The Nine Cauldrons

Book 4 Chapter 31 The Fourth Strike

Living uninhibited as the Black Armored Army’s First Commander, Teng Qingshan was normally free to do anything.

For cultivating, Teng Qingshan bought a spacious mansion not too far away from the northern end of Gui Yuan Sect, in Jiangning County. The previous master of the mansion was a great salts merchant. In order to complete a large business transaction, he had to obtain a large amount of class; thus, leading him sell the mansion. Teng Qingshan spent a total of 300 thousand taels of silver to buy it!

Early in the morning, in front of Gui Yuan Sect’s large northern entrance, the guards were wearing black armor and standing upright. The pedestrians on the street didn’t dare approach this large northern entrance.

“Lord Commander!” Seeing the five people approach, these guards immediately bowed and saluted them.

“Mmm.”

Teng Qingshan laughed and nodded his head before finally bringing his sister, Qingyu, his cousin, Qinghu, as well as Zhuge Yun and Zhuge Qing forwards. They crossed Gui Yuan Street and followed the Dadi Canal as they walked towards the north. The northeastern area of Jiangning County City was a merchant district.

The mansions that were near Jiangning County all held expensive price tags.

After only walking about two kilometers, Teng Qingshan stopped.

“It’s this one.” Teng Qingshan pointed towards the entrance. The entrance of the mansion was six to seven zhang wide, and on both sides of the mansion, there were stone sculptures of horses raising their hooves; this brought a hegemonic atmosphere to the mansion. The original board, that was on top of the entrance, had already been taken down.

“Master!” Upon seeing Teng Qingshan, the middle aged man standing in the entrance immediately called out.

“So expensive.” Zhuge Yun took one glance and his eyes couldn’t help but light up. He let out a sigh, “Elder brother, from the exterior, this mansion of yours seems to be quite large. It occupies a plethora of fields right? Although our Gui Yuan Sect takes up a large amount of space, we have too many people. My place only has a couple of rooms and is nowhere near as big as yours.”

“It occupies approximately ten fields.” Teng Qingshan said.

“Wow, ten fields.” Qingyu and Qinghu were also surprised.

“Everyone please enter and take a look.” Teng Qingshan immediately brought them in. There were rock gardens, lotus ponds, flower gardens, stone sculptures and pavilions scattered all throughout the landscape, giving prominence to the enormous space that was there. In the mansion, after walking a while, Qingyu had even lost track of where she was.

It was obvious that this Yang Prefecture merchant clearly understood how to live pleasurably.

“Master.”

“Master.”

On the path, the mansion’s maids deferentially called out when they saw Teng Qingshan.

“You also have this many beautiful maids.” Zhuge Yun sighed.

“Such a large mansion requires myriads of people to simply sweep and water the garden. Therefore, I dismissed a portion of the maids and left one half. If I had kept even fewer, I would have had no way of taking care of such a large mansion.” Teng Qingshan said, “I completely dismissed the former guards since I have personal ones.

“That’s right, our Black Armored Army’s guards are obviously much better than those random guards.” Zhuge Yun said.

In capacity of the First Commander, he possessed many personal guards.

If these personal guards and Commanders lived outside, the personal guard would have to follow the Commander around in order to protect him – this was the Gui Yuan Sect’s rule.

“He!”

“Ha!”

Upon walking to a spacious martial training field, there were already a plethora of personal guards in the process of morning training.

“Brother, how are we to live in such a large mansion?” Qingyu whispered.

“Having bought such a large mansion, our residence is only secondary; in the future, mother, father and the other Teng clansmen are of primary importance.” Teng Qingshan said, “Without flourishing and enduring power, when I die of old age, the Teng Village will face all sorts of dangers in the countryside, which is why it’s better if they enter the city. The inside of the city is the safest. Trying to fit 2000 people in this mansion will make it a bit crowded, but a few hundred shouldn’t be a problem!”

Teng Qingshan had already mapped out a way out for Teng Village.

