The Nine Cauldrons

"Reporting to Honored Sir," Huang Tianqin respectfully said in a low voice, "Emperor Yu’s Hall has incurred the hatred of an idle Emptiness Realm Expert named Jing Yi. This Jing Yi possesses an Emptiness Realm Demonic Beast. Today, I allowed Yu Tonghai and Liu Xia, as well as the Splitting Wind Dragon Falcon and the Six-Eared Earth-Drilling Mouse, in addition to the Shooting Sun God Mountain’s Shengong Tu, to cooperate and go kill Jing Yi. However, who would have thought that midway through the pursuit, this Jing Yi would actually have another helper—the Undying Phoenix who used to follow the Omnipotent Expert, the Poetic Sword God."

"A fire phoenix?" A hint of amazement emerged in the deep and resounding voice.

"Yes, this Undying Phoenix killed Shengong Tu, as well as Yu Tonghai of our Emperor Yu’s Hall. Moreover, we realized that this man named Jing Yi... His real identity is actually a 22-year-old youth named Teng Qingshan, who was chased to the ends of the Earth in the past. Last year, he was already a very powerful Emptiness Realm Expert.

"In other words, at 21 years of age, Teng Qingshan was already an Emptiness Realm Expert! Possibly even earlier!

"Sorry to trouble you for guidance, Honored Sir, but what should we do now?"

There was total silence.

That Honored Sir didn’t say anything for a long time, and Huang Tianqin didn’t dare ask again.

Then finally...

"Tianqin, my answer is the same as how the Heavenly Emperor of the Qin Mountains was dealt with back then. Retreat a step, and you get the wide sea and sky! As for the matter of how Jing Yi is actually Teng Qingshan, spread this information around quietly. Spread it throughout all the Land of the Nine Prefectures. As for what happens below the surface, you just need to watch." The deep and resounding voice reverberated inside the quiet temple, then it dissipated without ringing again.

Huang Tianqin showed a slightly fearful expression and wondered inwardly, "The strategy they used to deal with the Heavenly Emperor of the Qin Mountains back then? To think that the Honored Sir wants to back down... Could it possibly be because of that Undying Phoenix?"

Although he held some doubts about this solution, Huang Tianqin’s heart was set on it.

Since the Honored Sir had commanded it, then Emperor Yu’s Hall would naturally obey.

On that day, Huang Tianqin arranged for someone to spread the world-shaking news that Jing Yi was actually Teng Qingshan, who had been chased to the ends of the Earth back then.

*******

During the afternoon of that day, the rainstorm had just stopped, and the married couple, Teng Qingshan and Li Jun, were riding on the Undying Phoenix, Little Blue. They were flying toward the east of Jiangning County City.

"Qingshan, you seem to be in a real hurry." Li Jun laughed softly.

"Of course, I’m in a hurry."

Teng Qingshan was gazing at the distant east. "I’ve been away from home for much, much too long. When I returned from Duanmu Continent and I saw my parents, I could only pretend that I never saw them. All this time, I’ve been afraid of revealing my identity... causing my parents to grieve over me, this son of theirs. Since my identity no longer needs to stay secret, the very first ones I should tell are my father and mother!"

Teng Qingshan sounded very tranquil, but he felt that he was soon to be out of breath.

Nervous! Apprehensive!

Guilty! Excited!

Many emotions were in his heart.

"Qingshan, don’t worry. When Father and Mother see you, they’ll definitely be very, very happy," Li Jun said with a smile.

"Already calling them Father and Mother?" Teng Qingshan teased, glancing at Li Jun.

Li Jun’s face was a bit flushed, and she could not help but shoot him a slight glare. However, the atmosphere between the two people had actually become very warm.

Little Blue was flying wantonly, occasionally even going down below to the boundless earth for a look, seemingly rather curious.

After a moment, an immense city emerged below on the vast earth, Jiangning County City.

"Little Blue." Li Jun pointed downward while emitting hoots to guide Little Blue.

