The Nine Cauldrons

The night breeze was chilling as it blew across the entirety of Wu An County. Teng Qingshan sat in the second story of the pavilion in the dark without lighting any candles. There were two pots of wine on the table. He occasionally drank a cup of wine as he sat there, letting the chilling wind blow against his clothes.

In the pitch black pavilion, Teng Qingshan sat silently.

“Cat, I didn’t expect to meet a girl who looks so much like you in this life! I wonder if she’d be your exact resemblance when she grows up!” Teng Qingshan said in a soft voice. “Sigh.....Initially, I had thought that after going through my past life and my current, I should have forgotten you by now! But only when I saw Little Jun did I realise......your each and every smile and scowl, as well as the words you had spoken to me, I still recalled them very clearly. All these are as if they were carved into my soul. Even if I am born into a new life, there’s still no way for me to forget.”

A slight smile appeared on Teng Qingshan’s face.

“Cat, seems it’s going to be difficult for your man to find another woman to love in this life! This is all your fault.” Teng Qingshan drank another cup.

......

That night, Teng Qingshan did not sleep, nor did he meditate. He sat there on the well-ventilated pitch black pavilion by himself throughout the entire night.

Early morning.

Li Jun, wearing a suit of green, ran about in the mansion, looking for Teng Qingshan.

“Little Lady Jun, you are up so early.” The fat man smiled and said.

“Uncle Wang, where is Brother Teng?” Li Jun asked in a panic.

“Commander set off for the Boorish Desolate early in the morning.” The fat man smiled and replied.

“Left?” Li Jun was stunned.

The fat man quickly said, “Commander asked Lady Little Jun to stay here comfortably. As for the issue with the revenge, Commander will settle it for you. Another thing —” The fat man took out a gold note from his chest as he said, “This is a note worth a hundred taels of gold. Commander passed it to me before he left. Little Lady Jun, if you wish to buy a house, or when you get married in the future, you can use this money.”

Looking at the gold note, Li Jun could not stop the tears that had filled her eyes to the brim.

A hundred taels of gold, that was the equivalent of ten thousand taels of silver. One would be able to lead a life with no worries for food and accommodation.

“Buy a house, get married......” Tears flowed down Li Jun’s cheeks.

......

By helping Little Jun this one time, Teng Qingshan was reminded of the memories of his previous life. His mood had turned moody, and he was no longer in the mood to do any sightseeing. He sped up on his journey, and that very evening, he reached the one city in Yangzhou that was closest to the Boorish Desolate — Nanman City!

Nanman City was a city about the same size as Yi City.

However, since Nanman City was the city closest in proximity to the Boorish Desolate, it was very prosperous. The dauntless warriors who wished to venture the Boorish Desolate, as well as the herbalists who would collect herbs from the borders of the Boorish Desolate, would all gather in Nanman City. After all, while the Boorish Desolate was very dangerous, there were many herbs that were a rare find in other places.

In Nanman City.

“Shopkeeper, prepare a top grade room.” Qingshan stepped into the hall on the first level of an inn and instructed. “And prepare a table of food and wine.” After saying that, Teng Qingshan selected a window seat and sat down.

“Dear guest, what would you like to eat?” The waiter immediately brought a menu.

After ordering some food and wine, Teng Qingshan started to eat and drink.

“Little Jun, that kid, has lost her kin. She would probably need a little more time to get over it.” Teng Qingshan thought to himself as he ate his food. Towards that Little Jun......Teng Qingshan did not hold any emotions of love. After all, Li Jun was merely a thirteen year-old young girl. She was even younger than his sister, Little Yu.

Not to mention that Teng Qingshan’s mental age was probably enough to be Li Jun’s father.

This was merely out of brotherly concern.

“Mmm, in Wu An County, there’s Old Wang to take care of her, so she won’t be in any danger. She will need to depend on herself in the future.” Teng Qingshan was aware that he was merely a passerby in Li Jun’s life.

“Hu!”

A middle-aged man wearing a conical bamboo hat and a grey suit entered the inn. Taking a glance at Teng Qingshan, a hint of surprise flashed across his eyes. Thereafter, the middle-aged man took the stairs up.

......

In the private room on the third floor, there was a sumptuous spread of food and wine on the round table. Three middle-aged men and two old men sat around the table. All five of them were dressed in grey. Out of them, one of the old man was the Elder of ‘Tie Yi Hall’ of Yangzhou’s Chu County, ‘Wei Canglong’. The five of them were chatting cheerfully as they ate.

“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”

The five in the private room immediately quieted down after hearing the door knocks.

“Come in.” Wei Canglong said.

The five men at the dining table heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing the middle-aged man in grey suit entering after the door was opened. This man closed the door to the private room took off his bamboo hat, and quickly said, “The matter is settled! But......when I came up earlier, I saw Gui Yuan Sect’s Teng Qingshan on the first floor!”

“Teng Qingshan!” The five men were all stunned.

Wei Canglong turned to look at the elegant-looking middle-aged man besides him who had white hair on both sides of his temples.

“Even within our Tie Yi Hall, there are not many who know of this secret! It is unlikely that the Gui Yuan Sect would know about it.” The elegant-looking middle-aged man shook his head. “It’s just that we from Tie Yi Hall had only found out this secret ini Xuyang County. Could it be that the Gui Yuan Sect also picked up some traces of it?”

The six men in the private room were silent.

This matter was of great concern to them.

“Martial Brother.” Cang Weilong frowned and said, “Teng Qingshan is the Commander of the Gui Yuan Sect’s Black Armored Army. Why would he come to the Nanman City for? I can’t think of any other thing. Therefore, my worry is that he followed us in secret. It could also be that he is not alone, but that there are other men whom we have not discovered.”

