The Nine Cauldrons

“Yes.” Zhuge Yuanhong smiled and said, “I, your father, told him that I will arrange his marriage.”

Zhuge Qing bit her bottom lip and stared at her father.

Seeing his daughter act like this, Zhuge Yuanhong couldn’t help but sigh helplessly. Actually, when his daughter asked for the complete version of the 《 Vigor of the Reckless Bull 》Spear Art for Teng Qingshan, he realized that his dearest daughter harbored some affection towards Teng Qingshan.

“I told your martial brother, Teng Qingshan, that in the Gui Yuan Sect, there are a few granddaughters of the elders like your cousin and martial sister, Liu Xiang. They are all nice girls.......” Zhuge Yuanhong was still speaking when Zhuge Qing became worried. Why did her father help these other girls? If Teng Qingshan married someone else, what would she do?

Seeing the worry in Zhuge Qing’s eyes, Zhuge Yuanhong laughed and said, “Alright, Qingqing! I will be frank. Your martial brother Qingshan has devoted his body and mind on cultivation and doesn’t want to get married now. Therefore, he rejected all those girls.”

Zhuge Qing felt perturbed and looked at her father nervously.

“As for you, Qingqing......” Zhuge Yuanhong smiled and continued, “He did not reject, but only said that he did not want to get married right now.”

Zhuge Qing froze for a second.

“Your martial brother, Qingshan, is an amazingly talented person.” Zhuge Yuanhong sighed emotionally and said, “I forgot to tell you. He has reached the innate realm! A seventeen-year-old innate master! In all nine areas of the land, he is the only one in five hundred years!”

“Martial Brother Qingshan reached the innate realm?” Zhuge Qing was also shocked by the news.

“Alright, Qingqing. Father still has some errands to run. I need to go to the martial depository.” Zhuge Yuanhong immediately left, leaving Zhuge Qing on the pathside alone.

Zhuge Qing stared at her father’s back as he disappeared into the distance and said softly, “Father, thank you.” Zhuge Qing was very smart. She understood the words that her father said just now were just to make her feel better.

......

In the afternoon, the sun was shining brightly, but Zhuge Qing was feeling depressed.

She turned and stepped back into her room.

“He doesn’t want to get married... Isn’t that hinting at rejection......” Zhuge Qing stood dumbly as she stared at the cloak on the table. “However, Big Brother Teng reached the innate realm at the age of seventeen, so he must be completely focusing on cultivating, unlike me, who thinks about nonsense everyday. Yes, I can’t hold him back...... Sincerity can make metal and stone crack!”

Taking a deep breath, Zhuge Qing sat back on the chair and continued sewing the cloak.

Although she was encouraging herself, it was obvious her father failing to matchmake her with Teng Qingshan still affected her. So while she was sewing the pocket, her thoughts wandered involuntarily.

“Ow.” Zhuge Qing immediately pulled back her left hand.

A needle-pricked wound appeared on the left index finger and fresh red blood flowed out. This needle-pricked wound wasn’t small. Zhuge Qing hastily grabbed a xuan paper beside the table and immediately wrapped it around her index finger.

“Aiya, what should I do now?” Zhuge Qing stared at the clothes.

Although she pulled her hand back very quickly, two drops of blood still fell on the pocket she was sewing and the two drops of blood seeped through the Snow silk and the cloth. Zhuge Qing immediately flipped the cloak over and checked and saw that it was alright. There were just two drops of blood that seeped through the snow silk and cloth and only a deep red color with the size of a fingertip was seen outside.

The cloak was azure stone color and so, the drops of blood wasn’t obvious.

“Once it’s dried, no one will see it.” Zhuge Qing heaved a sigh of relief.

...

In the Gui Yuan Sect, at Teng Qingshan’s residence.

“Crack!” The yard door opened and Qingyu was seen skipping and jumping into the yard with a bright smile on her face.

“Qingyu, your brother is back!” A bright and clear voice sounded.

