The Nine Cauldrons - Volume 6 - Chapter 25

Book 6 Chapter 25  Whole Gale Tribe

 It was breezy outside the yurt, but inside it was warm. Teng Qingshan drank a cup of hot milk tea and ate a large piece of lamb along with a plate of fried noodles. 
 

Although the meal was not as delicate as a meal from the land of the Nine Prefectures, it was still satisfying.
 

“Big brother!” A teenager wearing a grey cloak walked into the yurt.
 

At first, Teng Qingshan and Chabu were happily chatting, but when Chabu saw the youngster entering the tent, his faces darkened: “ What is your purpose of coming here?”
 

“Tsk. Tsk.” The youngster glanced at Teng Qingshan, and when he saw the worn out cotton-padded cloak on Teng Qingshan, he furrow his brows. However, he still grinned and spoke “Big brother, my days are hard and desperate. Just few days before, I lost a few sheeps of mine, not knowing who the thief is. Life like this is hard to go on!”
 

Chabu knitted his brow and demanded, “ Tell me what actually happened!”

“I like your straightforwardness, big brother!” The youngster added with a laugh, “Please lend me some silver, big brother. I’ll pay you back after I sell my cows and sheeps.”
 

“Hmph, pay me back? You still haven’t returned the debt that you owe us from last time,” the man muttered with an unsatisfied tone. 

The woman serving the meal immediately pulled the kid and gave him a glare. “I’m just telling the truth!” mumbled the kid. He did not dare to speak a word after that.  The youngster acted as if he wasn’t aware of the trouble he caused and simply looked at Chabu with a smile on his face.

Chabu’s face looked dark. He took out about half a tael of crushed silver and threw it towards the youngster.
 

“Thanks a lot, big brother, I promise I’ll return the money!” the youngster shouted with glee.

Chabu still gave him a dark face. “ Hmph, you don’t have to thank me! If it wasn’t because Father asked me to take care of you, I’ll have already kicked you out a long time ago! Remember to practice your saber skill with brother Silan more frequently! Don’t be lazy all the time!” But the youngster had already lifted the yurt’s flap and left the tent.

“Daddy, he didn’t even tend the sheep A few days ago, I saw him slaughter a sheep and eat it!” the kid voiced out bitterly. 
 Chabu looked at his son and scolded him, “Jiran, always remember that he is your uncle!”
 

“Jiran doesn’t have such a useless uncle!” the kid raised his head and complained.

Teng Qingshan could only eat his meal as he has no right to mind their family’s business. There were always lazy people in every village. Normally, the tribes would just marginalize these people. 

“Clang!”

“Clang!”

A  sharp clashing noise came from outside the yurt, Teng Qingshan was alarmed and asked, “Brother Chabu, what is happening outside?”

Before Chabu managed to talk, his son interrupted and said proudly, “ The men of our tribe are competing against each other. I am sure it is Uncle Silan and the others. They practice their saber skills very hard every day. They are very powerful! I am also learning sword arts from Uncle Silan!”

“Oh?” Teng Qingshan put down his cup of milk tea and got up with a smile, “Brother Chabu, I have had enough food. Thank you for your warm welcome!” With this, Teng Qingshan placed two silver taels on the table. 

Chabu hastily took the silver and tried to give it back to Teng Qingshan, “Brother Huhe, this simple meal isn’t worth this price. You gave too much; I cannot accept it !” Chabu wanted to stuff the money back at Teng Qingshan but Teng Qingshan was able to block Chabu from approaching him just by stretching his right hand. 

“Such great strength!” Chabu was secretly shocked.

“ Two silver taels is nothing to me!” laughed Teng Qingshan. “Brother Chabu, please accept the money if you respect me”

Chabu was startled and smile reluctantly. Since Teng Qingshan said so, if he didn’t accept it, then it meant that he looked down on Teng Qingshan.

“I’ll accept the money then.” Chabu then asked, “ Brother Huhe, aren’t you curious about the competition outside?, Let’s go and have a look then.”

“Let’s go” Teng Qingshan nodded his head and smiled.

