The Nine Cauldrons

Book 5 Chapter 18 Gathering of the powerhouses

“Everybody knows? Hmm. ” Teng Qingshan narrowed his eyes. The temptation created by the buried treasure was extremely big. On the Nine Prefecture, besides the eight major sects, there were some hidden powerhouses. Even if they didn’t know whether the news was authentic or not, they would still come and check. A large amount of experts would gather here. Much to their dismay, Qing Hu Island wouldn’t have it easy anymore.

The event with his parents made Teng Qingshan’s killing intent boil when thinking about Qing Hu Island. There was no way it would dissipate.

However, with Qing Hu Island’s experts gathered here, he didn’t have any opportunity to strike. Now he would be a fish in muddy water. The greater the number of strong innate experts, the higher the potential of chaos and the easier it would be for Teng Qingshan to move.

With Teng Qingshan being able to predict the plight of Qing Hu Island, Gu Yong and the twelve innate masters could of course imagine what kind of reaction the news would cause now that it had spread throughout the world.

Thinking about their difficult position, Gu Yong and the twelve experts started to get worried.

“How did this news get out?” Zhao Danchen’s thin eyebrows twisted together as his eyes fiercely swept the surrounding.

Gu Yong took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes. He then slowly said in a deep and low voice, “My Qing Hu Island had this treasure map for only a few days. Moreover, those who knew the secret where only the high ranking people within the sect. Although a lot of soldiers followed our orders to capture people, they didn’t know about Emperor Yu’s secret buried treasure. The leak didn’t come from our Qing Hu Island.”

“Tie Yi Hall.” A man wearing black robe remarked with a rough voice. Clenching his teeth, he said, “It was Ti Yi Hall’s doing.”

“The Sovereign of Tie Yi Hall ‘Nie Rong’, the Law Enforcing Elder, as well as other people in command were all killed by us. None of them escaped. Could it be that some remnants of the Tie Yi Hall knew about Emperor Yu’s treasure map?” The woman wearing the purple gown frowned while saying.

“The remnants of Tie Yi Hall were of low positions and wouldn’t be qualified to know this secret.” Yu Wen sneered. “However, if this is the revenge planted by Nie Rong, it could be possible.”

“Elder Yu Wen, you think that Nie Rong deliberately let us kill him and get this treasure map? Wouldn’t they be worried that getting Emperor Yu’s buried treasure would make our Qing Hu Island stronger than ever before? Your argument doesn’t sound valid.”

“From how I look at it, Nie Rong didn’t expect to die. Now that he is dead and the treasure taken by us, the remnants of Tie Yi Hall were not willingly to accept it so easily. Therefore, they leaked the news to the public and gave our Qing Hu Island a lot of trouble.”

All the innate experts continued to discuss it.

“Enough.”

Gu Yong scolded angrily, and his eyes swept coldly over the people surrounding him. “This event was most likely Tie Yi Hall’s revenge. Right now, we need to prepare how to deal with the incoming major sects and powerhouses. With the power of an innate master, the warhorses they ride would be at least a ‘Black Nightmare Horse’ or a ‘Dragonblood Horse‘. If they received the news yesterday, some of the master will most likely arrive today.”

The three dragon horses were top stallions that could ride five thousand Li per day.

Moreover, beside these three dragon horses, some innate masters from big sects used special mounts. For example, some tamed demonic beast. Although taming demonic beasts was difficult, among the countless demonic beasts, there were some that could be tamed by special methods.

The taming methods were top secret within some sects.

The speed of some powerful demonic beasts was much slower than the three dragon horses.

“Let’s go up.” Gu Yong said.

Immediately, the twelve innate experts shot up to the sky like lightning. Using the help of the prepared vine, these powerful experts left the bottomless pit. In an instant, the twelve innate masters came out of the hole and arrived in a military tent. This tent covered everything from the outside… and hid the location of the bottomless pit.

