The Nine Cauldrons

Creak!

After pushing open the room’s door, Teng Qingshan smiled and walked inside.

"Hm?" When Zhuge Yuanhong saw Teng Qingshan’s expression, his thoughts couldn’t help but stir. Clearly, Teng Qingshan had already decided on a plan, hence his relaxed state.

"Qingshan, sit."

Zhuge Yuanhong and Teng Qingshan sat down together.

"Teacher. Say, if I were to inquire the sect’s internal elders about me setting up a sect, what would the outcome be now?" Teng Qingshan asked.

Zhuge Yuanhong looked at Teng Qingshan for a moment before saying, "Qingshan, actually, you already know. Although my Gui Yuan Sect currently occupies Yangzhou, one of the nine prefectures, it was mainly because of your terrifying power that we were able to shake up the other sects in the Land of the Nine Prefectures. The elders may have opinions, but... in the end, it’s all up to you.

"Qingshan, you should decide what to do." Zhuge Yuanhong watched Teng Qingshan.

"There should be some sort of bottom line inside the sect, right?" Teng Qingshan asked.

Zhuge Yuanhong nodded and said seriously, "Firstly, the name of the Gui Yuan Sect cannot be changed! Secondly, the Gui Yuan Sect is unwilling to become the subordinate support branch of other sects! If you, Qingshan, are unsatisfied with this... Well, then my Gui Yuan Sect would rather just stay as Jiangning County’s Gui Yuan Sect. The other 12 counties in Yangzhou, you can have control over them."

"Mm." Teng Qingshan nodded.

In fact, he hadn’t understood much from Qinghu’s letter, but it was clear that many people inside the Gui Yuan Sect were very obstinate.

"Teacher," Teng Qingshan said with a smile.

"Hm?" Zhuge Yuanhong listened carefully. After all, the decision-making power was, in fact, in Teng Qingshan’s hands.

"Teacher, actually, in my plans, opening up a sect is not at all part of what I want to do now." Teng Qingshan shook his head with a smile. "After all, the third generation of disciples of my branch of Internal Martial Art are still young. If it wasn’t for you, Teacher, bringing it up, it’s likely that I wouldn’t even be talking about it now."

Zhuge Yuanhong nodded.

Teng Qingshan’s subordinates were certainly a mix of strong and weak stragglers. The manpower was too lacking.

"However, it’s also because you brought it up that I thought hard about it. I even talked about it with my wife, Little Jun, and also got some advice from my grandfather. So, this afternoon, I finally decided on a plan." Teng Qingshan smiled. "Currently, the Gui Yuan Sect has just barely taken hold of Yangzhou. And my plans... definitely don’t stop at just one prefecture. Once our foundations here are stable and my strength has made another breakthrough, we’ll attack Yanzhou. We’ll take down the Nine Prefectures’ second prefecture, Yanzhou!"

"Yanzhou?"

Zhuge Yuanhong was startled. The Gui Yuan Sect had been holed up in Jiangning County for over a thousand years, so being able to occupy Yangzhou now made each one of them endlessly emotional. Unexpectedly, Teng Qingshan did not care about this in the slightest.

"That’s right. If not for the presence of the Heavenly God Palace, my plans to occupy territories would be even greater." Teng Qingshan smiled.

"Qingshan, just what are you thinking?" Zhuge Yuanhong asked.

"Since the inner Gui Yuan Sect has proposed it, then I’ll bring forward the matter of me establishing a sect," Teng Qingshan said.

Zhuge Yuanhong’s thoughts knotted up. Did Teng Qingshan really want to establish a sect?

"But Teacher, you don’t need to worry."

Teng Qingshan smiled. "When I was creating my branch of Internal Martial Arts, I was already thinking that I wanted to spread this cultivation method widely throughout the Land of the Nine Prefectures! My original plans were that I would occupy even more territories while I’m still alive. It would be to the extent of being like Emperor Yu and the Heavenly Emperor of Qin Mountains, conquering the whole world. I would spread my branch of Internal Martial Arts everywhere."

"Conquer?" Zhuge Yuanhong held his breath.

"It will be really hard to unify the world." Teng Qingshan shook his head. "Moreover, there are many, many people who will die in the process!"

