The Nine Cauldrons

Sitting at the side of the dinner table, Yuan Lan exclaimed in surprise. “Brother Fan, is the Iron Mountain Gang that crazy? Don’t they know that doing such a thing would enrage many villages in Yi City? Also, Black Wood Village.....Many of the girls that married into our clan are from the Black Wood Village, right?”

“Correct. which is why the clan is currently in a state of chaos.” Teng Yongfan frowned and continued. “However, we can’t do anything about it.”

“This Iron Mountain Gang is too ruthless and cruel.”As he spoke, anger burned in his heart. The annihilation of an entire village was truly too inhumane.

Teng Yongfan spoke angrily,” There’s no other way. As far as we know, the three leaders of the Iron Mountain Gang are masters of the internal strengths that once travelled the nine continents! Each of the three is ruthless and extremely cruel. I’m guessing that the annihilation of the Black Wood Village was done with the purpose of Killing the chicken to warn the Monkey.

(TLN: 杀鸡儆猴 “Killing the chicken to warn the monkey” means to make an example out of someone as a way to warn others.)

Teng Qingshan nodded.

It wouldn’t be necessary to slaughter an entire village just for the sake of money. It was obvious that the annihilation was done to intimidate the other villages.

“Father, Mother, and Brother, will that gang come to our village?” Teng Qingyu asked in a worried tone.

“Right now, I am most worried that......” Teng Yongfan said anxiously. “this Iron Mountain Gang might come to our Teng Jia Village. No, it is inevitable that they will definitely come to collect the taels of silver, but the question is.......when will they come?”

“We must take precaution.” Teng Qingshan nodded as he spoke. This was related to the survival of our clan, so he couldn’t afford to be careless. Teng Qingshan pondered for a moment and said, “ Father, how about letting Qinghu lead the hunting squadron starting from tomorrow? With Qinghu’s current ability, there won’t be any problem he can’t handle. As for me, I won’t go into the mountains for training. Instead, I will stay in the village in case of an attack!”

Teng Yongfan nodded in agreement, “I’ve had similar thoughts. However, this is just one aspect. There are many other things that need to be changed. For example, if the clan members continue practicing the Tiger Fist, they should move their practicing location to the training field to defend against enemies that might appear at any time.

Usually the clan members practiced the Tiger Fist in the forest.

However, running from the forest to the training field needed some time, so it was necessary to have some fighters close by at all times.

“If the Iron Mountain Gang does not request a lot of silver, then we will take a step back and agree to their demands. If the price they request is really too high, there’s no other way...... We can only choose to defend,” said Teng Yongfan.

“Yes.” Teng Qingshan had already made his decision.

“If a crisis really did happened, there’s no need to hide my ability since all I will need to do is kill.” To Teng Qingshan.......the clan was home to the most precious relatives in this life: his father, mother, sister and the many elders that cared for him. They were his roots as well as the roots of other relatives. He would willingly face death to protect the Teng Jia Village.

“Right now, the situation isn’t bad to that point.” Teng Yongfan also felt that the conversation was slightly heavy. He laughed and said, “Our Teng Jia Village is a lot stronger than the Black Wood Village. That Iron Mountain should know that we are a force to be reckoned with.

Teng JIa Village was indeed a lot stronger than Black Wood Village.

During these past four years, there were more than thirty clan members that managed to generate internal strength out of more than a hundred clan members that practiced the Tiger Fist. The clan members that were able to generate internal strength possessed incredible destructive powers.

“If the Iron Mountain Gang thinks that we are as easy to bully as the Black Wood Village, then they fill find out how wrong they are.” Teng Qingshan smiled and said, but as he spoke the words, murderous intent hid in the depth of his heart.

At this crucial period, Teng Qingshan could not be lenient.

......

The news about the annihilation of the Black Wood Village spread quickly, and soon the entire Teng Jia Village knew.

Only the thirty men of the hunting squadron would occasionally leave the village to hunt.

Teng Qingshan, the most powerful individual in the village, remained in the village, no longer entering the mountain to train. United, Teng JIa Village was prepared to fight against the enemy.

In an era of chaos, an individual could only rely on oneself if he or she wanted to keep their clan safe.

******

The training field was bustling with noises.

“Heh!”

“Ha!”

The clan members were either practicing the Spear Arts or practicing the Tiger Fist. Some clansmen were also lifting stone blocks, rolling boulders, or lifting water buckets to train their strength. These training methods were accessible to every member of the village. Although they were simple, they were very effective. Due to the critical situation, the clan members trained even more assiduously than usual.

