The Nine Cauldrons

A doctor was specially hired to come to the residence.

When the doctor first checked Li Jun, he didn’t discover any pregnancy pulses. However, three days later, the embryo grew up slightly, and the doctor finally felt the pregnancy pulses. Immediately, a joyous atmosphere ensued in the entire residence, and even Teng Qingshan was laughing every single day.

When Zhuge Yuanhong knew about this, he personally came to visit.

It was the 28th of July.

Sitting on a deck chair, Li Jun smiled as she watched Teng Qingshan practice the Three postures and contemplate on the Dao of the Life and Death.

"I didn’t expect that the knowledge of Little Jun’s pregnancy would make my practice of the fist art and the comprehension of Dao much easier." Teng Qingshan closed his eyes as he recalled the profundity he had he comprehended. Immediately, he opened his eyes and looked toward Li Jun, who was sitting beside the training field. As he glanced at her, he was stunned by what he saw. Li Jun was lying on the deck chair quietly with her face radiating a motherly glow.

"It’s no wonder people say that pregnant women are the prettiest," Teng Qingshan thought.

Following this, he walked over.

"Qingshan, are you done?" Li Jun asked with a smile. "I was just thinking about our child. What should our child’s name be? How should we discipline our child?"

"Name?" Teng Qingshan pondered and answered, "I am part of the generation with the ’Qing’ character as part of my name, so my child is part of the generation with the ’Hong’ character... Teng Hongtao? Teng Hongzhu? Teng Hongyan? We don’t even know the child’s gender. As for the name, we will have to think carefully about this. Since there’s still time until the child’s birth, we can ask our parents later."

Li Jun froze and nodded as she replied, "Yes, we should ask your parents."

"Father and Mother still don’t know." As Teng Qingshan thought about his parents, a grin naturally appeared on his face.

His father, Teng Yongfan, was a father who really honored tradition.

In the past, when Teng Qingshan had been about sixteen, his father had wanted him to get married and have kids. He had even wanted Teng Qingshan to marry a few wives.... In his father’s eyes, only capable men were able to marry three or four wives.

In his parents’ eyes, passing on the inheritance to the next generation was very important.

"It’ll be soon. When I reveal my identity to my parents, I will tell them I have a wife and a kid." As Teng Qingshan imagined his parents’ expressions during such an occasion, he couldn’t help looking forward to it.

Teng Qingshan squat down and placed his ear on Li Jun’s stomach.

"Little Jun, if the child is a girl, I will teach her to become a educated and sweet-tempered lady. Yes, a girl doesn’t have to be too powerful. However, she has to be at least an Innate Expert. If the child is a boy, then he must be much more powerful... I will teach him and nurture him into an Emptiness Realm Expert!" Teng Qingshan placed his ear on Li Jun stomach, muttering as he listened.

Hearing this, Li Jun burst out in laughter. "Innate? Emptiness Realm?"

"Why? You don’t believe me?" Teng Qingshan raised his head and asked.

"Yes, I do. I do." Li Jun hastily answered, nodding repeatedly.

Then at this very moment—

"Bang!""Bang!" Loud knocks came from outside the courtyard door.

"Your Highness, there are documents that the cult needs the Saintess to evaluate," a melodious voice called out.

Teng Qingshan furrowed his brows. Then he immediately walked to the door and opened the courtyard door.

A young girl dressed in green was standing outside the door, holding a great amount of paper which stacked up to one Chi thick. Li Jun was the Substitute High Priestess of the Snowy Lotus Cult, therefore, she needed to evaluate many things in the Snowy Lotus Cult.

"My lord." The girl in green bowed hastily.

Teng Qingshan frowned and responded, "Don’t annoy your Saintess with these trivial things. She is not feeling well. When I was not here, all of you made her evaluate so many documents. This time, I am telling you right now... Send all these things away. I do not allow you to annoy your Saintess during this period of time. Do you understand?"

"H-However, the High Priestess..." The girl in green stuttered hesitantly.

"The Saintess is sick. She cannot evaluate these documents. Just tell your High Priestess this," Teng Qingshan ordered.