"After thinking it over carefully, my way of thinking has changed," Teng Qingshan said with a smile. "I don’t need to unify the world at all just to spread my branch of Internal Martial Arts throughout the Land of the Nine Prefectures! Moreover... in my plans, the sect that I’m about to create is entirely different from the seven supreme sects of the Land of the Nine Prefectures."

"Entirely different?" Zhuge Yuanhong was startled.

"Mm." Teng Qingshan nodded. "That’s right. Every supreme sect of the Land of the Nine Prefectures occupies their own territory and teaches their own disciples within their own territories. However, I... will be different. The sect that I’m about to establish will be like the Mu Family in Duanmu Continent, or maybe it’ll be like Wan Xiang Sect in the Land of the Nine Prefectures"

"Wan Xiang Sect?" Zhuge Yuanhong understood it somewhat now.

"However, there will still be differences between my sect and theirs." Teng Qingshan smiled.

"Differences?" Actually, Zhuge Yuanhong roughly understood it now.

"Teacher..." Teng Qingshan said seriously, "Yangzhou currently has 13 counties, but I just want five counties’ worth of land! I want the area that has Jiangning County as the center and must stretch 1000 Li to both the east, west, north, and south. The land of the five counties in the middle part of Yangzhou—Xuyang County, Fengshan County, Mengfeng County, Nanxing County, and Jiangning County. I just want these five counties!

"Out of Yangzhou’s 13 counties, the Gui Yuan Sect can have the land of the other eight! Additionally, Yanzhou, which we’ll take down in the future, will also be the Gui Yuan Sect’s," Teng Qingshan said in one breath.

"What?" Zhuge Yuanhong was stunned.

He was completely stunned by Teng Qingshan’s decision.

Zhuge Yuanhong did not doubt the words of this disciple of his in the slightest. Considering Teng Qingshan’s innate skill, conquering Yanzhou was something that was practically final. Moreover... once Teng Qingshan became an Insightful Emptiness Realm Expert, along with the addition of the Undying Phoenix, it would indeed be enough to intimidate the whole world. He would be even more intimidating than the Heavenly God Palace.

The moment Teng Qingshan becomes the fifth Omnipotent Expert in the Nine Prefectures’ history, unifying the world will be a simple matter.

"Five counties... You even want Jiangning County?" Zhuge Yuanhong was so shaken up by Teng Qingshan’s decision that his mind was in a bit of a mess.

Afterall, Jiangning County was the Gui Yuan Sect’s foundation.

"Teacher, in the future, the Gui Yuan Sect will command eight counties of Yangzhou, as well as all of Yanzhou. It would be best to pick a location with common boundaries to Yanzhou and Yangzhou. Moreover, as a super large sect, we will need to reconstruct the sect’s city once again anyway," Teng Qingshan said with a smile. "Teacher, surely the elders won’t disagree with this decision, right?"

How could they possibly disagree?

They wouldn’t be letting the Gui Yuan Sect become anyone’s subordinates, and they would be occupying close to two prefectures’ worth of land!

Oh, heavens.

This glory would be enough to drive those elders mad. Additionally, the moment they occupied two prefectures’ worth of land, the Gui Yuan Sect’s status would then become rather unsuited for Jiangning County, which was close to the East Sea. As the distance between Jiangning County and Yanzhou was too far, it would be too inconvenient to manage. When that time came, they would naturally have to move.

This sort of move was a move to promote the sect’s status, and not like that time when they were threatened by the Heavenly God Palace, forcing the Gui Yuan Sect to move to Chu County or Nanman County.

"Sure, there’s no problem with this." Zhuge Yuanhong nodded.

Teng Qingshan’s condition was much better than what the members of the Gui Yuan Sect had thought it would be. After all, the decision-making power was in Teng Qingshan’s hands.

"Then good." Teng Qingshan smiled and nodded.

"However, it takes time to move the sect." Zhuge Yuanhong was somewhat troubled.

"Teacher, I’m not worried about this. At this moment, the branch of Internal Martial Art has only very few people. Gui Yuan Sect can move over step by step and leave within 10 years."

Before coming here today, Teng Qingshan had already thought it through completely. After thinking it through, it made him feel relaxed and pleased.

This was because...

