The Nine Cauldrons

"It does not make sense," said Yang Dong as he frowned.

"It does not make sense," said Yang Dong, frowning. "The Xing Yi Sect has no interaction with this Barbarian Temple. Why would they come and attack the Xing Yi Sect?"

"But it happened."

Hongwu, who was very calm at the side, said as his eyes gleamed with intelligence, "One who is unaccountably solicitous is hiding evil intentions. It’s the same principle. Hatred does not appear without any reason! There is definitely a reason why the Godly Beast of the Barbarian Temple came and attacked the Xing Yi Sect. Furthermore, before the attack, the demonic beast was with an Emptiness Realm Expert. However, the Emptiness Realm Expert was not present when the Black Crow attacked. Father, if my guess is correct, we can learn the reason from the Emptiness Realm Expert!"

"The crux of the issue should be on the person," said Hongwu calmly.

Teng Qingshan looked at his son with a glance of approval.

It seemed like doing business could really develop one’s intelligence.

He then glanced at his son and then his daughter. The older sister and younger brother were complete opposites when it came to mental age. It was as though Hongwu was the older one.

"Yes, we might be able to understand everything if we can find the Emptiness Realm Expert." Teng Qingshan responded with a nod.

"Qingshan... However, the biggest problem is that we cannot find the Emptiness Realm Expert," Li Jun said helplessly, shaking her head.

Teng Qingshan’s eyes suddenly moved towards the black-clothed man beside the Undying Phoenix who was being pressed onto the ground by the strong Power of the Heavens and the Earth.

"This is?" Teng Qingshan walked towards the man.

"Father, this is the mastermind behind the people who kidnapped me," said Honglin with red eyes, glaring at the black-clothed man. "It’s him! He asked Pan Anran to cut my face 19 times with a knife! If not for Little White and Fire Phoenix, I would be..."

Teng Qingshan looked at the black-clothed man and his eyes soon turned cold.

"Haha, right. I was the one who issued that order. So what? Haha..." It seemed like the man had noticed that Teng Qingshan was looking at him. The black-clothed man, whose Dantian had been broken, shouted crazily, "If you want to blame someone, blame that Pan Anran for being too useless! What trash! He was just supposed to lure the lady out. But he actually caught your attention and even caused you to order the Undying Phoenix to follow them.

Teng Qingshan walked towards the black-clothed man and stared at him coldly.

"Hmm?"

Teng Qingshan’s face changed.

"Teng Qingshan, kill me if you can. I will haunt you forever when I am a ghost!" shouted the black-clothed man, gritting his teeth and glaring.

"Weihan," Teng Qingshan opened his mouth all of a sudden.

The man’s face changed.

"One of the Innate Experts in Qing Hu Island during that time, Weihan. It’s you, right?" Teng Qingshan’s smile froze the man’s heart. After the first battle of the Great Mountain Yan, the number of Qing Hu Island’s Innate Experts had decreased drastically. Teng Qingshan hated Qing Hu Island from his heart and had read the information about all of the Innate Experts that were left in Qing Hu Island multiple times.

Weihan felt his heart freeze.

"Weihan," Teng Qingshan looked down coldly at Weihan as he spoke, "Who would have thought that Qing Hu Island would have the courage to take revenge on the Xing Yi Sect? You are courting death! Tell me, who was the Emptiness Realm Expert controlling the flying demonic beast. Who was it?"

"Kill me.

"Just kill me now if you can," shouted the black-clothed man named Weihan, gritting his teeth until the corner of his mouth started bleeding. "Don’t expect me to say a single word."

"Kill you?"

Teng Qingshan let out a cold laugh. "What’s the use of killing you? Weihan, I am giving you a chance to speak now. If you tell me who the Emptiness Realm Expert controlling the flying demonic beast was, I will not kill what’s left of your Qing Hu Island. But if you do not open your mouth, I will hunt down the remaining members of your Qing Hu Island in the whole Land of the Nine Prefectures!