“I want to go too!” The kid got up immediately.
 

“Haha, let’s go together.” Teng Qingshan smiled and held onto the kid’s hand as he walked out from the yurt. Together with the strong man “Chabu”, they walked northeast, towards the source of the noise.

After a walk through the village, Teng Qingshan realised that this Qilian village only had a few hundred yurts, some large and some small. Based on a rough guess, the amount of people in the village did not exceed a thousand. It was considered a small village. 

At this moment, Teng Qingshan could already see two people competing against each other on the grassland in front of him. One of them was big and sturdy while the other was as skinny as a wild wolf. Both of them were using machetes that were often used on the Great Prairie.

Hu! Hu!

Both were able to dodge nimbly and passed each other constantly, occasionally slashing each other once without mercy!

“He!”

“Not bad. He is powerful.” Teng Qingshan replied respectfully, “Where did you learn to cultivate your inner strength and this saber skill?” Teng Qingshan realised it with just one look that the two competing men had learned to cultivate their inner strength before. If not, they wouldn’t have had the ability to move so swiftly. 
  
“Ha!”
   

Hot air was seen rising up around their faces as they glared at each other.

“It is a good idea to use wooden machetes! There is also a layer of lamb’s skin wrapped around the saber. Even if someone was hit by such a saber, that person would only get injured or wounded at most,” Teng Qingshan thought and secretly nodded. 
 

The nearby Chabu laughed and said, “ Brother Huhe, how are the strong men of our tribe?  The skinny man is the strongest man in our tribe, and his name is ‘Silan’. He killed over ten mounted bandits all by himself before and didn’t even receive any wounds. Moreover, the women from the Wanshi Tribe are lining up to marry Brother Silan.” Brother Chabu spoke proudly.

In the land of the Nine Prefectures, they were many civilians who didn’t have the chance to learn how to cultivate inner strength! However, this small Qilian Tribe, a tribe of low social status, actually had two inner strength experts. This caused Teng Qingshan to be amazed as he thought to himself, “When I visited the other tribes to ask for a meal, I always left right after finishing the food.Thus, I never noticed whether people were practicing inner strength or not.”
“Inner strength? Saber skill?” laughed Chabu, “ On this Great Prairie, every tribe at the northern areas has the chance to learn inner strength cultivation methods and saber skills! The tribe from the central regions and the southern areas does not have the chance to acquire these.”

Teng Qingshan looked at Chabu with shock.
“These saber skill and inner strength cultivation methods were given by the messenger of the God of Heaven Mountain to every tribe in the northern area!” Chabu said respectfully, “The messenger at the God of Heaven Mountain has given us hope! Besides this, those messenger said that if someone is able to lift a huge rock weighing five thousand Jin, he will be able to enter the God of Heaven Mountain and live in the God of Heaven Mountain!”
 

When Teng Qingshan heard this, he was astonished!
 

A rock weighing five thousand Jin?

Even in the land of the Nine Prefectures, those who were able to lift a rock weighing five hundred Jin were considered Second Rated Warriors. Those who could lift a rock weighing ten thousand Jin were First Rated Warriors. Warriors who were able to lift up a rock weighing five hundred Jin were considered extremely powerful among the Second Rated Warriors. Within groups like the Black Armored Army of the Gui Yuan Sect, usually centurions would have great enough power to lift five hundred Jin.

“The God of Heaven Mountain actually dared to give an inner strength cultivation method and the saber skill to all the nearby tribes. They aren’t worried that this action would produce a force that could knock over them! Such courage is shocking!” Teng Qingshan said to himself secretly. Just like in the land of the Nine Prefectures, no tribe would spread this secret for any reason.

On this verdant prairie.

The fight between the two of the strong men had finally ended.

“Silan, I admit defeat!” said the big and sturdy man who was being pressed to the ground by the knee of his opponent.

“Uncle Silan is the strongest!” the kid beside Teng Qingshan shouted with joy.
 

Teng Qingshan smiled and rubbed kid’s head.Then Teng Qingshan laughed and said, “ Brother Chabu, I will have to leave now as I have something to do. I have to leave first!”
 

