The Nine Cauldrons

Book 7 Chapter 44 Trouble

“Boss?” Old Wang glanced at Teng Qingshan.

“Big Brother Teng, is something happening ahead?” Li Jun slid aside the curtains on the door and asked.

Teng Qingshan looked up ahead and saw a densely packed group of soldiers stationed there. They had set up camp in the spacious wilderness to the left of the official road. At first glance, there seemed to be a very crowded sea of people. However, if one looked carefully, they would be able to tell that despite the numerous soldiers stationed there, the official road was not actually blocked.

The travellers could still pass through.

“There’s an army camped there,” Teng Qingshan said with a smile.

“The sky hasn’t darkened completely, yet they’re already setting up camp?” Li Jun asked in surprise.

From the side, Old Wang chuckled and explained, “Lady Jun, some of the places near the official road are barren hills, while some are farmlands. With so many soldiers to station, a large space is necessary, and there are not many places which meet this requirement! If they continued marching, they would be hard pressed to find a place to camp. ”

When Li Jun heard this, her face reddened.

“Continue moving forward!” Teng Qingshan exclaimed with a grin.

“Clop! Clop! Clop!”

The two Scarlet Wind War Hous pulled the carriage and galloped forward rapidly. As for Xiong Shou, who was riding the Hunchbacked Beast—he was mumbling continuously, “Ah Hou…..Ah Hou….”

They gradually approached the military camp.

Adjacent to the official road, many soldiers could be seen holding war blades and pikes as they stared at Teng Qingshan and his companions with ill-intentions. However, Teng Qingshan sat freely and leisurely in front of the carriage door, grasping the Reincarnation Spear casually in his right hand! As for Li Jun, she was looking out the window.

“Haha. Little beauty, smile for me!”

“Tsk, tsk. What a beautiful girl!”

The bored soldiers who had just finished their dinner suddenly laughed and shouted at her.

“Hmph.” Li Jun immediately closed the window curtain, refusing to show her face again.

“Oh, the little beauty is mad!”

“Little beauty, don’t leave so quickly!”

When these soldiers saw that Li Jun refused to show her face, they began to roar with laughter. However, although they were teasing and laughing..…. none of the soldiers dared to stop Teng Qingshan and his companions. This was due to the strict military law.. As many people travelled to and fro on the official road, the superior officers naturally forbade their subordinates from obstructing any travellers.

“The army must have very strict discipline.” Teng Qingshan revealed a small smile. However, as the carriage continued onwards, Teng Qingshan’s facial expression became slightly unpleasant and his brows furrowed.

From his seat in the carriage, Teng Qingshan instantly noticed——

In the center of the army, there was a great number of slaves whose hands were bound tightly with ropes. There were both men and women, and they all seemed to be adults or teenagers. There were no children or elderly people. All the slaves had dirty appearances and tattered clothes. A great number of soldiers surrounded and guarded these slaves at all times.

Due to the sheer number of slaves, they had been divided into several groups!

Each group numbered well over one thousand slaves.

“So many slaves?” Teng Qingshan frowned as he mumbled.

“Boss.” Old Wang lowered his voice and said, “ The clans are now warring against one another. Many of those who surrendered or were captured in the war became slaves. I think this army…… must have gotten these people from a certain location and is sending them to Nanshan City!”

Nanshan City was the most prosperous city of the entire Duanmu Continent.

That being the case, slave trade was, of course, the most developed in Nanshan City.

“Slaves……” As the carriage moved forward, Teng Qingshan suddenly saw a man, dressed like an officer, walking toward a different group of slaves up ahead.

The high-ranking officer scrutinized them for while, then suddenly he grabbed a weak-looking woman and began fiddling with her messy hair.

“Lift up your head!”

The officer yelled at her and began to examine her face. Then a smile broke out on his face, and he ordered indifferently , “Take this woman to my tent!” Terror filled the female slave’s eyes.

“Yes my lord.”

The two soldiers behind him immediately acknowledged the order and proceeded to grab the slave woman.

“No… no… Lord, please spare me! Please spare me!” The slave woman immediately begged, but the two very strong soldiers paid no attention to woman’s pleas. One grabbed her by the shoulders while the other grabbed her legs, and they both proceeded to lift her up..

“Let her go!” There were men shouting nearby.

“Let my sister go!”

Although their hands were tied, these two men still struggled and charged forward forcefully, knocking down one of the soldiers.

“How dare you!” A soldier, who was guarding the slaves, immediately lashed forcefully at one of the slave men with his long whip.

“Bang! Bang!”

The sound of flesh being shredded caused the other slaves to tremble, while the two slave men rolled about on the ground as they were whipped.

“Motherf*cker….Whip them as hard as you can! How dare he knock me down?!”

“Hurry!” The officer shouted in an indifferent tone.

“Please spare them! I will come with you. I will come with you.” The slave woman had broken down.

“Kill me if you can! It’s just death! F*ck you all.” One of the slave men, who was being whipped, started howling curses at his captors.

……

Watching this scene, Teng Qingshan sighed to himself. There was a great number of slaves in Duanmu Continent. Indeed…… slaves could be considered people with no rights—people whose life and death were controlled by others.