"If there is one, I will kill one, if there are ten thousand, I will kill ten thousand! Not a single one will be left!" Teng Qingshan could not control his killing intent when he thought of his daughter and the Xing Yi Sect getting destroyed.

The words of Teng Qingshan caused Weihan’s facial expression to change drastically.

"Are you telling or not?" laughed Teng Qingshan coldly, "I might be too lazy to hear what you have to say later."

Weihan’s expression kept changing as he struggled internally.

He was not scared of death!

However, when he thought of the thousands of Qing Hu Island disciples who were in hiding, he became worried. The Xing Yi Sect now was not the Xing Yi Sect that was just founded; the Xing Yi Sect now had the power to hunt down the disciples of Qing Hu Island in the whole Land of the Nine Prefectures.

"Dong, pass down my order: in the whole Land of the Nine Prefectures..." Teng Qingshan said cold-heartedly.

"I’ll talk, I’ll talk," shouted Weihan.

Teng Qingshan stopped and looked at Weihan coldly. He did not say a word, he was only waiting for Weihan to speak.

Weihan took a deep breath. "At first, the disciples of Qing Hu Island who survived had no intention of taking revenge, but one day, a mysterious Emptiness Realm Expert came to us, claiming to be a good friend of ’Heavenly Sighted Swordmaster’, our Martial Ancestor. He had just arrived at the Land of Nine Prefectures and had heard that our Martial Ancestor had been killed by you, Teng Qingshan, so he decided to avenge our Martial Ancestor and asked us to help."

Teng Qingshan frowned.

"When Qing Hu Island was just destroyed, there were many who wanted to take revenge; we even planted a few spies in the Gui Yuan Sect and the Xing Yi Sect. However, after a long time, the hatred that people had began to disappear. The younger generation did not want to take revenge, and the Xing Yi Sect was getting more powerful, so we could not win either."

"When the friend of the Heavenly Sighted Swordmaster appeared, the survivors of Qing Hu Island were divided into two. One side was in favor of taking revenge, and the other side had no intention of antagonizing the Xing Yi Sect. They thought any actions against Xing Yi Sect would be equivalent to hitting the rock with eggs. They thought that it would be a waste of our time and energy," said Weihan slowly.

Teng Qingshan said suddenly, "The other day, Qing Hu Island tried to kill the new batch of Internal Martial Art cultivators. Qing Hu Island also leaked the secret cultivation method of Xing Yi Sect. Qing Hu Island has never changed, huh."

"Teng Qingshan, you are smart. I don’t need to tell you. You already know. It’s true that we did this," said Weihan, shaking his head. "But it was obvious that someone had told you about the first attempt to massacre the new batch of Internal Martial Art cultivators. Some of the remaining disciples of Qing Hu Island wish to fight, but some don’t... We thought that it must be the other group of disciples that spilled the beans.

Teng Qingshan didn’t say anything.

"Teng Qingshan, if you want to kill me, then do it. But I only beg that you let the remaining disciples of Qing Hu Island live."

"That was 19 years ago. Now, a lot of them are young people and the things that happened in the past have nothing to do with them. Please give them a chance and let them go," continued Weihan.

Li Jun, who had been standing beside Teng Qingshan the whole time, suddenly asked, "Weihan, what does the human Emptiness Realm Expert look like?"

"He wears a golden mask.

"I myself also don’t know him," said Weihan, shaking his head.

...

After interrogating Weihan carefully, Teng Qingshan gained a lot of information.

Teng Qingshan asked Honglin and Hongwu to go back the house to rest, while Yang Dong had gone to help the injured disciples of the Xing Yi Sect. And so, Teng Qingshan and Li Jun were the only ones left.

"Little Jun, do you have any idea who this golden-masked Emptiness Realm Expert, who claimed to be a good friend of the Blind Swordmaster, is?" asked Teng Qingshan.

"An Elder of the Barbarian Tribe Temple?" said Li Jun, unsure of her answer.

