke with a slightly surprised expression and saw a middle-aged, scar-faced man walking out from the crowd of people behind Yang Ke.

“Brother Liu San,” A bright smile appeared on Teng Qingshan’s face.

“Haha, Brother Qingshan, back then when you had wanted to join the Black Armored Army ,i knew that Brother Qingshan’s future was boundless. However, I hadn’t expected you to become a lieutenant in less than six months,” said Master Liu San, immediately noticing a large amount of soldiers in black armor leaving the restaurant.

Teng Qingshan cupped his hand and said with a grin, “Mayor Yang, Master Liu San, I have little time to converse with you today, but I will definitely treat you two well the next time we meet. I shall take my leave first!”

With this, Teng Qingshan and the others mounted their war horses and left under the gaze of Yang Ke, Liu San and the others.

“Little Yu, hold tight,” Teng Qingshan said softly and ordered, “Depart!”

Immediately, under Teng Qingshan’s lead, the five hundred soldiers vigorously left Yi City. The moment the black armored soldiers exited the city, they spurred their horses and dashed towards Jiangning at lightning-fast speeds.

......

After the sky began to darken, Teng Qingshan and the others arrived at the east entrance of Jiangning County City. This was the location of the Black Armored Army barracks. After Teng Qingshan entered the city, the entourage quickly headed into the barracks. The five hundred black armored soldiers were dismissed and returned to their own residence.

The next day, during morning training.

The moment Teng Qingshan appeared in the training field, many familiar centurions, friends, and some lieutenants all came to congratulate him.

“Brother Qingshan, congratulations!”

“Qingshan, you are now the youngest lieutenant. After a dozen years, it’ll be entirely possible for you to take the position of number one commander once Commander Yi resigns.”

“You’ve become a lieutenant, brother Qingshan! Aren’t you going to buy us food?”

“Yes. We must celebrate with a good meal.”

There were many people that congratulated Teng Qingshan. Some might have been sincere, and others might have been secretly disdainful. Once a person moved to a higher position, there would be people that praised and admired that person, as well as people who felt envy and hatred. It’s true that one who isn’t envied by others is only an ordinary person. Of course, Teng Qingshan didn’t care. No matter what......

Teng Qingshan was the one standing in the limelight. Today during morning training, everyone learned that Teng Qingshan had become the lieutenant.

“Everyone, I will be hosting a banquet at Canvass Lunar Restaurant tonight. All of you should come!” Teng Qingshan announced. Immediately, responses could be heard from the surroundings. Teng Qingshan enjoyed great popularity in the Black Armored army, so in this moment, everyone was happy to go and get closer to the lieutenant with limitless potential.

“Lieutenant Teng!” A black armored soldier ran over and said with respect, “The Lord Commander has ordered to have Lord Lieutenant accept the items and house of a lieutenant. Lord Lieutenant, you just need to follow me.”

“Lead the way,” said Teng Qingshan, holding his Reincarnation Spear as he followed the soldier out of the training field.

Although Teng Qingshan had been in the Black Armored Army for almost half a year, he still didn’t know where the lieutenants lived.

“Lord Lieutenant!” This house is your residence in the future! It has already been cleaned and prepared! As for the Scarlet Blood Horse and Heavy Coldsteel Armor, they are in the courtyard. Lord Lieutenant, please prepare your Azure Mane Treading On Snow Horse and Hematite Heavy Armor. Someone will most likely come to retrieve it later.”

Teng Qingshan nodded.

“Lord Lieutenant, these are the keys to the house,” the soldier said as he handed the over the keys to Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan took them and opened the door and began carefully inspecting the house.

This house was in Jiangning County City and could be considered a pretty good home. There were three courtyards in the front, center and back, along with three rooms in the front of the house. In the back of the house, a small two-story building with a total of six rooms could be seen. In total, the entire residence had nine rooms!

Of the three courtyards, the central courtyard had a small pond with lotus flowers floating on top.

The courtyard in back had stables that housed the Scarlet Blood Horse.

“A lieutenant’s residence is much better than a centurion’s residence,” remarked Teng Qingshan, before immediately returning to his original residence in order to take care of his sister, Teng Qingyu. He also needed to ask cousin Teng Qinghu to help move his clothes and the rest of his belongings to the lieutenant’s residence.

It took them one hour to move everything to Teng Qingshan’s new home.

“Wow,” Teng Qingyu tumbled on the bed in the room and said, “Brother, this bed is so soft and comfortable.”