“Leaving so soon?” asked Chabu.

Teng Qingshan was about to reply when his face expression changed. He turned his head and looked towards the south. With his sixth sense, he could sense vibrations caused by galloping horses. 

Clop! Clop! Clop!

“Mounted bandits! Mounted bandits!!!,” Suddenly, a sharp cry broke the serenity of the village.

Silan, who was still sweaty, changed his facial expression and immediately shouted, “The elderly and children, go back into the yurts. All the men, follow me!”

All the men walked in front while the women followed behind. Their faces were filled with madness.
 

“Jiran, go into the tent!” Chabu gave his son a push and quickly followed Silan. Currently, he didn’t have any time to care about Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan also followed the rushing crowd and ran to the front.

“It’s the Whole Gale Tribe!” 

“Whole Gale Tribe!”
  
“It’s the Whole Gale Tribe!”
  
Screams of horror were heard coming from the south. These screams were like a hammer smashing the hearts of the tribe members. Originally, men and women were well prepared and thought that they had high chances of defeating their enemy. Now, their facial expression changed, and many even stopped lifting the machetes in their hand.
  
“Eh? What happened?” Teng Qingshan came to the front very quickly and cast a glance. 
  
In front of the Qilian Tribe was a large troop of riders wearing silver armor. The chief of the tribe had already ran to the front. 
  
“Honorable Lord of the Whole Gale Tribe,” said a silver-haired elder wearing a thick cloak as he bowed. 
  
The leader of the mounted riders stared at the tribe’s leader mercilessly. “Qilian Tribe! a year has passed. There are roughly eight hundred people in your tribe. Everyone will have to pay us three silver taels, and small change will not be counted. Altogether, your tribe will have to pay us two thousand four hundred silver taels!”
  
“Three silver taels?” Teng Qingshan was shocked after hearing this.
  
Even in the wealthy Yangzhou, the White Horse Gang only asked for half a silver taels per person when they collected the annual tribute. The tribes on the Great Prairie were much poorer than the villages in the land of the Nine Prefectures, and yet a house with four members would have to pay twelve silver taels. On the Great Prairie, a family in a tribe of the lowest social level could hardly earn twelve silver taels per year!
  
“They wouldn’t be able to afford to pay the price even if they don’t eat or drink. This is ridiculous.” Teng Qingshan’s facial expression changed. “This Qilian Tribe is considered to be a valiant tribe, but when they heard the words ‘Whole Gale’, they were scared to death. This is not their fault” Teng Qingshan know this with just a glance.
  
“Master!” The leader of the tribe knelt down and begged, “Lord, I beg you. Please give us six more months. We will surely be able to collect that amount of silver by that time. For now, we really don’t have that much silver.”
  
“No silver?  You all can’t rob from the other tribes?” The leader sneered coldly, “On this Great Prairie, a useless tribe like yours doesn’t have the right to exist. Since you all weren’t able to pay the amount of silver…....we will have to follow the old rules!”
  
The faces of all the people of the Qilian Tribe changed drastically. 
  
“Please spare our lives.”
  
“Lord, please spare our lives.” Many of the people knelt down to beg.
  
Hearing this, Teng Qingshan knew things were getting bad. What was the rule that the leader was referring to? Chabu, who was standing nearby Teng Qingshan, had turned pale in fright and knelt down to beg.
   

“Brothers, let’s start!” said the leader of the riders with a merciless look.
  
“Arh-oooo~~”
  
All the riders howled like mad wolves as they lifted the machetes high up in the air. Teng Qingshan finally understood the old rule they were mentioning earlier!
  
“Still not going to fight back at this moment?” Teng Qingshan felt confused. At this moment of death, they should rise and fight until the end. He looked towards Chabu, but Chabu was still kneeling on the ground and begging, “No, no——”

 
“Since you all treated me a meal, I’ll help you out this time.”
 
Teng Qingshan gave a cold glare and swept across the group of riders that were going to devour the tribe just like a pack of wolves.