The girl in green froze. Then she bowed and replied, "Yes, my lord."

Carrying that thick stack of paper, the girl left quickly.

In a gloomy study room situated in the region of Youzhou, a thin candle was burning, making a sizzling sound as it lit up the room. Dressed fully in black, Pei San sat at the study table while reading a blue thread-bound book.

"Sovereign (Father)," a voices called out from outside.

"Come in," Pei San responded as he placed the book down.

Pei Xuelian, who was dressed in purple, and the great monk, who was dressed red tibetan robes, walked over side by side.

"Su Mengte," Pei San looked up at the great monk and instructed, "The Immortal Guards of the God of Heaven Mountain must have all entered Qingzhou, right?"

"Sovereign," the God of Heaven, Su Mengte, nodded and answered, "The 100 Immortal Guards have all entered Qingzhou... Moreover, they have merged with the 40,000 Bloody Lotus Guards. There will be a total of 140,000 soldiers.

Pei San turned and look at Pei Xuelian.

Pei Xuelian smiled and said, "Father, I personally arranged the things that are happening in Qingzhou. Little Jun is now with Huhe. I was told that she is sick and refused to administer the matters of the cult. The 800,000 soldiers have been preparing for several months in Qingzhou. And now, they have all departed toward the border between Qingzhou and Yangzhou. I am guessing that all of them will arrive there within one month."

"The speed of the ordinary army is just slow," Pei San commented, shaking his head.

"It’s not that easy to recruit people into the Immortal Guard and the Bloody Lotus Guard," Pei Xuelian said as her mouth twitched helplessly. "The great monk, Su Mengte, had the foundation of the entire Great Prairie, but he was only able to raise 100,000 Immortal Guards! The Snowy Lotus Cult have been in Qingzhou for over 100 years, but we’ve only raised 40,000 Bloody Lotus Guard."

The Immortal Guard and the Bloody Lotus Guard were soldiers comparable to the Silver Dragon Army and the Black Armored Army. All of the soldiers possessed inner strength.

Pei San stood up and walked to the window.

As the dim candle light shone, Pei San, dressed in black, appeared daunting. His deep voice instructed, "Little Lian, the Energy Destroyer of the Heavenly God Palace should act as well. You should arrange it personally. Dispatch 12,000 Energy Destroyer there. This time, we must conquer Yangzhou!"

"Energy Destroyer?" When Pei Xuelian heard this, she was very happy. The great monk was surprised as well.

There were a few great branches under the Heavenly God Palace, and the God of Heaven was the subsidiary sect with the most men.

However—

The Bloody Lotus Guards and the Immortal Guards were the troops of the subsidiary sects of the Heavenly God Palace. However, the Energy Destroyer was the best elite troop directly under the command of the Heavenly God Palace. It was said that each member of Energy Destroyer wore high-quality war armor, and all of them were First Rated Warriors. The Energy Destroyer was a troop formed entirely with First Rated Warriors!

Pei Xuelian thought, "If it was because Martial Brother went to the Great Yan Mountain, there wouldn’t be this many Energy Destroyers."

"However, Father didn’t even dispatch the Energy Destroyer when we were attacking Qingzhou and Youzhou. However, he did when we were attacking Yangzhou..." Pei Xuelian felt very confident as she said to herself, "This time, we will definitely conquer Yangzhou very quickly!"

The conquest of Qingzhou in the east was dependent on the foundation the Heavenly God Palace had built in Qingzhou.

Meanwhile, the conquest of Youzhou in the northeast was dependent on the fierce army of the Heavenly God Palace in the Great Prairie. The great number of soldiers and the addition of an Emptiness Realm Expert was enough to devour the entire Youzhou.

"The soldiers are already tired," Pei San stood before the window and said deeply, "Moreover, Qing Hu Island will definitely learn from the Xiao Yao Palace and Hong Tian City. They will attack us with numerous small troops. Therefore, the conquest of Yangzhou must rely on the elites. The Bloody Lotus Guard and the Immortal Guard are numbered at a total of 140,000, which is enough to go against an army of 1,000,000 soldiers. Moreover, the Energy Destroyers are all First Rated Warriors! And there are 12,000 of them! No city can stop them.