Qingyu was surprised and looked into the yard carefully. She immediately rushed over as she shouted, “Brother!” Like a cheerful bunny, she dashed into the yard and hugged Teng Qingshan who was sitting down. “Brother, it’s great you came back. I have been thinking about you these days. I waited for you everyday, and I couldn’t eat nor sleep.”

“Really?” Teng Qingshan winked and said, “But I noticed that my sister doesn’t even come back home for lunch.” Teng Qingshan came back during the morning and ate lunch with cousin Teng Qinghu. As for his sister, Teng Qingyu, she was nowhere to be seen.

Through Teng Qinghu, Qingshan found out that Qingyu and Zhuge Yun were often together.

Teng Qinghu, who was at the side, also teased, “Right. I ate with those soldiers of mine these days and didn’t really see Qingyu.”

“Cousin!” Qingyu cast a glare at Teng Qinghu and looked at Teng Qingshan helplessly, “Brother, I didn’t know you were back, otherwise, I would have waited for you even if it meant not eating any lunch.”

“Alright.” Teng Qingshan smiled and said, “Regarding this matter between you and Little Yun, the Sovereign has told me........ and I have agreed. After the Yearly sacrifice, I will bring father and mother here, and if they give their permission, this matter between you and Little Yun is settled.”

No matter how care-free Qingyu was, she still blushed when she heard Teng Qingshan’s words.

“Cousin, Little Yu! This is a precious item I brought back from the desolate land.” Teng Qingshan said and pointed at the gourd on the table. “Little Yu, your cousin was asking me what this was just now, but I did not tell him.” Teng Qinghu could only blinked his eyes as he listened and laughed awkwardly, “Qingshan, you can tell us now. What is that thing?”

“Don’t ask me now.” Teng Qingshan said and handed the two bowls beside him to Qinghu and Qingyu.

Then, he pulled the plug out of the wine gourd and poured out the Scarlet Fruit Wine.

“Walla~~” The light red liquid flowed out from the mouth of the gourd, and the aroma of the wine permeated the air. Qinghu and Qingyu couldn’t help but sniff and smell. The two small bowls were soon filled to the brink.

“Finish it.” Teng Qingshan said.

“Yes.” Qinghu and Qingyu were already salivating when they smelled the aroma of the wine, and with no hesitation, they held the bowl up and drank.

Gulp~~

They emptied the bowls in one gulp.

“My whole body is sweating.” Teng Qinghu said in shocked. As for Qingyu beside him, her face was flushed red all over.

After a while.

“How do you two feel?” Teng Qingshan looked at Qinghu and Qingyu who were still in shock.

“My Dantian has become a lot larger.” Qinghu was shocked as he replied.

Qingyu was also shocked and answered, “All my bones and muscles have gone through a transformation. It seems like my entire body feels energized. With this, Qingyu ran to the man-made hill beside the pond and grabbed a rock that weighed a thousand Jin. She exerted a bit of strength with her small arms. Phew! The rock that weighed a thousand Jin was lifted high up.

“When... when did I become so strong?” Qingyu was shocked.

Since she was young, Qingyu had never really trained and only began cultivating her inner strength when she joined the Gui Yuan Sect. Although she had inner strength, Qingyu relied on her physical strength just now. Her physique did not change, but her physical strength actually improved a lot.

“My strength has increased.” Teng Qinghu forcefully chopped the air with his hand, and a fierce gush of wind blew.

“Good. Drink half a bowl.” Teng Qingshan said and poured the scarlet fruit wine again.

“Drink it.” Teng Qingshan said.

Qinghu and Qingyu were very surprised and immediately finished the wine.

“How do you feel now?” Teng Qingshan asked.

“Not much.” Qingyu shook her head and said, “My whole body is burning comfortably, but my Dantian and body seem to have no changes.”

“Qinghu, what about you?” Teng Qingshan asked.

“My Dantian hasn’t changed, but my physical strength has improved.” Qinghu said in an unbelievable tone. He could feel the changes in his bones and muscles distinctly. However, the improvement this time was a lot smaller than last time.