In a curved canal inside the bottomless pit, Teng Qingshan leaned against the wet rock and took off the bag on his back that had been wrapped tightly with a rope. Teng Qingshan specially tailored and made this out of heavenly silk. Made of special leather, the surface layer was absolute waterproof.

Taking a piece of bread, Teng Qingshan started eating.

Although Teng Qingshan could survive a prolonged time without eating, he would increase his vitality and energy by consuming some food. Also, his vision would be more focused.

In a moist place deep within the cavern. A bloodstained body lay on the icy cold floor. It was the heavily wounded Teng Yongfan.

“Drop”

Milky white liquid droplets emerged and slowly fell down from the cracks above the rocks. With closed eyes, Teng Yongfan opened his mouth and waited for the drop.

In fact, in this deep cavern, it was easy to drink water to supplement the water in the body since there was some water in small pits on the ground. However, for the present Teng Yongfan, drinking water wouldn’t have any major effects. Instead, it was the milky white liquid he was currently drink that had some special effects.

The mind of the motionless Teng Yongfan was very clear.

Suddenly——

Teng Yongfan suddenly opened his eyes. His pupils radiated an inexhaustible desire and determination.

“Heaven didn’t abandon me.” Teng Yongfan looked at the crack in the ceiling above him.

He could still remember clearly the events that happened from last evening until now.

Originally, the Silver Dragon soldiers decided to kill and burn them. However, a demonic beast “Darksteel Centipede” suddenly appeared. This gave Teng Yongfan an unexpected chance. While those soldiers faced against the life-and-death danger, they didn’t care about Teng Yongfan. Teng Yongfan knew very clear, by not being able to use his lower body, he couldn’t escape from the Silver Dragon soldiers.

Let alone the Silver Dragon soldiers, even the Darksteel Centipede could kill him as well.

Therefore, at that moment Teng Yongfan clenched teeth and desperately braced himself before leaping into the bottomless pit. Even with his decisiveness, his leg was ripped apart by the Darksteel Centipede. However, it also killed a large amount of Silver Dragon Soldiers, which gave Teng Yongfan enough time to flee inside the cave.

Inside the bottom of the canal.

He started to fiercely lose blood.

With no choice left, he could only rip off a strip of cloth and tie together his left thigh that got cut off in order to prevent further blood loss.

At the bottom of the icy cold canal, there were dense and numerous caverns that resembled a honeycomb.

Using his nose, Teng Yongfan selected one that didn’t have the Darksteel Centipede’s fishy smell. The lack of fishy smell would mean that the Darksteel Centipede wouldn’t often visit this little cave. With a deep breath, Teng Yongfan climbed inside the cave using a vine. Afterwards, the loss of blood was too serious, and Teng Yongfan immediately fainted from exhaustion.

Without food and with the serious loss of blood, it was impossible for Teng Yongfan to crawl out of the pit with his weak body while only relying on his two arms.

“Heaven didn’t abandon me. Who would have thought that this milky water drop had this kind of effect.” Teng Yongfan woke up soon after he fainted in the dark cavern. The reason why he woke up was because these milky droplets had fallen on his hand, giving his a piercing ice-cold feeling. Teng Yongfan woke up from the freezing feeling.

This milking drop didn’t freeze, however.

When Teng Yongfan drank a bit, he felt a cold feeling filling his body and strength returning to his weak body. It even gradually restored his strength and cleared the dizziness caused by the blood loss.

In one night, Teng Yongfan felt his body strength increasing tremendously.

The reason why he was lying down motionlessly was in order to conserve his strength.

“I haven’t had something to eat for a very long time. This milky water drop is unusual, but it can’t completely solve my hunger.” Teng Yongfan knew very clearly. “The mysterious and amazing effect also had its limits, and it can’t supplement food. I lost too much blood, and my strength will only gradually reduce. If I don’t leave now or wait any longer, I fear I won’t have another opportunity to escape.”