Staying in the countryside forever definitely wouldn’t do. Teng Village had the craftsmanship, passed down by their ancestors, for forging weapons; moreover, it wasn’t the least bit inferior to Yi City’s best craftsmen. Since this was the case, even if they entered the city, the Teng Village’s clansmen wouldn’t just sit there and eat the mountain clean.

(TL: Sit and eat the mountain clean= not work and exhaust all the resources ie. useless trash)

“Mhm.” Qingyu was exalted when she heard this.

“I will discuss this matter with mother and father when I bring them over.” Teng Qingshan laughed as he spoke.

They continued walking in the mansion.

“Big Brother Teng.” Zhuge Qing laughed and said, “You moving into a new residence is a joyous occasion. I have no means of gifting anything too expensive...mhm...here!” As she spoke, she retrieved the package that was on her back and handed it over to Teng Qingshan. Zhuge Qing clasped the package and stared at Teng Qingshan with her crystal clear eyes.

“You even have a gift.” Teng Qingshan laughed in surprise and received it.

“Brother, the material was personally selected by little Qing. It’s the natural snow silk from within the sect. From start to finish, it was all personally made by little Qing. Open it up and take a look; put it on and examine little Qing’s needlework.” Qingyu proceeded to say. She also secretly winked at Zhuge Qing, who couldn’t help but flush red.

“That’s right, unwrap it and take a look.” Zhuge Yun also urged.

Teng Qingshan laughed as he opened it. Inside was a azure robe; the texture was rather soft and comfortable. It was most likely top quality material.

“Hu!” After unfolding it, Teng Qingshan proceeded to put it on.

“The size is perfect.” Teng Qingshan also looked at the interior of the robe. The inside was a layer of natural snow silk, “Little Qing’s craftsmanship isn’t bad.” Suddenly, Teng Qingshan’s gaze fell on the natural snow silk pocket.

The natural snow silk was white, and the smear of a dark red bloodstain was very obvious.

All the while apprehencious of Teng Qingshan discovering it, upon seeing Teng Qingshan’s expression Zhuge Qing thought: “He saw it!” She couldn’t help but flush red and embarrassingly said: “Brother Teng, that, that, that was because I was careless and pricked my finger with a needle. The blood then dripped there.”

“Pricking your finger... sister, you still prick your finger even with your level of craftsmanship?” Zhuge Yun said in astonishment.

“I was careless.” Zhuge Qing proceeded to say.

“Thank you for your trouble little Qing. This piece of clothing is truly quite good.” Teng Qingshan laughed, “The interior’s natural snow silk makes it very comfortable to wear.”

Zhuge Qing couldn’t help but laugh when she heard this.

......

In the Gui Yuan Sect, those at the lieutenant level of the Black Armored Army could live outside the sect. As for commanders and elders, there was no need to explain further. As for Law Enforcing Elders, the power they possessed was astonishing.

Teng Qingshan’s formal date of becoming a Law Enforcing Elder was set on the third of the 11th month.

......

The mansion bought by Teng Qingshan was named the “Teng Mansion” by his sister, Qingyu. According to Qingyu’s reasoning, when she saw other mansions named “Li Mansion” and “Guo Mansion”, she was very jealous. Therefore, she chose the name “Teng Mansion” for their own mansion!

In the future, the Teng Village’s clansmen would also live here. Teng Mansion was a fitting name.

On the night of the 2nd day of the 11th month.

Teng Qingshan stood alone in the martial training field of Teng Mansion.

“Hong!”“Hong!”“Hong!”“Hong!”.....

Continuous sounds of explosions resonated from the martial training field. Only Teng Qingshan could be seen in trousers and a bare torso. Sweat permeated his entire torso. His left hand was grasped the Reincarnation Spear’s middle section, and his right hand grasped the tail end of the spear. He abruptly thrust his right hand forward, and noiselessly, the strength created by his two hands became completely different.

“Weng!”

An indistinct mirage appeared on the spearhead.

“Hmph!” Teng Qingshan suddenly loosened his left hand. His right hand stayed on the Reincarnation Spear and borrowed the momentum to create a savage thrust.