“These people are still resisting. They must have become slaves recently.” Old Wang shook his head and sighed. “After they have suffered enough and lost all hope, they will become apathetic.” No one could help these slaves. Not even the powerful Thunder Blade Deity, Duanmu Yu, would be able to save them.

During this period of time, neither Teng Qingshan nor Old Wang noticed Xiong Shou’s expression. As Xiong Shou was riding ahead of the carriage, Teng Qingshan couldn’t see how terrifying Xiong Shou’s face had become!

“Hisss~~”

Xiong Shou stared at the scene before him and many images appeared in his mind. These were images of him being caught by the slavers when he was young and the terrifying experiences that followed. The humans he hated most were those who caught, beat, and killed slaves!

He abhorred those kinds of humans the most!

This was a hatred which had existed for dozens of years!

“You wish to die? When you are a slave, you can’t even die if you want to. Teach him a lesson, but don’t kill him. We still have to sell him for silver.”

“Yes, my lord!”

When Xiong Shou saw this scene, his eyes turned scarlet! He was indeed a beast! Once he went mad, he would have the audacity to kill anything and everything. In the past, even Fang Li wouldn’t dare to approach Xiong Shou rashly.

“Hou~~”

A furious roar resounded through the wilderness.

“Oh, no!”

When Teng Qingshan heard the roar, Xiong Shou had already darted into the crowd of troops. The teenager, Xiong Shou, was just like an angry beast. He dashed on his hands and feet, and his passing was marked by splatters of blood.. Screams and howls filled the air. and in the blink of an eye, he had arrived at the place where the slaves were being guarded.

“Ahh!

The teenager grabbed the soldier who was torturing the two slave men.

“Let him go!” When the officer, who had already walked afar, turned and saw this scene, he immediately shouted in anger. The great number of surrounding soldiers were all stunned… Where had this crazy person come from? However, anger soon filled their hearts as they realized someone had actually dared to attack their army single-handedly!

“Roar~~”

With a malicious expression, Xiong Shou lifted the soldier high above his head.

“Let me go. Let me go,” The soldier howled.

In response, Xiong Shou’s hands began to exert force—

“Chi~~”

The soldier’s body was torn apart, and blood spattered in all directions.

“Kill him!” The officer roared in a fury.

“Hiss~~~” The teenager emitted some weird sounds. With his body completely covered in blood, he leaped out again. He would kill anyone who dared to try and stop him!

However, this time.….. he did not succeed!

“Stop!” A deep and angry shout boomed suddenly, resonating through the air like a crack of thunder.

Teng Qingshan grabbed the teenager’s shoulders, and no matter how much Xiong Shou tried to resist, he couldn’t free himself from Teng Qingshan’s grip. He then turned and glared at Teng Qingshan with scarlet eyes, emitting growls and roars.

Teng Qingshan stared back at him coldly. He squeezed down, causing Xiong Shou great pain.

“Kill!”

“Kill him!”

The soldiers encircled them and began to attack, slashing down with their machetes and thrusting their pikes toward Teng Qingshan and the teenager!

Teng Qingshan held the Reincarnation Spear in his other hand. In an instant, it transformed into millions of shadows, and a series of cracking and rattling sounds were heard. Their weapons were hurled away, and the soldiers who encircled Teng Qingshan and Xiong Shou widened their eyes.

“This… How did this…”

The soldiers looked down and stared at their empty hands. Then they looked back up at Teng Qingshan with astonishment and fear in their eyes.

“What happened?” A dissatisfied and angry voice rang out.

Two people walked over from somewhere nearby. One of them was an elderly man wearing a hat and luxurious cloak, while the person beside him was a muscular man with resolute facial features. The muscular man carried a huge machete on his back and had eyes which seemed to flash with lightning bolts, putting fear into the hearts of men.

“Administrator Mu!” The officer immediately saluted respectfully.

“What has happened here?” The elderly man said in a dissatisfied tone.

One of the soldiers immediately said respectfully, “This crazy teenager suddenly attacked us, and within the blink of an eye, three of our brothers were killed and many more were injured. I ordered to have him killed, but this white cloaked young man suddenly appeared and stopped the crazy teenager, simultaneously blasting away the weapons of the soldiers around him.”

“Oh?” The elderly man looked around and was secretly shocked.

The ability of being able to blast away all the weapons, which were attacking them from all directions, in an instant without injuring anyone showed that this person was definitely not weak.

“Who are you? To think you actually charged into my army camp?” The elder stared at Teng Qingshan.

Holding down Xiong Shou with one hand, Teng Qingshan said in an indifferent tone, “This is my follower. He hates anyone and anything to do with the escorting and selling of slaves. I guess when your people tortured the slaves, it enraged my follower. Therefore, he charged in..…. and killed several people from your army. I did not discipline him enough. Please forgive us.”

“He attacked my army and killed my people, and yet you plan to resolve this with just a few words?” The elderly man’s face darkened as he continued, “I just asked, ‘Who are you?’ You did not answer me!”

“I am Teng Qingshan!”

Teng Qingshan stared at the elderly man with a faint smile and asked back, “And you are?”

The elderly man answered in a dismissive tone, “I am the adminstrator of the Rising Sun Trading Company! This is the army of the Rising Sun Trading Company..…. and the Rising Sun Trading Company spent a great deal of money to buy all these slaves. Since it was your follower who attacked and killed my people, you, the instructor, should come take a walk with me.”