“A lieutenant’s residence is much more luxurious than a centurion’s residence,” Teng Qinghu uttered sighs of admiration as he looked at the surrounding space, “Qingshan, you have many rooms, so I will stay at your place.”

“And what if I don’t allow it?” Teng Qingshan laughed, teasing Teng Qinghu.

Hearing Teng Qingshan’s question, Teng Qinghu touched his own head and smiled.

At this moment——

“Brother Qingshan! Brother Qingshan!” Outside the courtyard door, voices could be heard. Not sure of what was going on, Teng Qingshan and the other two walked out together.

Creak!

They opened the door and found Zhuge Yun and Zhuge Qing standing outside.

“Big Brother Qingshan, I know you have been promoted to Lieutenant and moved to a new place, so we specially came to congratulate you,” Zhuge Yun said. Suddenly, Zhuge Yun noticed his nearby sister Zhuge Qing acting slightly strangely. Zhuge Qing was staring at Teng Qingyu, who was hugging Teng Qingshan’s arm tightly, as if they had a very intimate bond.

Zhuge Qing looked towards Teng Qingshan and asked, “Big Brother Qingshan, who is she?”

“Are you asking about Little Yu?” Teng Qingshan smiled.

The moment Zhuge Qing heard Teng Qingshan intimately say the two words, “Little Yu”, her heart sank.

“Lady Qingqing,” Standing besides Teng Qingshan, Teng Qinghu hastily answered, “This is Qingshan’s sister, Qingyu!”

“This is his sister?” Zhuge Qing’s immediately brightened and hurried to Teng Qingyu’s side. She tightly held Teng Qingyu’s hand and declared, “I have heard that Big Brother Qingshan had a sister. So her name is Qingyu. My name is Qing. Your name is similar to mine; thus, it must be fate.”

Teng Qingyu stared at Zhuge Qing and asked, “Your name is Zhuge Qing, right?”

“Yes,” Zhuge Qing nodded.

“I heard my brother speak of you yesterday,” Teng Qingyu said.

“Really?” Hearing this, Zhuge Qing secretly felt joy in her heart.

Teng Qingshan, who was at the side, was very happy to see Zhuge Qing and his sister be on intimate terms at first sight. He then looked towards Zhuge Yun and said, “Little Yun, this is my sister Teng Qingyu, who I have brought here from my hometown. However, there are not many women in Black Armored Army, which is made up of mostly men. Therefore, I was wondering......could Little Yu join Gui Yuan Sect and become a disciple?”

According to the rules of Gui Yuan Sect, disciples recruited outside of the city should be under ten years old.

“No problem,” Zhuge Yun replied straightforwardly. “Qingyu is your sister, and you are the lieutenant of our Black Armored Army! You are part of our Gui Yuan Sect, so this small matter is nothing.”

Hearing this, Teng Qingyu was very happy.

Teng Qingshan talked to his sister about this matter back when they had just arrived at the sect last night. Since she had nothing to do in Gui Yuan Sect, she might as well learn the secret techniques of inner strength. Additionally, Vigor of the Reckless Bull wasn’t suitable for women to learn. Sister Qingyu wanted to learn martial arts, she naturally had no objections to Teng Qingshan’s suggestion.

“Little Yu,” Lady Qing also spoke, “With such a small affair, I can go and notify them, so everything will be fine. There’s no need for Big Brother Qingshan to do it personally.”

Lady Qing was the daughter of the Sovereign, so a trivial matter like this was nothing.

“Yes,” Teng Qingyu nodded happily and added, “Thank you, Little Qing.”

Teng Qingshan stared at the two girls. They had only chatted for a short while, yet they had already begun amicably calling each other ‘Little Yu’ and ‘Litttle Qing’. Men and women were truly different.

“Little Yu, you haven’t gone sightseeing since you’ve arrived at the Gui Yuan Sect, right?” Lady Qing asked. “I will take you to explore Longgang and the ten Li long riverbank of the grand canal. It’s beautiful when you look at it on a boat, and it’s even prettier at night.”

“Sure,” Qingyu hastily nodded and said, “My brother doesn’t even have time to take me out for fun.”

Lady Qing turned her head and looked towards Teng Qingshan before declaring, “Big Brother Qingshan, I will take Little Yu out for a stroll.”

“Okay, okay.” Teng Qingshan was pleased to hear this.

Zhuge Qing grew up in Gui Yuan Sect. if she accompanied Teng Qingyu, then Teng Qingyu would definitely be able to make new friends in Gui Yuan Sect, so there wasn’t a reason for Teng Qingshan himself to worry.