The Nine Cauldrons

Two horses and a carriage were currently rushing over at high speed.

"The lake water has run dry!" A loud shout rang out from afar.

The old man Fan Wutong immediately responded loudly, "The color of the green mountains had changed!"

Lulu~~~

The approaching carriage immediately slowed down. It was headed by a person with a tall build who carried a warsaber on their back. Their most notable feature was that they had a pair of jug ears. This person’s eyes seemed electric, clearly expressing an astonishing strength as they swept a glance over Fan Anran and Fan Wutong, as well as Honglin, who had fallen onto the ground and had no strength at all to stand up. The jug-eared person smiled while saying, "Congratulations to the two of you. You’ve done us a great service."

Fan Anran and Fan Wutong smiled faintly.

"Come out," the person ordered, and two girls suddenly rushed out from the carriage, one carrying iron chains, while the other carried lockable shackles. After arriving by Honglin’s side, they immediately used the shackles to lock Honglin’s hands behind her and bound her legs with the iron chains.

In Honglin’s eyes, there were feelings of hatred as well as pain.

"If you think you can kill me, just kill me," Honglin roared at Fan Anran.

"There’s no hurry. It’s still not the right time," Fan Anran said apathetically, paying no mind at all to the expression in Honglin’s eyes.

Very quickly, the two girls placed Honglin in the carriage. Fan Wutong, Fan Anran, and the others sent the carriage away under escort, then they left rapidly in the midst of the hazy and dim light of the night.

Up in the sky at a high altitude of several thousand Zhang:

Little Blue, who was surrounded by tufts of cloud, was currently watching the scene below with an unwavering gaze. Her intelligence was not inferior to that of humans in the slightest, so she was undoubtedly clear on what had just happened. Going by what Teng Qingshan had told her, she didn’t need to worry as long as his daughter wasn’t facing any life-threatening danger or risks of becoming handicapped. Little Blue was to wait until she found out who was behind this and then take action.

Below, the carriage and the horses forged ahead, with Little Blue following along the whole way.

...

Soon after, the carriage left the official road and entered an ordinary, little path, where the journey was bumpy. It stayed that way until the sky had become completely pitch-black. Then, at last, they arrived at a mysterious villa that had been built in the middle of the mountain woods.

Inside the villa:

"Who have you captured? Why so mysterious?" The men inside the villa were obviously unclear as to the identity of today’s capture.

"Don’t bother so much about it. Just do your work," their leader chided.

When the carriage stopped in the front courtyard of the villa, a half-naked, bald, strong man who was currently setting up a huge iron cage in the front courtyard walked over in large strides to the carriage. Then the gate of the iron gate swung open with a clang. Soon after, the two girls inside the carriage escorted the weak-bodied Honglin, who couldn’t even walk anymore, to the gate of the iron cage.

Then they suddenly pushed her!

Honglin’s entirety appeared very weak as she fell into the iron cage.

"Light up the torch!" the jug-eared leader shouted loudly.

Chichi~~

No less than eight torches were instantly lit up throughout the whole front courtyard, illuminating it brightly. The leader glanced around at the surrounding people and shouted loudly, "From now on, I want a batch of six people to stay and surround the iron cage, keeping a strict watch on this girl. No mishaps are allowed to occur! After every six hours, change to a different batch of people. Take turns!

"Remember, you must watch her well. If this girl escapes, all of us, even me, will certainly die," the leader said with an ice-cold voice.

Most of these bottom-feeders were unclear as to the girl’s identity.

However, when they heard what their leader said, every one of them was shocked.

Relax, Big Brother. She’s shut inside the iron cage. We’ll all keep a good watch on her. I’m certain nothing will happen," that half-naked, bald, strong man yelled while slapping his chest.

"Mm. Whoever gets tired and wants to sleep—if you’re terribly tired, just tell me. I’ll have someone replace you. Never, ever fall asleep while you’re keeping watch on the girl. For anyone who falls asleep, if he gets found out by me once, I’ll immediately end his little life. There must not be any mishaps during this time." The leader’s words made the hearts of everyone present tremble.

If they dozed off, they would die...?

"Haha, aren’t you guys just afraid of my dad?" Inside the iron cage, the messy-haired and pale-faced Honglin let out a grim laugh.

"Shut up!" the leader shouted loudly.

"If you shut my mouth, then I’ll shut up. If you have the capability to do it, why don’t you just kill me? My dad will give each and every one of you horrible deaths," Honglin growled like a crazy, female wolf. After that, she glared fixedly at Fan Anran at the side, who had been silent this whole time.

Right at this moment, a white little bird flew into the iron cage and settled on Honglin’s shoulder.

"Little White." Honglin looked at the little bird on her shoulder with a painful expression.

"What is with that little bird?" the jug-eared leader outside shouted loudly with a frown.

Beside them, Fan Anran said indifferently, "This little bird is just a little plaything that she keeps. It’s fine."

"Hmph. Keeping birds. As expected of an influential family’s young lady. Truly, so very boring," the leader sneered, then he walked to the side and sat down cross-legged on the ground.

Fan Anran and Fan Wutong were also sitting cross-legged on the ground.

On the third floor of a certain building in the villa, a black-clothed person looked through a window and saw the scene that played out in the front courtyard. They revealed a small smile and said, "They’ve finally captured Teng Qingshan’s daughter and brought her here." Immediately after, he took out a carrier pigeon from a birdcage beside him. The carrier pigeon had a secret letter that had been prepared well beforehand tied to its leg. Then the carrier pigeon flew out from the window and headed speedily toward Yangzhou, disappearing into the night.