According to his current plans, his branch of Internal Martial Arts would spread through the Nine Prefectures at an even faster speed! Moreover, the degree at which it would flourish would reach a peak. Its vitality would last even longer! Additionally... the sect that he was going to create would surpass the seven supreme sects of the Nine Prefectures and become a sect that transcended the material world!

"Teacher, I still have a matter that I need your help with." Teng Qingshan smiled.

"Oh?" Zhuge Yuanhong was somewhat surprised.

"Teacher’s drawing skills have quite an amazing standing in this world. I wish for Teacher make drawings of a set of fist arts that I practice," Teng Qingshan said.

Zhuge Yuanhong laughed. "This is simple."

"This fist art of mine is called ’Tiger Form Fist Art.’" Teng Qingshan stood up at once in the middle of the study. "Once Teacher has prepared your pen and ink, I’ll begin practicing my fist art."

...

On that day, Teng Qingshan practiced his Tiger Form Fist Art in the study and let Zhuge Yuanhong draw all of it down. After that, Teng Qingshan took the many sheets of paper containing the drawings of the Tiger Form Fist Art Style and left.

In the west courtyard of the Teng Jia Village:

In the evening, the wind at this time seemed very quiet and clear. Dressed in loose, white clothes, Li Jun was reclining in a chair, occasionally stroking her pregnant belly.

"Haha!" Li Jun suddenly heard a hearty laugh and turned to look, only to see Teng Qingshan smiling as he walked into the courtyard.

"Qingshan, you’ve finished talking with Sovereign Zhuge? And you’re this happy?" Li Jun stood up, sticking her belly out as she walked over to him.

"Quick, sit down." Teng Qingshan carefully supported Li Jun, letting her sit down. Li Jun was currently somewhat unable to resist it anymore and asked, "Qingshan, tell me quickly. Just what did you talk about with your teacher? Weren’t you looking all miserable just yesterday night?" Yesterday night, Li Jun had given Teng Qingshan many suggestions.

Teng Qingshan laughed. "In the end, it was the pointer Grandfather gave me. To give up and gain!"

"Give up and gain?" Li Jun was puzzled.

"That’s right. By giving up the chance to conquer the entire world, I can spread the cultivation of the Internal Martial Art widely across the Land of the Nine Prefectures." Teng Qingshan said confidently.

Li Jun became baffled.

"Actually, it’s useless no matter how big your territory is." Teng Qingshan shook his head and smiled. "No matter if it’s Qing Hu Island, Xiao Yao Palace, or Hong Tian City... When confronted with an attack, it’s impossible to exercise control over such a large prefecture perfectly. After all, the land of one prefecture is too big! So, I just need the land of five counties!"

"With the land of five counties, there are approximately 100 million people," Teng Qingshan said confidently. "The land of these five counties will be the foundation for my Internal Martial Art!"

I want the people in the entire Land of the Nine Prefectures, the Desert Kingdom in the western regions, the Great Prairie in the northern areas, and many islands in the east to learn the cultivation of the Internal Martial Art." Teng Qingshan said with a smile. "After that, every single somewhat accomplished cultivator in my Internal Martial Art will come to the sacred place for the Internal Martial Art, converging on the Teng Jia Village’s side of Great Yan Mountain. Once they reach my place and enter my sect, I’ll pass down even more profound fist arts to them."

Li Jun faintly understood it now.

"Qingshan, you mean..." Li Jun’s eyes lit up. "Like the Mu Family from Duanmu Continent?"

Teng Qingshan’s entire aura seemed to have gotten a lot more formidable. "My branch of Internal Martial Arts won’t contend for hegemony over the world, but... with the Nine Prefectures as its foundation, it will quietly absorb countless outstanding Internal Martial Art cultivators. Furthermore, it will absolutely unite the land of Yangzhou’s five counties. My sect will have the strongest troops in the Land of the Nine Prefectures! It will become a power of the Nine Prefectures’ that surpasses the material world. It will be even stronger than the Mani Temple and Emperor Yu’s Hall."

"My sect may not be contending for the world, but in this world, there is no sect that can contend with my branch of Internal Martial Arts!"

"You..." Li Jun was startled.

"In the months to come, you’ll understand it completely." Teng Qingshan weighed in his hand a stack of papers—the drawings of his Tiger Form Fist Art.