Using both of his arms as legs, he slowly advanced.

“In this canal, there are so many caves and probably more than one demonic beast. Once I am discovered by a beast, I will die, without doubt.” Carefully, Teng Yongfan moved forward. He guessed that these Silver Dragon soldiers made too much noise in the bottomless pit and were chased down by the demonic beast. He estimated that they moved around in the bigger canal and were discovered by it.

He slowly advance for a long time——

Teng Yongfan was only five to six Zhang away from the entrance of cave. Once he crossed this distance, he would enter the canal.

“Rush~” He suddenly heard flowing water.

“Hm?” Teng Yongfan was shocked and stayed motionless.

Even with Teng Yongfan’s limited vision, he could see a dark shadow passed gently and swiftly five to six Zhang in front of him, near the cave entrance. A fishy smell filled the air.

Smelling this fishy smell, Teng Yongfan’s complexion immediately changed, “Its that demonic beast.”

Teng Yongfan would never again forget this metallic fishy smell. Obviously, he guessed right. Within these dense and numerous caves here, there was more than one Darksteel Centipede.

Teng Yongfan was only an ordinary person and could only continue to struggle with his life.

—

All the strong innate masters in the Nine Prefectures started to grow frenzied out of jealousy because of Emperor Yu’s buried treasure.

On the Great Yan Mountain.

“Haha, brother Wang. From how I see it, it will be hard to get Qing Hu Island to share a slice of Emperor Yu’s treasure with us.” A refined middle-aged man wearing a colored scholar’s robe said with a smile. The pattern of Qing Feng Sword was embroidered on the back of his robe. He continued to walk on the public road.

Like him, there were five other people walking on the road empty-handed.

Besides these six people, there were five warriors wearing scaled armor while walking besides black wolves. The five black wolves beside these men were one size bigger than warhorses.

“Elder Shi.” A bulky man with four braids who was pulling a black wolf opened his mouth and said, “Humph, would Qing Hu Island ultimately be able to stop us? Even so, whether the story of Emperor Yu’s buried treasure was true or not is difficult to say. Your Xiao Yao Palace and my Shooting Sun God Mountain will work together to force ourselves into the mountain. If this Gu Yong doesn’t dare to let us search, then Emperor Yu’s buried treasure is real.”

At this moment——

Hoofs could be heard as a dozen warhorses swiftly caught up from behind.

“Your Holiness.” A dozens warriors jumped down, and one of them kneeled down respectfully.

The bulky man with four braids put on a disdainful look while looking at them. He then sneered, “The message from Godly Mountain should have arrived in Jiangning County City this morning. The disciples of Xiao Yao Palace already picked up their elder with the warhorses and yet you arrived just now.”

The man leading at the front started to sweat, but he didn’t dare to make any excuses.

“Take the five Black Ink Wolves and take good care of them. If you still continue to be incompetent, humph.” The bulky man sneered, “Leave.”

“Yes, your Holiness.”

That man arrogantly continued their journey while his men took care of the five Black Ink Wolves. Shooting Sun God Mountain was the biggest sect in Yanzhou, which was the southernmost place in the Nine Prefectures, covered with mountains and forests. The land was savage, and the Black Ink Wolves were one of Shooting Sun God Mountain’s biggest secrets, making a Black Ink Wolf extremely precious.

These dozen warriors led the five wolves and quickly departed.

The eleven innate masters from Xiao Yao Palace and Shooting Sun God Mountain stepped into the mountain. They continued to move to the inner section.

“Look at the sky.” A lean bald man from Shooting Sun God Mountain spoke while looking up.

Immediately, the other masters looked up at the sky.

They saw five snow eagles slowly circling above the Yan Mountain.

“The speed of these snow eagles is very fast. Even as far as the northern Yanzhou, the people taming the snow eagles managed to arrive.” A bald man wearing a purple gown said with a smile.