“Pu!”

A fire-colored spiral of energy unexpectedly coiled around the spearhead and formed a spiral-shaped, fire-colored, Innate True Origin. It surprisingly revolved around and condensed at the tip of the spearhead. Such a strong spiral structured Innate True Origin momentarily compressed into a single point on the tip of the spearhead!

Space instantly compressing into a single point would contain extreme pressure, and the might of the ensuing explosions would be very shocking. One could only imagine Innate True Origin doing this.

“Hong!” The Reincarnation Spear’s spearhead let out a deafening explosion sound. The surrounding blades of Qi flew wildly and a large ditch appeared in the ground. One could only imagine if this spearhead had pierced someone in front of it, how terrifying the sudden explosion would have been.

Ever since he had reached the Innate Realm and the Innate True Origin was able to circulate within his body, Teng Qingshan had already finished half of the fourth spear of his Five Elemental Spear Arts.

“It’s not right, it’s not right!”

Teng Qingshan frowned and shook his head.

Since it was only an experiment, the Innate True Origin used was very sparse.

“Such a small amount of Innate True Origin, condensing into a single point, is unable to combine with the Reincarnation Spear’s natural penetration strength. It’s not even worth trying to use all my energy in this strike.” Teng Qingshan inwardly shook his head. The Five Elemental Spear Art’s fourth strike was a combination of and the Tiger Cannon Fist’s Realm of Concept.

According to logic, when he performed it, a strong Innate True Origin would form a vortex at the spearhead! Subsequently, the vortex’s energy would compress into a single point on the spearhead! This was the first step!

The second step was in accordance with Tiger Cannon Fist–an eruption of the strongest internal energy through the Reincarnation Spear–creating a shocking penetration force. Merely such a step caused a force not weaker than the Toxic Dragon Drill. As for the first step where Innate True Origin compressed from a vortex into a single point, its strength was also close to the Toxic Dragon Drill.

Once the two steps combined, the power would be extremely terrifying.

“Combining both steps truly is too hard.” Teng Qingshan shook his head.

The required control over the Reincarnation Spear was too harsh.

One had to have first used the theory behind Legacy of the Ultimate Flame to cause the Innate True Origin vortex to compress into a single point. From there, one had to immediately change to the Tiger Cannon Fist to emit energy, causing the entire body’s energy to transfer through the Reincarnation Spear and explode. Furthermore, one had to cause the power of both stages to erupt together! Only then would one achieve the strongest outcome!

“I only used an extremely small amount of Innate True Origin, and I wasn’t even able to accomplish this. What should I do?” Teng Qingshan was somewhat distressed.

This question had caused him vexation these past few days.

If Zhuge Yuanhong knew about this, he most likely would have been stupefied.

The difficulty of this strike was too high.

No matter whether it was the requirement for one’s mental stage, strength, Innate True Origin, or even control over the Reincarnation Spear, it was pitiless to the extreme.

“The biggest obstacle is causing the Innate True Origin vortex to compress into a single point. One must absolutely have the mental state where he or she can find a trace of hope amidst despair. However, the Tiger Cannon Fist requires an angry and berserk mental state... these two mental states vary drastically.” Teng Qingshan pondered a long while when his face suddenly changed, “That’s not right! Wrong, wrong, wrong!!! That method of controlling Innate True Origin is wrong!”

Teng Qingshan’s eyes lit up, and he instantly began experimenting again.

Just at this time—

“Brother!” His sister, Qingyu, ran in, “You’re still training?”

“Did something happen?” Teng Qingshan looked at his sister inquisitively.

Tomorrow is the day when you officially become a Law Enforcing Elder. Tonight, myself, little Yun, and little Qing intend to bring you to Yeyou Canal and celebrate beforehand.” Qingyu proceeded to say. Teng Qingshan looked at the color of the sky and smiled as he nodded his head, “That’s fine too. Let me shower and change clothes first.”

Looking at Teng Qingshan leave, Qingyu excitedly needed her fist: “Hehe, little Qing, whether it succeeds or not is up to you.”