The Nine Cauldrons - Volume 7 - Chapter 21

Book 7 Chapter 21 The Omnipotent Expert, Poetic Sword God Li Taibai

Teng Qingshan instantly felt the concept contained within the strong and powerful quatrain carved on the jade stone mountain wall that had a flow of azure light.

The moment he touched the concept...  

“Boom!” It was like floodwater that breached the levee. The quatrain had a total of thirty words, but the extremely terrifying concept the words contained was like floodwater surging to the sky, instantly submerging Teng Qingshan. Although Teng Qingshan’s “Spirit” was powerful, he was immediately immersed in the world of this concept contained in the quatrain.

Teng Qingshan saw several fuzzy azure-colored figures performing sword arts. 

The sword art seemed faintly discernible and seemed to be following the trajectory of the heaven and earth.

This made Teng Qingshan once again feel that it was similar to how a carpenter handled an axe, simple and not special at all. At this moment, however, Teng Qingshan was surrounded by azure figures that were practicing all kinds of sword arts. Although it was called a sword art, it felt more similar to a sword dance. 

    …

If someone were to enter the natural cavern, they would discover Teng Qingshan staring at the wall of the mountain with the Reincarnation Spear in his hands. He just watched… without moving at all for an hour. 

“Clang!” A sharp and clear sound was echoed out.

Li Jun, who was in the passageway, was startled and hastily took a few steps towards the interior. She immediately saw the Reincarnation Spear that fell on the ground and rolled into a wall of the mountain before stopping. As for Teng Qingshan, he held his forefinger and middle finger into the sword fingers position and began practicing the moves of the sword art he saw. It appeared as if he was practicing some kind of immeasurably profound sword art. 

In a flash, Teng Qingshan shifted, and the moves performed by his sword fingers became extremely fierce. 

“Ha!” 

Due to the extreme fierceness of the moves, although Teng Qingshan wasn’t using the Innate True Origin, the moves still discharged forces of Qi which fired in all directions. 

“Cling!” “Cling!” The forces of Qi hit the jade wall with the four lines of large letters, producing a tinkling sound, but the jade wall remained unharmed. 

“Pu!” 

The mountain rock beside Li Jun was jolted and cracked due to the blast of the forces of Qi, causing a few broken rocks to tumble down. 

“When did Big Brother Teng’s sword art become this strong?” Li Jun was shocked. “Could it have something to do with the ‘Celestial Jade Annulus’?” Although this crossed her mind, but Li Jun was still too scared to inspect the “Celestial Jade Annulus”.

“Hm, having another skill isn’t a bad thing.” Li Jun looked at the moving figure of Teng Qingshan inside the cavern. “I’ll wait a bit longer!”

This wait lasted for a long time.

The sun had set, darkness fell, and even the cavern had become pitch black. 

However, the sounds of the unhindered forces of Qi hitting against the wall of the mountain constantly reverberated, sounding increasingly concentrated. 

Late at night.

Li Jun had hidden within the depth of the mountain road in fear of accidentally getting wounded by Teng Qingshan. In the dark, Li Jun’s small face had a blood mark. Previously, she was careless, and a rock shot past her face, leaving a wound. Yet, Li Jun was not angry at all; instead, she fixed her eyes on the entrance of the cave and thought to herself, “Big Brother Teng’s sword art has gotten stronger and stronger. Just the power of the the force of Qi discharged was getting increasingly stronger.”

Li Jun was admiring Teng Qingshan even more.

Suddenly——

“Wrong!” A gloomy voice suddenly bellowed from the cavern.

“Big Brother Teng!” Li Jun got startled and quickly ran towards the cavern. 

Although it was dark, the green fluorescent light radiated by the Jade Annulus in the cave allowed an inner strength expert to clearly see everything within the cavern. 

“Big Brother Teng, a-are you okay?” Li Jun was slightly alarmed and angry.

