The Nine Cauldrons

Danyang City

At the border area of the Duanmu Continent, the icy knife-like wind howled furiously, blowing and rolling up dust and dirt.

On a road which seemed to be five to six zhang wide, a few figures could be seen. Gazing at the figures from a close distance, one of the figures was a muscular young man who wore a felt hat as well as a thick white leather coat and was carrying a huge bag on his back. He carried a black and slightly blood red long rod as he gazed into the distance; his eyes were bright and he had a face full of expression.

By his side was a young girl with a slender figure who wore a white fur coat and had an azure colored long whip around her waist. She held the hand of a cute little girl with bright eyes and white teeth; unfortunately, the little girl’s face had a terrifying scar.

In the sky.

The Blue Luan and the Whole Gale Eagle were soaring at high altitudes.

“Little Jun, what are you laughing about?” Teng Qingshan gazed at Li Jun as he asked.

“Big Brother Teng, now that you have shaved off your beard, you seem ten years younger than when you were at the sea.” Li Jun covered her mouth as she giggled, “If you shaved your beard off earlier, Little Ping wouldn’t call you Uncle.” Little Ping, who was at the side, also giggled, but she did not dare to interrupt or talk too much.

Teng Qingshan stroked his chin.

Ever since they arrived at the Duanmu Continent, Teng Qingshan shaved off the beard which he had grown for over a year, and even wore leather boots as well as a leather coat. According to Teng Qingshan’s estimation, they would likely stay in the Duanmu Continent for a few years, thus, he couldn’t appear as unkempt as when he was cultivating arduously.

“We have walked on this road quite a while now, but we haven’t seen anyone,” said Li Jun worriedly.

“Yes,” Teng Qingshan said as he knitted his brows, “Now, we must figure out which part of the southern mountain regions of the Duanmu Continent we are in!” Teng Qingshan had simply journeyed to the shore of a random desolate and uninhabited area of the seacoast; he had no idea where he was.

Since he did not know his own whereabouts, he naturally did not know the path to Godly Axe Mountain.

“WhishWhish~~”

The cold wind blew by, causing the tough and durable weeds at the desolate roadside to lower their heads. Teng Qingshan glanced past a nearby hill with weeds grown all over and the corner of his mouth formed into a smile as he said, “Little Jun, we will soon know where we are!”

Li Jun was slightly shocked while Little Ping stared at Teng Qingshan with a puzzled expression.

“Aoo~~” A loud excited roar suddenly rang out.

“Rumble~~~” The concentrated sounds of beast hooves trampling on the earth accompanied with the roars of the beasts resounded. Riding on the four-hooves beast were brawny men with big machetes or axes in hand and wearing animal skin. Like a gust of fierce wind, they instantly rushed towards the road and encircled Teng Qingshan and his companions.

There were also many brawny mens who didn’t have mounts which swiftly ran over.

What kind of beasts are these?” Teng Qingshan and Li Jun both directed their gaze towards the mounts of the brawny men.

These mounts have four hooves, are covered in furry hair, and have two hard curved horns on their foreheads which seemed similar to bull horns. Such a beast had a face slightly similar to lions and white puffs of air came out from its nostrils. In terms of physique, this type of mount was obviously stronger than the war horses of the land of the nine prefectures.

Whilst being encircled by almost a hundred people, Teng Qingshan and Li Jun were actually staring at the mounts with amazement.

“Little Ping, what types of beasts are these?” inquired Teng Qingshan.

“These are Hunchbacked Beasts.” Little Ping answered in a natural manner, “There are many Hunchbacked Beasts and they can be found anywhere in the city. However, those are just ordinary Humpbacked Beasts. The more superior and precious Humpbacked Beasts do not have two curved horns on their foreheads, rather, they only have one sharp, pointed horns like the tip of the spear. The beasts that have just one horn and a much more muscular physique are called Unicorn Hunchbacked Beast. They are also called Hou and they’re extremely powerful.”

TLN: According to legend, Hou is known to be son of the dragon king. It is also the mount of Guanyin.

Teng Qingshan understood.

The Duanmu Continent was too far away from the land of nine prefectures. This Hunchbacked Beast are the commonly used mounts in the Duanmu Continent and the ‘Hou’ should be considered extremely high ranked Hunchbacked Beast.

“Duanmu Continent was much colder than the land of nine prefectures! This was the southernmost area. According to what Little Ping said, the North Frosty Region, which at the north side of the map, is a great deal colder than this place. As it was so cold, it was indeed suitable for such furry beasts to survive.” Teng Qingshan also understood this fact.

The leader of the bandits encircling Teng Qingshan, Li Jun, and the little girl was a skinny man who also has a scar on his face. He first casted a glance at Little Ping and seemed to notice the scar on Little Ping’s face.

“Tai! You three! Leave your things and we will spare your lives!” The skinny man roared.

“Rob?”

Teng Qingshan began guffawing and the sound of his laughter rumbled throughout the sky like a thunderclap. He then asked, “You guys are robbing me?”

When the hundred tall and brawny men heard the laughter, their facial expression changed. It was obvious that the person before them was an extremely powerful expert. “Oh, looks like you are an martial art practitioner, but we have over hundred men, while you are alone with two burdens! Swiftly give up your goods!” The skinny man’s face appeared slightly pale, but he still replied, “Otherwise, we will kill the man and take away the women. You better know how to behave!”

Although these people lusted for Li Jun because of her appearance, they couldn’t make the decision due to Teng Qingshan’s ability.

They could sense that Teng Qingshan would be difficult to deal with, and they didn’t want to take any risks.

Losing over half of the men just to rob someone was not worth it.