As for the women, they farmed, washed the clothes, cooked, cared for the children and ran many household errands.

Only the strong men needed to train with all their effort.The weak men ran trivial errands alongside the women.

“Er Niang, don’t cry.” As the three women were talking and washing clothes, the eyes of one of the women reddened.

“My little brother was killed by the damned Iron Mountain Gang,” That woman said as tears flowed down her face. “My little brother was the most obedient. When we were young, he loved to sleep with me and eat the pastries that I made.” She sobbed as she said, “But he died like this.”

The eyes of other women reddened as they listened to her grief-stricken words.

“Er Niang, your parental home, the Great Li Village is still intact. Only a few people died, and the Iron Mountain Gang left once they got the silver. However, the Black Wood Village was slaughtered. The wife of my husband’s third brother...her parents, siblings all died. Sigh......” These women sighed emotionally.

“It’s good to marry into our Teng Jia Village.”

“Yes, our Teng Jia Village is indeed the most powerful village within ten Li of the region.

“In my hometown, I have a niece named Fang Lan, who is very beautiful. I am also thinking of introducing her to the men of our Teng Jia Village.

These women were chatting with each other. In this period, if a village was powerful and not easily bullied, the men of the village would have better chances to find a suitable wife. Since the parents would consider their child’s future, sending the kids to a powerful village where they would be fed, well dressed, and free from bullying would be a very good choice.

“That Iron Mountain Gang has already gone to many other villages. I don’t know when they will come to our village.”

“Don’t say such ominous words. Those damned ones.. I don’t ever want to see them here.”

In the midst of the discussing sounds, the earth suddenly shook.

“Thee sounds of hooves!” Everyone in the training field averted their heads to look towards the village gate. Since the White Horse Gang collected the annual tribute every year, everyone was already familiar with the noises caused by the sounds of many horses galloping. It was obvious that the trembling of the earth was caused by the horses’ hooves. Except.....this time, the White Horse Gang weren’t the ones here!

Teng Qinghu and a large group of people didn’t go hunting today and had instead stayed in the training field. The moment they felt the ground rumbling and heard the noises, their facial expressions changed drastically.

This was a cavalry squad, yet the end of this cavalry couldn’t be seen. It was obvious.....that this squadron had many men and horses.

“It’s the Iron Mountain Gang!”

A piercing yell rang through the air!

“Haha.......boys of the Teng Jia Village!” The guffaw rumbled like the sound of thunder, and in front of the dense cavalry squad stood a man. He was a bald, brawny figure clothed in armor. The house mounted by this baldy was entirely scarlet red and eight Chi tall. This horse was the Scarlet Flame Horse from the Da Rong Continent. It cost over a thousand silver taels.

On the saddle of this Scarlet Flame Horse, there were two huge, round red copper hammers. Each hammer had a pointy spike at the end.

Based on a visual estimation, one round red copper hammer weighed a hundred Jin.

This brawny baldy flew up forcefully from the Scarlet Flame Horse as if he were as light as feathers. At the same time, he lifted up the two red copper hammers. Between the two red copper hammers, there was a one Zhang long chain connecting the two metal balls. The brawny baldy laughed and swung the huge hammer his left hand was holding. Simultaneously, he roared, “Open!” The huge metal hammer swept past the air like a shooting star, producing a horrifying and piercing howls of the air as it smashed forcefully against the gate of Teng Jia Village.

“Bang!”

The whole gate shook, and with a “Peng” sound, it was blasted opened. Broken pieces of wood flew in all directions.

The brawny baldy took back the copper hammer and fell from the sky. His Scarlet Flame Horse seemed to possess the soul of a human and actually trotted over, causing the brawny baldy to fall right on the horse’s saddle.

“How is this possible?” Teng Qingshan and the others took a deep breath as they stared at the broken pieces of the gate with their mouth agape and eyes widened.

The gate in the village was built with strong and hard huge wood from the Great Yan Mountain. Even if a dozen sturdy men smashed the gate with stakes, the gate wouldn’t be smashed open. In the past, the cavalry leader of the Yangzhou Salt Merchant hacked open the metal bolt with his proficient skill in martial arts, but this brawny baldy directly smashed open the gate.

“Without the strength of ten thousand Jin, it would be impossible to blast open the gate..” This was what Teng Yunlong had said in the past.

At this moment, every clan member was shocked.

Could it be......

This bald brawny man possess the incredible strength of ten thousand Jin?

“Rumble~~~” The large mass of mounted gangsters followed the bald leader and charged into the training field like a gush of wind.

“Scatter!” The mounted gangsters guffawed and slashed recklessly towards the villagers in the training field.