At this moment, Teng Qingshan was clenching his teeth while a bloodstain could be seen on the corner of his mouth. His face was covered in sweat, and he just seemed like a frantic wild animal. 

“I-I’m okay,” Teng Qingshan squeezed a few words from his lip. 

“Big Brother Teng…” Li Jun felt increasingly felt more worried. 

Teng Qingshan, whose face was covered in sweat, had his attention fixed on the Jade Annulus like a frantic wild wolf. “The sword art is magnificent and formidable, but… this is the not the path I should walk. This is not the one I want… Even if it can allow me to reach the Emptiness Realm, I still don’t want it.” Teng Qingshan’s gaze was resolute.

The people outside simply had no idea what happened within the last ten to twelve hours. 

“Big Brother Teng, what happened?” Li Jun nervously asked as she held Teng Qingshan’s arm. 

Teng Qingshan turned his head and revealed a trace of smile as he looked towards Li Jun. “Don’t worry, this is a good thing for me.”

“A good thing?” Li Jun was completely unconvinced of it being a good thing from the way Teng Qingshan acted. 

“This Celestial Jade Annulus has a quatrain,” Teng Qingshan explained. “And I reckon this quatrain ought to be written by an incredibly powerful expert! The quatrain contained the incredibly powerful expert’s concept of sword. This is not sword art, but genuinely the Dao of sword that the Omnipotent Expert had comprehended.

“Compared to his Dao of sword, my past understanding of it was simply insignificant!”

“I am completely immersed within his concept and his Dao of sword.”

Teng Qingshan’s gaze shone. “I had already touched upon the border of the ‘Dao’, that’s why I was able to gradually comprehend the concept within the poem. If I bitterly cultivated here, I believe I’d be able to reach the Emptiness Realm within three to five years and become an Emptiness Realm expert.”

“Three to five years?” Li Jun sucked in a cold air. 

Teng Qingshan was only eighteen years old right now.

Three to five years?

A twenty or so years old Emptiness Realm expert? That’s simply inconceivable!

“Big Brother Teng, that’s good, you should just stay here and cultivate. Or… we could bring the Celestial Jade Annulus with us,” Li Jun hastily said. She didn’t care even if the Celestial Jade Annulus was the Sword Tower’s treasure.

“No.”

Teng Qingshan shook his head. “Based on my understanding of Dao, if one ponder upon this Celestial Jade Annulus for several years, one would indeed reach the Emptiness Realm! However, that Emptiness Realm is the Emptiness Realm of the skill of sword instead of the skill of spear. Plus, the Dao that the Celestial Jade Annulus contained is the Dao that he himself comprehended, so I would be walking on his path!”

“I have my own path!” 

“My weapon is a spear, and it’ll forever be a spear!” 

Teng Qingshan’s heart was firm like a rock!

Teng Qingshan was capable of creating 《Earth Element Fist》and《Water Element Fist》by himself. The arts created through one’s own Dao and the learning of other people’s “Dao” are two different concepts. The experts capable of self-creating have a deeper understanding of “Dao”. If it was other people, even though their Spirit was strong enough to draw out the terrifying concept in this Celestial Jade Annulus, they still wouldn't be able to handle the concept or even comprehend it.

Teng Qingshan was able to comprehend a small part of the invisible Dao of heaven and earth. The concept of the sword art was placed in front of him, so comprehending was several times easier. With Teng Qingshan’s foundation, if he were to diligently cultivate for a few years, then breaking through the barrier of the Emptiness Realm wouldn’t be difficult.

“However, I need to build a path that is truly suitable for the internal martial art!” 

“I want to build a path that belongs to the practice of spear arts.”

“A path that belongs to me, Teng Qingshan!” 

Teng Qingshan lowered his head and picked up the Reincarnation Spear that he had let go of once a while ago. 

“Hm?” As Teng Qingshan lowered his head, he saw an additional line of words below the quatrain on the Celestial Jade Annulus —— “I, Li Taibai, broke through the Emptiness Realm with this sword move at this Bright Moon Island! I shall leave this Sword Poem here for the fated one!"