"I don’t know whether he is a temple elder or not, but I am quite confident that this man should be Guyong!" said Teng Qingshan, his eyes flashed.

Li Jun said shockingly, "Guyong?"

"He first attempted to kill the members of Xing Yi Sect and he then sold the secret cultivation to Emperor Yu’s Hall so that Xing Yi Sect would go against Emperor Yu’s Hall. Finally, he tried to destroy my Xing Yi Sect. His ways of doing things are getting crueler! If there wasn’t real hatred, why would he do that? And Guyong and I hate each other to death. The hatred between us is so great that even the heavens cannot tolerate.

"If the Blind Swordmaster really had a friend who is such a strong Emptiness Realm Expert, why didn’t the Blind Swordmaster ask him for help when Qing Hu Island was going to be destroyed? So this is all a lie!

"Furthermore, he could easily find the Qing Hu Island disciples who were in hiding. This cannot be done by other people.

"And during those years when I searched the whole Land of the Nine Prefectures, I could not find this Guyong either. During these nineteen years, where did he run off to? After reappearing from hiding for nineteen years, why wouldn’t he take revenge?

"Most importantly...

"Gu Yong’s power of understanding is on par with that of my teacher Zhuge Yuanhong! If it wasn’t because my teacher wanted to comprehend the Dao of Life, he would have already reach the Emptiness Realm. Gu Yong and my teacher are very alike. He also experienced many hardships. It would be weird if he hadn’t reached the Emptiness Realm by now.

Teng Qingshan looked towards Li Jun. "Little Jun, you tell me. Who can this man be if he is not Guyong?"

Li Jun was totally convinced by Teng Qingshan’s words and nodded.

"However, anything is possible. I am only 90% sure that he is Gu Yong, " said Teng Qingshan, shaking his head. "Before I take off the mysterious man’s golden mask, I cannot be absolutely certain he is Guyong."

"Little Jun, the Bladelike Chi has sensed the presence of the Emptiness Realm demonic beast Black Crow and the mysterious Emptiness Realm expert before. If I am lucky, I might find him if I search the nearby area with Bladelike Chi." Teng Qingshan did not dare to relax even a bit. He could only be at peace if he found the mysterious man.

"Mhmm, be careful," nodded Li Jun.

"Mhmm."

Teng Qingshan turned around and looked at the Six Legged Bladelike Chi. "Bladelike Chi!" Teng Qingshan, who was holding the Reincarnation Spear, hopped onto the back of Six Legged Bladelike Chi and disappeared like lightning in front of Li Jun.

******

In the afternoon.

There were no clouds in the sky. At this moment, Teng Qingshan was on the back of Six Legged Bladelike Chi, flying.

"He is really careful."

"The first time he attempted to kill the new batch of disciples... If his plan had succeeded, then so be it. However, even if his plan failed, the two disciples of the Emperor Yu’s Hall were assigned there to mislead me to think that the Emperor Yu’s Hall had done it. He really prepared a backup plan.

"The second time, he sold my secret cultivation technique to the Emperor Yu’s Hall, making me fight against them. He tried to use Emperor Yu’s Hall to kill me."

"The third time, he only used an Emptiness Realm demonic beast to cause damage and havoc. Even if it failed, he still had another chance!"

Teng Qingshan’s heart felt very heavy.

"Every time this enemy tried to take revenge, he wouldn’t use his trump cards all at once, so even if he failed, he could take revenge another time.

With this kind of enemy, Teng Qingshan could not even sleep soundly at night.

"I must find him and kill him."

Teng Qingshan thought to himself.

Suddenly, he went down to the enormous Great Yan Mountain. Before that, he and the Six Legged Bladelike Chi had searched for two hours and had found nothing. Teng Qingshan knew that this smart, cautious, and mysterious Emptiness Realm expert could not be easily found by himself.

"Bladelike Chi, go down." Teng Qingshan said as he pointed the way.

The Six Legged Bladelike Chi immediately rushed down, entering the Great Yan Mountain.