Still inside that ordinary residence in Xin’an County, Nanxing Region, Yangzhou:

It was very late at night.

"You can leave." A mysterious, golden-masked man looked at the secret letter in his hand waved his hand as he said this.

The gray-haired elderly man withdrew respectfully, leaving the golden-masked man alone in the courtyard.

"It has finally begun.

"Teng Qingshan, oh, Teng Qingshan. I don’t have a single bit of interest in your daughter. Killing her would be letting you off too easily," the mysterious golden-masked man muttered softly. Immediately after, he excitedly let out two strange laughs and then entered his own room.

Inside this room, there was only the barely shining light of a candle.

The mysterious golden-masked man grasped a writing brush in his hand and quickly wrote something down on a piece of paper. After that, he carefully placed the secret letter inside an envelope.

With the secret letter in his hand, the golden-masked man walked out of the room. Like a gust of wind lightly swaying past, he then arrived in the back garden of the entire residence. Inside the dark, back garden, there was a huge over-three-Zhang-long bird-type demonic beast with a completely pitch-black body currently lying on its stomach on the ground. Suddenly, this bird-type demonic beast opened its eyes.

Its eyes were blood-red and seemed to carry a bloodthirsty aura.

This huge, bird-type demonic beast used its head to rub against the golden-masked man’s arm in a very familiar manner.

"Yu~~Yuuuu~~~" A string of warbling sounds emerged from the golden-masked man’s throat.

The huge bird-type demonic beast let out a cry and immediately soared up into the sky.

Swoosh!

With just one jump, the golden-masked man leaped up a height of several 10 Zhangs and landed on to the body of the black, bird-type demonic beast.

"Teng Qingshan...

"This time, I want to let you suffer for a lifetime, regret for a lifetime."

With the secret letter in his chest pocket, the golden-masked man sat on the body of the black, bird-type demonic beast and flew speedily toward the Great Yan Mountain. The huge demonic beast disappeared very quickly into the curtain of the night.

...

April 1st, when the sun had already risen.

Inside that mysterious villa, the old man Fan Wutong was holding a meal tray, on which there were many things to eat. He took it over to the front of the iron cage and placed it on the ground.

"Hey, wake up. Stop sleeping."

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Fan Wutong used his leg to kick the iron cage twice. The ear-piercing sound instantly woke up Honglin.

"Hm?"

Honglin opened her eyes drowsily, staring blankly for a moment. "I... Where am I?"

Yesterday, she waited till it was very late at night, soon to be dawn, before falling asleep. So, now that she was suddenly awakened, Honglin didn’t react at all for a moment. However, when she saw the gloomy and cold villa in her surroundings, as well as the many guards watching her, her mind immediately cleared up. "So, it turns out that all of this wasn’t a dream." Honglin was currently filled with bitter heartache.

"Why have things turned out like this?

"Fan Anran!"

Honglin glared fixedly at Fan Anran in the distance. However, Fan Anran was chatting with the people beside him and didn’t even take a glance at her.

"Dad, Dad!" There were tears in Honglin’s eyes. "I was wrong. I blamed you wrongly. I just don’t know if I’ll even be able to see you again in this lifetime." It was only at this moment that Honglin was finally awakened by a flash of understanding. Completely awake from her sweet dream, she now saw everything clearly and knew that her father had done it all for her sake.

...

Teng Qingshan didn’t actually know his daughter’s current predicament, but during the early morning of the 2nd of April, he received an important letter.

"Teacher, Teacher."

Yang Dong ran over quickly.

"Teacher, something bad has happened. Something bad has happened." Yong Dong looked very alarmed. At this moment, Teng Qingshan was practicing his fist art with Li Jun sitting by the side.

"What is it?"

Teng Qingshan seemed very calm. Li Jun, however, asked in succession, "What bad thing has happened?"

"Junior Martial Sister Linlin. Junior Martial Sister Linlin has been captured," Yang Dong said urgently.

Teng Qingshan’s and Li Jun’s expressions turned grim, and they exchanged a glance. Actually, back when Honglin followed Fan Anran and left Yong’an County, Teng Qingshan, and Li Jun had already guessed that something like that would happen. So the two of them immediately felt somewhat anxious and angry, but they weren’t actually surprised.

"Give it to me." Teng Qingshan took the secret letter.

"Teacher, this secret letter is from Jiangning County’s Green Hills Provincial. They said that a powerful expert left it behind. Once they learned of the contents of the letter, they traveled through the night to get the letter delivered here," Yang Dong said.

Teng Qingshan gave a slight nod.

The letter was already open, and there were only several lines on it——

"Teng Qingshan, your daughter is already in my hands! If you want to save this daughter of yours, there’s only one way for you to do that! Bring the secret manual for your Xing Yi Sect’s Five Elemental Fists and arrive at the top of the Lanshan Mountain in Yanzhou at noon on the 2nd of April. If you’re late, then... wait to collect your daughter’s corpse!"

Teng Qingshan was not actually surprised by the contents of the letter.

Instead, it set his heart ablaze with rage.

"2nd of April? Isn’t that today?" Li Jun said uncontrollably. "Qingshan, Linlin really did follow that Fan Anran and leave. Could she have truly fallen into his hands?"

"If he dares to say such words, then the words won’t be false." Teng Qingshan appeared to be very calm.

"Teacher, Teacher. Junior Sister Honglin’s life is in danger." Yang Dong was very anxious. However, he didn’t know about how Teng Qingshan had already arranged for Little Blue to follow Linlin in secret.

"Relax." Teng Qingshan sneered. "I’ll find out today just who it is exactly that’s causing mischief from behind the scenes!" He could sense that everything would very soon be revealed.