Little Blue swooped down at once, leaving a trail of fiery destructive afterimages in midair. Right away, she had already dropped down into the Gui Yuan Sect in Jiangning County-City. They descended in the residence originally dwelled by Elder Wu. Leaving Little Blue behind in Elder Wu’s residence, Teng Qingshan and Li Jun used Qing Gong and proceeded toward Teng Yongfan and his wife’s residence.

...

Teng Yongfan and his wife spent most of their time in the Gui Yuan Sect’s inner courtyard. As such, they often saw their daughter, Qingyu, as well as their grandson and granddaughter.

On the wall of this serene and ancient courtyard, there was moss, while the inner wall of the courtyard was covered in grapevines. In a corner, an area was plowed and planted with some vegetables, making a little vegetable field. On the veranda on the outside of the hall of the house, Teng Yongfan was currently lying on a recliner, occasionally looking at the courtyard, occasionally looking at the azure sky after the rain.

"Woof! Woof!"

A large, dark, and swarthy dog ran out from the firewood room, arriving before Teng Yongfan in a moment.

"Come ’ere." Teng Yongfan chuckled as he grabbed the large dog’s forelegs, having it stand upright.

At this moment, Yuan Lan was in the kitchen lighting a fire. Occasionally, she looked outside, glimpsing at Teng Yongfan while laughing softly.

Everything seemed to be very peaceful.

This was how Teng Yongfan and his wife lived. Then suddenly...

"Eh?" Teng Yongfan, who was lying on the recliner, seemed to sense something and turned to look at the gates of the courtyard. At the center of the gates, which hadn’t been tightly shut, two people were walking in. They were a man and a woman. The man was handsome and bright, while the woman was beautiful.

Bang!

Distracted, Teng Yongfan loosened the grip of both his hands and the large dog dropped back to the ground. However, Teng Yongfan was still staring blankly at the two people who had just entered the courtyard. He even blinked a couple of times.

When Teng Qingshan saw his father like this... he felt an indescribable burst of heartache and immediately took two steps forward.

Peng! He kneeled down heavily on the stone slabs in the courtyard, which were still covered with water. Seeing his father, who already had wrinkles on his face and strands of white hair by his temples, Teng Qingshan called out from the bottom of his heart, "Father!"

"Father!"

Hearing this made Teng Yongfan suddenly support himself into his wheelchair, wanting to rush over to Teng Qingshan.

Putong!

However, the wheelchair slipped from the veranda down into the courtyard and overturned. Teng Yongfan fell as well and then used his hands to prop himself up.

"What’s going on? What’s happening?" Yuan Lan ran out of the kitchen.

However, Teng Yongfan wasn’t even the slightest bit aware of that, and he used his strong arms to prop himself up on the ground. Staring fixedly at Teng Qingshan, Teng Yongfan’s eyes reddened and brimmed with tears. He gasped and yelled out, "Ah Lan, Ah Lan! Our son has returned. Qingshan has returned!"

Yuan Lan had already rushed out of the house.

Seeing the youth kneeling in the courtyard, her eyes instantly blurred with tears. Still, she tried hard to see... Teng Qingshan’s appearance was very similar to how he had looked back then, but he was now more mature and reserved.

Teng Qingshan then turned to face his mother.

"Mother!" Teng Qingshan’s voice shook slightly.

Yuan Lan wiped the tears from her eyes. Then she charged before Teng Qingshan like her life depended on it, immediately crouching down and grabbing his hands, as well as touching his face.

"Qingshan, Qingshan. You’re finally back." Yuan Lan couldn’t help embracing Teng Qingshan, trembling as she wept.

She always remembered how...

That year, her son had carried her crippled husband home. After that, he hurried back to Great Yan Mountain without looking back.

Ever since then, she had never seen her son again.

Yuan Lan had heard that during the battle on Great Yan Mountain, her son had killed many Innate Experts and had been proclaimed by everyone under the heavens as a genius seen only once every 500 years.

She had also heard that her son had escaped from the Golden Dan Innate Experts.

...

Yuan Lan didn’t care about all of this. She just wanted her son to be well and that he could come back safe and sound.