...

When Teng Qingshan arrived at the East Flower Garden, he saw Yang Dong, who was waiting in the pavilion.

"Teacher."

When Yang Dong saw Teng Qingshan, he approached him immediately.

"Teacher," greeted Yang Dong. "We have the number of casualties."

"Tell me." Teng Qingshan responded with a frown.

Yang Dong responded courteously, "When the demonic beast Black Crow attacked today, it caused many palaces and mansions to fall and crash. Rocks flew everywhere, injuring 326 disciples. Among them, there are about twenty people that became crippled and nine people who died. Among these nine people, six were women and three were young disciples. They were all killed by the rocks.

Teng Qingshan became even angrier after hearing this.

"Mhmm." Teng Qingshan nodded. "Bury the dead, and treat the families of the casualties nicely."

"Alright," said Yang Dong with a heavy heart.

Teng Qingshan turned around and saw Li Jun coming out from Honglin’s room. When she saw Teng Qingshan, she walked towards him, "Qingshan, you came back. You couldn’t find him?"

"Mhmm." Teng Qingshan nodded. "How is Linlin?"

"She just fell asleep," Li Jun shook her head, "This child has always been like a boy since young. She looks strong and tough, but she is secretly... Sigh... I am afraid that..."

Teng Qingshan also knew that the things that happened this time really hurt his daughter physically and psychologically.

"We cannot delay any longer, we need to find the mysterious Emptiness Realm expert now," said Teng Qingshan, unable to hold it any longer. "Little Jun, Dong. I am getting ready to go to Desolate Land to visit the Barbarian Tribe Temple!"

"Barbarian Tribe Temple?" Li Jun was shocked.

"If I don’t find the mastermind, I will never be at peace." Teng Qingshan added.

Li Jun took a deep breath and nodded her head slightly. She too felt that this series of unfortunate events was giving her a headache.

"Little Blue and I will go to the Barbarian Tribe Temple. Let the Bladelike Chi stay here," said Teng Qingshan. "Little Jun, don’t worry... If I am really in trouble, the demonic dragon Purple Rain will also come and help."

...

In the afternoon, Teng Qingshan secretly rode on Little Blue and left the Great Yan Mountain for the Desolate Land in the south.

Whoosh!

The Undying Phoenix had an impressive speed, passing the rivers in seconds and entering the Desolate Land. Just by looking down at the endless jungle below, Teng Qingshan could feel the presence of the countless amount of venomous bugs and wild beasts below. He held the Reincarnation Spear in his hand and observed quietly.

After a long time.

He stayed there until evening.

"Hmm?" Teng Qingshan suddenly felt a great number of presences. And the presences were a lot stronger than the presence of the wild beasts. There were also presences that could match the ones of an Innate Expert, and there were even presences of Emptiness Realm experts. He perceived that a few Emptiness Realm Experts had gathered in one place.

"We are here. The place that the Emptiness Realm experts are gathering should be the temple."

Teng Qingshan hastily told the Undying Phoenix.

"Caw!"

The Undying Phoenix rushed down immediately, reaching the jungle rapidly.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Two figures appeared in the jungle, floating in mid-air, looking at Teng Qingshan, who was on the back of the Undying Phoenix. Teng Qingshan also looked at them. These two people were barefoot and wore sackcloths, just like the ascetics in the Land of Nine Prefectures. They both smiled.

"Guests from afar, welcome to the Barbarian Tribe Temple," said one of them, who was an old man with a dry and skinny body and wrinkles, nodding and smiling.

"Caw, caw, caw!" An angry scream suddenly sounded.

Teng Qingshan’s facial expression changed. This was the aura of the demonic beast Black Crow.

"Hmm, it was you who hurt the Godly Beast Black Crow?" The old man full of wrinkles immediately had a change of facial expression.

"Roar!"

"Caw!"

Suddenly, Teng Qingshan felt a strong Emptiness Realm presence rushing to him, with hostility, from the temple below.