Teng Qingshan nodded as he listened.

“This Scarlet Fruit Wine has no use to you guys anymore.” Teng Qingshan said. At the Steel Arms Monkey Mountain, those steel arms monkey and even the demonic beasts vied to get a drink of the wine. However, as you drink more, the effect would decrease until there is no effect anymore.

One more thing!

The better your physical qualities, the more scarlet fruit wine you can absorb. If your body was originally weak, you would absorb less of the scarlet fruit wine.

For example, Qingyu, a girl, had ordinary physical qualities. Thus, no matter how powerful the Scarlet Fruit Wine, she could only gain a strength of two to three thousand Jin and obtain the strength of a second-rated warrior.

As for Qinghu, it was obvious that he absorbed a lot when he drank the first bowl, and he absorbed some more after he drank the second time. He gained a lot more strength than Qingyu did.

...

Most arms of the demonic beast Steel Arms Monkey had a strength of ten thousand Jin, and Steel Arms Monkeys were able to obtain scarlet fruit wine often......... It was obvious that the effect of the scarlet fruit wine had its limits. However, before Teng Qingshan first drank the scarlet fruit wine, his physical strength was almost two hundred thousand Jin!

His body was so strong that it was a lot stronger than a Steel Arms Monkey.

His first sip of the scarlet fruit wine caused his physical strength to improve greatly. However, as he drank, the effect weakened. When Teng Qingshan drank one-third of the wine gourd, the wine became useless.

However, because he drank it, his physical strength increased by twenty thousand Jin.

Now, Teng Qingshan’s physical strength measured a total of 240000 Jin.

Although he was only at the state of Emptiness Dan, with the attribute of his physical strength, he was able to fight an Innate Master of the True Dan Realm.

“Qingshan, my strength increased by at least eight thousand Jin!” Teng Qinghu exclaimed happily as he said, “I feel that there is only a little difference between just using my physical strength and inner strength.

“Was it really that much?” Qingyu frowned.

Teng Qingshan smiled, “Qingyu, the stronger the body, the better it can absorb the effect of the scarlet fruit wine. However, you are a girl and aren’t pressured to train your muscles. If you do train and become more muscular than Little Yun, then you better be careful incase Little Yun is afraid of marrying you.”

“He wouldn’t dare.” Qingyu glared and immediately blushed as she said, “Brother, it’s still early.”

“Haha......” Teng Qingshan laughed and looked at his cousin Teng Qinghu, “Cousin, although you gained the strength of eight thousand Jin, this scarlet fruit wine is not completely finished. Practice hard everyday, and your physical strength will still increase.”

“Really?” Qinghu couldn’t help but feel great joy.

“Of course.”

Teng Qingshan nodded. After he ate the Black Fire Spirit Root he clearly knew the Scarlet Fruit Wine and Black Fire Spirit Root only temporarily improved his ability. However, as he trained, the Black Fire Spirit Root and Scarlet Fruit Wine would still develop slowly. He drank one-third of the Scarlet Fruit Wine, but only a small amount of it was effective.

“However, the effect of the 《Godly Tiger Form Technique》has weakened a lot.” Teng Qingshan had also noticed.

As time passed, it would become increasingly difficult to improve.

Teng Qingshan guessed that in the end, even if the energy of the scarlet fruit wine was within his body, the 《Godly Tiger Form Technique》wouldn’t be able to transform this energy into concrete strength! The 《Godly Tiger Form Technique》was a consummate technique of the Xing Yi Martial Arts in the previous world, and the effect on Teng Qingshan’s body would continually decrease.

One day, the 《Godly Tiger Form Technique》 would be completely useless!

Due to the cultivation of the Internal Martial Arts, Teng Qingshan’s body had reached an incredible level. He needed to create a consummate technique of the Internal Martial Arts that would be a lot better than the 《Godly Tiger Form Technique》.