"Qingshan, Qingshan. I’m not dreaming, am I?!" Yuan Lan bit her lip, resisting the urge to cry some more and looked closely at Teng Qingshan’s face.

Teng Yongfan, who had in the meantime used his two hands to seat himself in the wheelchair again, was a very staunch man. Aside from his loss of self-control at the start, he was now already completely in control of himself and called out softly, "Ah Lan, look at you. Don’t cry anymore. Qingshan has been away from home for almost five years. Why don’t you let him come in to sit and talk slowly? In the future, there will be time for you to speak with him."

"Mm, in the future, I’ll have plenty, plenty of time." Yuan Lan nodded.

"Qingshan, quickly, stand up." Yuan Lan pulled Teng Qingshan up.

Teng Qingshan held an endless amount of guilt toward his parents. Ignoring everything else, he straightened his posture as he continued to kneel. Then he presented three kowtows to his parents, banging his head heavily onto the ground.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

There were three sounds, one after another.

Following this, Teng Qingshan raised his head with tears in his eyes as he gazed at his father and mother. "Father, Mother... Your son has been unfilial. From today onward, I won’t leave again. Never again!"

"Alright, alright," Teng Yongfan and Yuan Lan, the married couple, said in unison.

Then Yuan Lan pulled Teng Qingshan up.

"Qingshan, this young lady is..." Both Teng Yongfan and Yuan Lan had taken notice of the rather seemingly well-mannered Li Jun, who had been standing behind Teng Qingshan all this time. As Teng Qingshan had restored his original appearance and expressions, along with that faint feeling of familiarity due to having the same blood, Teng Yongfan and Yuan Lan had managed to recognize their son with one look.

However, they had never met Li Jun before.

"Father, Mother," Teng Qingshan said as he pulled Li Jun’s hand over, "this is the young woman I married while I was crossing the ocean. Her name is Li Jun."

"Wife?" Yuan Lan’s eyes immediately lit up.

"Our Teng family’s daughter-in-law?" Teng Yongfan looked Li Jun up and down attentively.

Li Jun kneeled down courteously and presented three kowtows to Teng Yongfan and Yuan Lan. "This daughter-in-law greets Father and Mother."

"Alright, alright." Yuan Lan was somewhat at a loss as to what to do. "I haven’t even prepared anything... This..." At this moment, used to be plain and unadorned, Yuan Lan couldn’t find anything on her to gift to her daughter-in-law either. Qingyu had previously gifted her some jewelry, but Leng Lan had placed those at the bottom of her trunk.

"Father, Mother, it’s fine," Teng Qingshan said.

The eyes of Teng Yongfan and Yuan Lan were brimming with tears of happiness. Being able to see their son, and furthermore, learning that their son had gotten a wife, they were naturally extremely happy.

"Father, Mother, Li Jun is already pregnant." Teng Qing spoke of yet another matter that made Teng Yongfan and Yuan Lan happy.

"Haha, haha..." Unable to hold it back anymore, Teng Yongfan started laughing.

However, at this moment...

"Father, why are you laughing? I could hear your laughter from afar outside. What’s the great joyous occasion?" A familiar voice rang out from outside the courtyard.

"Little Yu’s here." Teng Yongfan and Yuan Lan both turned to look.

Teng Qingshan had long sensed his younger sister’s aura. However, as his identity was now public, he naturally had no need to hide from her. As such, he just smiled as he gazed at the courtyard gates. He saw Qingyu dressed like a young married woman, with green robes and coiled hair.

She was currently holding hands with two children, leading them and smiling brightly as they entered the courtyard. "Father, Mother, today, I——"

Her words suddenly stopped.

Qingyu stared blankly at the young couple standing in the courtyard, particularly at the figure who was carrying a spear sack. That was a figure that she had been extremely fondly attached to ever since she was young.

Somewhat apprehensive, somewhat afraid that she was dreaming, yet also somewhat extremely longing for this to be true, Qingyu softly called out this one word, "Brother?"

"Qingyu." With a loving smile, Teng Qingshan called out Qingyu’s name with the same tone he had used when they were young.