The Nine Cauldrons

Late at night:

In the East Flower Garden of the Xing Yi Sect, the candles in the study room were still lit. The light of the candles could be seen faintly outside the study room.

Inside the study room:

Teng Qingshan sat before the table as he read the letter that recorded everything that had happened and contained some speculations. "Ruthless. They dipped their weapons and arrows in poison and were obviously going to kill the entire caravan of people. The people they were trying to kill were teenagers. How could they even..."

"Those who hold a grudge against me should just take revenge on me alone. How could they do such shameful acts?" Teng Qingshan thought to himself. A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he felt the murderous intent growing stronger in his heart.

This group of warriors sent chills down Teng Qingshan’s spine.

They would rather commit suicide than be captured alive!

The ruthlessness of these warriors angered Teng Qingshan greatly.

"Don’t let me find the people behind this. If I find out who planned this..." Teng Qingshan definitely wasn’t a very kind person who took in everything just so everyone else would be at peace. Back then, when he was 17 years old, his father, uncle, and the other Teng Jia Villagers experienced a great disaster in the Great Yan Mountain. Although Teng Qingshan was not as strong as Qing Hu Island at that time, he still tried his very best to seek revenge!

Moreover, Teng Qingshan had now become the existence looked up to by everyone in the entire Land of the Nine Prefectures.

The Xing Yi Sect immediately exerted their greatest effort in searching for the identities of the 100+ warriors. One should know that all the armor, weapons, and even the poisons were clues that could help with this investigation! Moreover, those 100+ warriors were powerful, making it less likely for those warriors to be ordinary people.

Within a short period of seven days, the result came out, and it was astonishing.

...

In the East Flower Garden during the early morning, a girl wearing purple exercise clothes could be seen holding a longspear. Teng Qingshan was watching from the side with a smile as the young girl practiced the moves of the spear art repeatedly.

"Father, how’s my performance of this spear art?" Honglin stopped. Her face was flushed red from the heat as she looked at Teng Qingshan with a grin.

"Good. The Pursuing Shadow spear art you performed did display continuity, but there is no fierceness." Teng Qingshan stretched his hand and took the longspear from Honglin while he was still at a distance. The longspear floated in the air and fell into Teng Qingshan’s grip. "Look closely. The Bursting Fist is like an arrow! And so, the Pursuing Shadows spear art must also be like an arrow that is about to be shot."

As Teng Qingshan spoke, he easily lifted the longspear horizontally. He then spun it and thrust it forward!

Puchi!

The air seemed to be pierced.

"Also, Linlin," Teng Qingshan said with a smile, "your cultivation of the Bursting Fist and the Pursuing Shadows spear art is considered successful. Starting today, when you practice your Bursting Fist, whenever you move forward or backward, you are only allowed to move half a step!"

"Half a step? If I am only allowed to move such a short distance, the force I produce will not be strong enough." Honglin shook her head as she spoke.

Teng Qingshan smiled and said, "If you aren’t used to this, then lock your legs with chains. Whenever you move forward or backward, you must only move a distance of half a step! When you are able to master this Half-a-step Bursting Fist, you will be able to reach the Innate Realm or Grandmaster Realm." Since his son wasn’t very talented in martial arts, Teng Qingshan could only focus on teaching his daughter.

Honglin nodded in response.

"Teacher!" At this moment, someone came from afar. It was Yang Dong.

"Martial Brother Yang," Honglin greeted with a smile.

Yang Dong smiled and nodded. He then whispered to Teng Qingshan, "Teacher, we have results."

"Results?" Teng Qingshan’s facial expression changed. "Let’s go." Teng Qingshan immediately led his disciple and went to the study room. Creak. The door closed and Yang Dong immediately took out a piece of paper. "Teacher, this is what Eldest Martial Brother found. Teacher, take a look at it."

Teng Qingshan’s face darkened as he took the piece of paper from his disciple.

The letter stated that an inspection was done on the weapons and armors. Although the inspection of the weapons was difficult, they had managed to find the identities of three of the 100+ warriors!

"Three." Teng Qingshan nodded.

In the Land of the Nine Prefectures, there were countless cultivators. Many people were unknown to all the other people in the world. Therefore, the fact that the intelligence agency was able to find the identities of the three was already considered impressive.

"Guo Jiexiu? Gan Zitao?" When Teng Qingshan saw the two names, his facial expression changed.

According to the information, these two were members of Emperor Yu’s Hall!

"Emperor Yu’s Hall!" Teng Qingshan felt the rage surging within his body. "They first lured the Internal Martial Arts cultivators with all kinds of benefits. Then they tried to frame and make false charges... I did not expect them to do such a thing. How dare they slaughter the disciples of the Xing Yi Sect!" It’s impossible for a founder of a sect to remain calm when someone had just tried to kill thousands of his disciples.

Honor! Reputation!

All of these were achieved through fights!

Yang Dong, who stood at the side, saw that his teacher’s eyes suddenly appeared terrifying and bright like the flash of a lightning. Yang Dong was also shocked and scared of the murderous aura his teacher had shown.

"Eh? This is..."

After reading the detailed information of Guo Jiexiu and Gan Zitao, Teng Qingshan flipped to the next page. When he saw the third person, he was astonished. "Chu Xinglong? Qing Hu Island???" Initially, because of Guo Jiexiu and Gan Zitao, Teng Qingshan was extremely mad. He felt so mad that he was about to storm over to Emperor Yu’s Hall to seek revenge. But when he found out about the identity of the third person, he instantly regained his composure.