These words started to worry the men.

“If we are targeted by them, we’re in trouble.”

“Martial Granduncle, what shall we do?”

......

All of them looked towards the elegant-looking middle-aged man.

“Don’t scare yourselves!” The elegant-looking middle-aged man said. “If there were other people from the Gui Yuan Sect, we would have found out long ago. And with Teng Qingshan alone......hmph, if he were to be overconfident, he’d be courting death. Let’s ignore this and have a good rest after our dinner. We will set off to enter the Boorish Desolate first thing tomorrow morning!”

“Yes.”

All five men answered respectfully.

Early in the morning, all six men from Tie Yi Hall wore their grey suits, left Nanman City wearing bamboo hats, and entered the Boorish Desolate. After all, there were many forests, hills and valleys, so all they could depend on were their two legs since they weren’t able to enter on horses. Teng Qingshan entered a tad later than the six men from Tie Yi Hall.

The morning sun rose.

Leaving from Nanman City’s southern gate, Teng Qingshan headed southwards.

“The Boorish Desolate...... I wonder how big the Boorish Desolate truly is.” He saw endless darkness before him, to the extent that in the blurry distance very far away, there were still steep hills and valleys that had reached the clouds. This was the Boorish Desolate! The most dangerous place across the entire Nine Prefectures.

From the the Nine Prefecture’s south-eastern ‘Yangzhou’, to the southern ‘Yanzhou’, to the south-western ‘Rongzhou’, the southwards direction of these three prefectures was where the Boorish Desolate lied!

As for its depth, there were no records in any book.

“The Gui Yuan Sect’s map only recorded a depth of over two thousand li. Further in......there were no records.” Teng Qingshan looked at the map in his hands and tried to affirm his direction before storing the map and taking very big strides forward.

......

There were few traces of human in the Boorish Desolate. The piles of fallen leaves crackled when they were stepped on. The many ancient trees have survived for heaven knows how many years. After merely walking for a couple of hours, the biggest tree that Teng Qingshan had seen was a whole three Zhang wide.

“I wonder, when this Boorish Desolate is compared with the Amazon, which of them is bigger!” Teng Qingshan had trained in the Amazon in his previous life. “However, the Amazon is mostly covered by water, whereas it is forests and mountains here. Furthermore, there are many wild beasts, venomous snakes and worms, and even demonic beasts. It’s definitely way more dangerous here!”

The broken branches and fallen leaves were emitting a rotting stench that filled the forest. With the massive trees that covered up the sky, the air was very stuffy.

Teng Qingshan took light steps. In this ancient Boorish Desolate, he acted as if he were at home.

On a black tree at the side, there was a similarly black venomous snake wrapped around it. It stared at the human who was moving very rapidly——Teng Qingshan!

“Swoosh!” The venomous snake, which had been waiting for very long, shot out like a black lightning and bared its fangs towards Teng Qingshan.

“Hu!”

Teng Qingshan’s footsteps did not change at all. The Blood Sucking Saber in the hands slashed in a ray of red light, and the snake fell from mid-air. Its severed body was still twitching with a ‘chichi’ sound on the floor due to its strong vitality. On the other hand, Teng Qingshan didn’t even turn to look at it as he continued to take big steps forward. Within a few blinks of an eye, he had covered quite a distance.

Venomous snake?

Teng Qingshan was not afraid of venom at all. Furthermore, with the strong six senses he had, these venomous snakes and ferocious beasts would not be able to escape from his sight.

......

Teng Qingshan moved forth very quickly while the six men from Tie Yi Hall proceeded slowly. While they were all experts, even with one of them being an innate master, ......they still did not dare to underestimate the snakes and worms in the Boorish Desolate. Especially the warriors in the Postliminary Realm, if they were bitten......

Even if they survived, they would suffer from fatal injuries.

“Silver Horned Mountain is two thousand li deep inside. The Boorish Desolate is filled with mountains, forests and lakes, and there are snakes, worms and ferocious beasts......We would probably take half a month to arrive.” Wei Canglong and the company each held onto their weapons. In the Boorish Desolate, even if they were listed in the Earth Ranking, once they were to be bitten by bugs, they could possibly lose their lives!

Danger lurked around everywhere!

“Someone’s coming!” The elegant-looking middle-aged man’s face turned solemn as he warned in a low voice.

The other five men immediately kept quiet.

From afar, they saw a human figure flashing past at very quick speeds while throwing them a glance.

“It’s Teng Qingshan!” Wei Canglong’s face paled.

The faces of the group changed.

“This Teng Qingshan was following behind us......” Another expert from Tie Yi Hall looked towards the elegant-looking middle-aged man. “Martial Granduncle, that Teng Qingshan was really following us! When we first left Nanman City, the land was flat, and he did not dare to chase closely since we’d be able to see him clearly. But after we entered the Boorish Desolate, he began to catch up. If Martial Granduncle had not noticed, we probably would not have spotted him.”

“It could just be a coincidence......” Another man spoke up.

The elegant-looking middle-age man lowered his voice and said, “We met him the other time, we have now met him again. It may be a coincidence, but it could also be that he was following us.”

“It doesn’t matter if the act of him following us is the truth or a coincidence! Our Tie Yi Hall’s secret cannot be exposed! Once it’s exposed and news is spread out...... Our Tie Yi Hall will not only not be able to prosper, but we may even face annihilation.” The elegant-looking middle-aged man said coldly, “Liu Jian, you follow after him. Kill Teng Qingshan!”