"Just one attack will break the enemies down!"

"Let this most elite army lead the 800,000 ordinary soldiers and devour the entire Yangzhou."

The corners of Pei San’s mouth curved up into a smile.

It was as though the entire Yangzhou had already fallen apart because of the attacks his three great armies had launched.

"You two may leave. Little Lian, make sure that the 800,000 soldiers get to the border as soon as possible," Pei San said while waving.

"Yes."

Pei Xuelian and the God of Heaven, Su Mengte, left respectfully, leaving Pei San alone standing before the window in the study room. He narrowed his eyes which glinted with a daunting cold as he said, "Mani Temple... Mani Temple... Don’t worry. Soon... Soon, it will be your turn."

For now, Teng Qingshan was still immersed in the joy of being a father. He had no idea of the coming of this bloody storm.

...

Inside Zhuge Yuanhong’s study room in the Gui Yuan Sect in Jiangning County:

"Sovereign, this is an urgent report from Qingzhou." A silver-haired elder dressed in an azure robe placed a stack of papers on Zhuge Yuanhong’s study table. Zhuge Yuanhong took the papers calmly. Then as he flipped the papers and read them, his expression hardened. "Whew!"

Zhuge Yuanhong immediately stood up.

"Leave first," Zhuge Yuanhong said, dismissing the elder with a wave of his hand.

"Yes."

After the silver-haired elder left, Zhuge Yuanhong closed the room and the windows. Immediately after, he ran over to a bookshelf and took out five sheets of paper from a thick book on the bookshelf.

He then placed these five sheets of paper with the six sheets of paper he had just received together.

"I see," Zhuge Yuanhong commented as he read the eleven sheets of paper, "They are travelling at a very fast speed. Their most recently updated location is at the border between Qingzhou and Yangzhou. With such a fast speed, this army is probably an elite army like the Black Armored Army. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense.

"Also... there must be a reason to why these soldiers are being dispatched so frequently."

Ever since Qingzhou had been conquered by the Snow Lotus Cult, the Snowy Lotus Cult had reorganized the surrendered army of the Xiao Yao Palace and dispatched them out of their original encampment, stationing them elsewhere. Zhuge Yuanhong was notified because of their frequent movements during this period of time. Although he thought there was something strange about it, he wasn’t sure.

However...

As he combined the different pieces of information he had received and pondered on the other clues, he deduced a petrifying conclusion—

"The Heavenly God Palace will attack Yangzhou soon!" Cold drops of perspiration covered Zhuge Yuanhong’s forehead.

Most of the people throughout all of the Land of the Nine Prefectures probably thought that the Heavenly God Palace would rest and recuperate after obliterating Xiao Yao Palace and Hong Tian City, as well as conquering two prefectures... Moreover, many pieces of information found showed that the army of the Great Prairie was retreating back to the Great Prairie.

Without the army of the Great Prairie, what would the Heavenly God Palace use to attack the other prefectures?

Therefore, the people of this world were now enjoying this tranquility. They would probably wake up in shock when the Heavenly God Palace truly started attacking and devouring them.

...

On that same night, Zhuge Yuanhong left Jiangning County City and headed toward Yi City.

"Bang!""Bang!"

The knocking rang out repeatedly.

"It’s past midnight. Why is Teacher here?" Teng Qingshan put on some clothes and ran out of the house. He opened the courtyard door and saw Zhuge Yuanhong who appeared to be in distress.

"Teacher, come in quickly."

As Teng Qingshan led Zhuge Yuanhong into the house, he asked, "What made you come here at this time?" The city gates were closed at this time. Therefore, Zhuge Yuanhong must have entered Yi City by leaping over the city walls.

"Read these first." Zhuge Yuanhong couldn’t answer as he handed Teng Qingshan a stack of papers. "I have already circled out some of the most important information."

"This is—"

Teng Qingshan had been in a very good mood recently. However, at this moment, his heart palpitated. His teacher’s expression made him realize that the information in the sheets of paper was about something very serious.