"Qing Hu Island?" Teng Qingshan frowned. "How could there be a member of Qing Hu Island?"

"Teacher." Yang Dong cupped his hands and said, "I read this earlier. I am also weirded out by the fact that one of these three was a member of Qing Hu Island."

Teng Qingshan shook his head and frowned as he said, "Back then, I killed the Blind Swordmaster of Qing Hu Island and captured the Island Lord alive. After that, Qing Hu Island fell apart. Some loyal members dispersed and hid in various places just to prepare for the rise of Qing Hu Island. However, most had left and lived their lives normally.

"However, it still doesn’t explain why Chu Xinglong was one of those warriors," Teng Qingshan said with a frown.

"Teacher."

Yang Dong said solemnly, "In my opinion, there are two possibilities.

"The first possibility is the survivors of Qing Hu Island could be behind this. Maybe they are trying to take revenge, and so, they gathered some men. However, the presence of Guo Jiexiu and Gan Zitao proves the involvement of Emperor Yu’s Hall.

"The other possibility is that this was planned by Qing Hu Island as a form of retaliation! When Qing Hu Island was destroyed, many of its members left Yangzhou and either became soldiers in Emperor Yu’s Hall or joined another sect. Chu Xinglong might have joined Emperor Yu’s Hall after the destruction of Qing Hu Island. If this is true, all 100 of these warriors are part of Emperor Yu’s Hall!"

Yang Dong presented the two possibilities.

Teng Qingshan nodded in response. He gnashed his teeth and frowned as confusion and uncertainty filled his heart.

"Teacher, what should we do?" Yang Dong asked.

"Everything has been very strange," Teng Qingshan said with a frown. "Firstly, a mysterious Innate Expert disclosed information to us. And then this happened! However, although everything has been very weird, I am sure this has something to do with Emperor Yu’s Hall."

Because Teng Qingshan was still slightly doubtful and confused, he didn’t go straight to Emperor Yu’s hall for an explanation.

"Keep checking!"

"How did those suits of armor, weapons, and 100+ people appear? Track the places they have been..." Teng Qingshan instructed. Although he was mad at Emperor Yu’s Hall, he didn’t want to attack Emperor Yu’s Hall without making things clear.

...

Time went by very quickly. Soon, it was March.

The month of March was a time in which birds chirped and flowers bloomed and perfumed in Yangzhou. Many tourists could be seen at the bottom of the mountain. This was the season in which tourists visited the Great Yan Mountain to witness the famous sacred land of Internal Martial Arts.

Naturally, the town located at the bottom of the Great Yan Mountain was flourishing.

"Brother, we have gone through great struggles. We have traveled from Yuzhou and arrived in the Great Yan Mountain to join the Xing Yi Sect. And now it has been eight years. This time, when you go back home, please check on my old parents for me. Here’s some money. Please give the money to them." Inside a restaurant, three young men could be seen drinking and chatting.

One of the three young men, a handsome man dressed in green, sighed and said emotionally, "It has been eight years! I don’t know how my adoptive father has been doing during these past eight years. Sigh, I am an unfilial son. During these past eight years, I was never by his side. All I did was ask someone to help send some money home."

"Brother, compared to us two, you are the most powerful one and the most successful one. Now you are even the sergeant of the Blood Wolf Army. If your adoptive father knew, he would be so happy."

"Martial Brother Gongyu." Another slightly shorter and chubbier guy said with a smile, "A man’s aspiration is to travel and make his mark! Back then, your adoptive father just wanted you to come with us. It’s a pity we aren’t able to go home whenever we felt like going back." In every sect, there was a limit to the number of times the newly joined disciples could return home.

The farther away your home was, the higher the limitations.

After all, some places were ten thousand Li away and a round trip would take half a year. This wouldn’t be acceptable. If disciples who lived this far were allowed to visit their families, they would be spending half of the year traveling.

The young man named Gongyu stood up and said, "Alright, my two Martial Brothers. Let’s end our conversation here. Now, the caravan of Qingshan Enterprise has assembled here."

The two young men stood up and sent him off.

Gongyu cupped his hands as he said, "There is no need to send me off. Martial Brothers, Gongyu will be leaving first."

"Stay safe." The two young men then watched the man named Gongyu leave.

The caravan of Qingshan Enterprise was gathering in the town.

Gongyu was going to leave with the caravan and was heading towards Yuzhou to visit his family.

"They are all here. Depart!" the leader of the caravan ordered.

Immediately, the caravan of a thousand people began their journey, leaving the Great Yan Mountain and advancing towards Yuzhou.

On the empty official road:

The young man named Gongyu rode on his horse and advanced along with the caravan. He looked back at the Great Yan Mountain. Currently, he was so far away from the Great Yan Mountain that he couldn’t see the Great Yan Mountain clearly. Gongyu said to himself, "The Xing Yi Sect! Teacher and Brothers... I am sorry. You can’t blame me. If you really want to blame someone, then blame Teng Qingshan!!!

"Eight years!

"Eight years... For these past eight years, I have been a disciple of the Xing Yi Sect and the sergeant of the Blood Wolf Army. But from now on, I am not!" A fierce glint flashed in Gongyu’s eyes as he said this.