“Haha!” Teng Qingshan laughed loudly. Although he was carrying the huge sack, his body moved swiftly.

Whew—

Leaving a series of afterimages, Teng Qingshan had already arrived beside a Hunchbacked Beast rider. The Hunchbacked Beast rider involuntarily screamed as the Hunchbacked Beast he was mounting on immediately emitted a shocked and furious roar, “Aoo~~” Teng Qingshan immediately struck the Hunchbacked Beast with his palm.

As the Hunchbacked Beast roared, it was hurled into the air as though it were a meteorite and fell towards the leader of the bandits.

“Dodge!”

The leader of the bandits hastily shouted and the bandits standing behind the leader scrambled to dodge.

With a smile, Teng Qingshan watched the Hunchbacked Beast and whispered, “Explode!”

“Boom!”

The Hunchbacked Beast which had already died suddenly exploded and its broken bones and flesh bursted out in all directions like concealed weapons. The flying bones pierced through the bodies of the surrounding bandits and everyone of them immediately cried out in pain as they covered their thighs and the wounds on their body.

Some unlucky bandits were shot in their vital parts and died on the spot.

Shock!

Seeing this scene, the brawny men that were furious when they saw Teng Qingshan smack the Hunchbacked Beast into the air immediately cowed. Approximately hundred people stared at Teng Qingshan in dumbstruck. As for the wounded men who were covering their wounds in pain, they also gazed at Teng Qingshan with fear in their eyes.

Everyone of them felt regretful that they provoked a fiend.

“Where did such a powerful expert emerge? He doesn’t even have a Hunchbacked Beast. Isn’t that deceiving people?” The skinny man complained bitterly. If it was some expert riding the a ‘Hou’, they definitely won’t rob.

“Me and my brothers were blind.” The skinny man hastily bowed and said, “We will leave now. We will leave now.”

“Did I let you leave?”

As Teng Qingshan spoke, the bandits immediately turned pale and gazed towards their own leader! Bandits are people who lived dangerously, thus, they weren’t people who would sit around and wait for death.” Lord, please tell us if there’s anything you need,” The skinny man said respectfully. Yet, his heart was filled with resentment and bitterness as he thought to himself, “Motherf*cker, if this person crossed the line…hmph! Losing a head would just result in a scar the size of a bowl! It’s just death! We will fight!”

The group of brawny men was like lambs in front of Teng Qingshan.

“Leave two Hunchbacked Beast and some money.”

Teng Qingshan instructed, “Also, let me ask you a few things.”

“Lord, please ask.” The skinny man heaved a sigh of relief.

“What is the name of the nearest city? How do we get there? How far is it from here?” asked Teng Qingshan.

Although the skinny man felt confused, he still hastily answered, “Lord, the nearest city is the Danyang City, which is controlled by the Fang Clan, and it is approximately fifty Li away from here! Lord, advance along this road and you will soon reach the Danyang City.”

“Okay. Get lost.” Teng Qingshan nodded and instructed.

“Yes, yes.”

The skinny man hastily waved his hand and the bandits retreated with extremely fast speed. They rapidly carried all the wounded men and disappeared from Teng Qingshan’s sight, leaving two Hunchbacked Beasts and some crushed silver and some black colored coins.

“We only brought gold, it would be useful to take some crushed silver and some coins.” Teng Qingshan immediately handed the crushed silver and coins to Li Jun since Teng Qingshan was already carrying many things..

“Little Jun, the map.” said Teng Qingshan.

“Here.” Li Jun immediately took out the map from her own bundle and handed it to Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan unfolded it and placed it on the ground. He said as he scrutinized, “Danyang City is here. We should be on this road! We are not really far away from the Godly Axe Mountain.” Looking at the map, everything was clear.

“Little Jun, you and Little Ping can ride on the Hunchbacked Beast. We will depart and head towards Danyang City as soon as possible.” Teng Qingshan said with a smile as he returned the map back to Li Jun. After Li Jun placed the map back into her bundle, she rode on a Hunchbacked Beast with Little Ping. However, Teng Qingshan realized that…..the ordinary Hunchbacked Beast was unable to carry the huge sack.

“Big Brother Teng, the gold in your chest weighed over ten thousand jin. How can this Hunchbacked Beast have the strength to carry it?” Li Jun laughed.

“The Blue Luan can easily carry it, but it doesn’t want to.” Teng Qingshan said as he looked up towards the sky.

In the vast sky, two faint small dots could be seen. They were the Whole Gale Eagle and the Blue Luan.

“I will walk. My walking speed is not slower than the Hunchbacked Beast.” Teng Qingshan carried the sack and stopped caring about the other Hunchbacked Beast.

The chest of gold in his sack weighed over ten thousand. If he didn’t remove the pressure with the Internal Supreme Force, his every step would make a hole on the ground! However, it is very easy to distribute the pressure to the entire ground through the Internal Supreme Force.

Of course—

There are actually three chests of gold, but it was impossible to bring all three. Teng Qingshan do have the strength to carry all three, but….a person carrying three huge chests would be the center of attention no matter where he goes. Therefore, Teng Qingshan could only carry one. As for the other two chests and the entire tungsten wood vessel, Teng Qingshan buried them in the ground of the desolate seacoast.

In order to get the tungsten wood vessel to the shore, Teng Qingshan and Blue Luan, the two monsters who possessed an abnormally great strength, had to work together.

Clop! Clop! Clop!

Li Jun and Little Ping were swiftly carried on the back of the Hunchbacked Beast while Teng Qingshan dashed with the sack which weighed ten thousand jin on his back. As for the Blue Luan and Whole Gale Eagle, they flew effortlessly at high altitudes.