Seeing this line of words, an explosion burst within Teng Qingshan’s mind. 

“Li Taibai?” Teng Qingshan was extremely stunned. 

“Poet Sword God Li Taibai?”

“One of the four Omnipotent Expert Li Taibai?”

Teng Qingshan was completely shocked, originally, he thought that the quatrain was left behind by an Emptiness Realm expert or by an Insightful Emptiness expert. Although the thought of it being left behind by an Omnipotent Expert did cross his mind, Teng Qingshan didn’t dare to think too much, so he eliminated the thought. 

“What’s wrong, Big Brother Teng?” Li Jun was shocked; she didn’t dare to look at the writings on the Jade Annulus. 

“Look at this.” Teng Qingshan pointed at the line of words.

Now, Teng Qingshan knew that the quatrain contained the Dao of sword that belonged to Li Taibai himself, and therefore, it also contained his “Power of the World”. A common mountain wall had become a Jadestone wall after many years; this was the magnificence of the Power of the World. 

This was also the strength of an Omnipotent Expert possessed!

“I shouldn’t see it.” Li Jun slightly hesitated.

“Seeing this is fine. You can’t look at the words on the quatrain. If you were to incite the sword concept behind it, your mind would not be able to endure it, eventually bringing great harm to your soul. After which, I’m afraid you will never reach the Emptiness Realm,” Teng Qingshan said. 

Li Jun nodded and looked towards the direction Teng Qingshan’s finger was pointing at. 

“This is...” Seeing the line, Li Jun also felt shocked. 

“Li Taibai?” After seeing the three words, Li Jun also found it hard to believe. 

Emperor Yu, Heavenly Emperor of Qin Mountains Ying Zheng, Poetic Sword God “Li Taibai” and Martial Ancestor Shakya —— these almighty four Omnipotent Experts have been the ones standing at the peak of the nine prefectures for years. These four Omnipotent Experts existed in different timelines, but they have all, without any exceptions, reached the peak of the Omnipotent Expert Realm. 

“This is the poem left behind by senior Poetic Sword God!” Teng Qingshan exclaimed. “I estimate that one of the legendary four great divine codices 《Green Lotus Sword Melody》would be a bit more complex than the quatrain, because it has a bit more information on the procedures regarding the Postliminary and Innate Cultivation. The Dao of sword that belonged to the senior Poetic Sword God was within the the poem; in other words, it’s a Sword Poem!” 

Teng Qingshan looked at the line of writings ——

“With a rainbow as clothes and the wind as a horse,The immortals come one after the other down from the clouds.The tiger plays the se, and the luan hauls the carriage,The celestial beings lineup like flax.”

His heart was filled with endless admiration. 

In this past, when Li Taibai reached the Insightful Emptiness Realm, he controlled the wind and flew around, freely venturing the vast world. He met some natives on this Bright Moon Island, and it was on this island that he finally had that moment of enlightenment which allowed him to break through the Insightful Emptiness Realm, reaching the Omnipotent Expert Realm. He also left some simple cultivation methods and gave them to the natives of the Bright Moon Island. 

Through the cultivation method and the《Bright Moon Sword Codex》that the Third Martial Ancestor created when he entered a moment of enlightenment through the quatrain on the Celestial Jade Annulus and reached the Emptiness Realm, the generations of natives of the Bright Moon Island began to prosper.

“Eh?”

At this moment, Teng Qingshan realized that there was a pile of messy rocks on the other side of the cavern which blocked an entrance.

“Perhaps there is another passageway?” Teng QIngshan walked over. As his legs seemed to transform into an illusion, he kicked the pile of rocks.

Rumbling sounds echoed out as a great number of rocks was blasted away, revealing a terrace outside this passageway. An endless cliff could be seen outside the terrace!

“It’s actually here!” Teng Qingshan exited the cavern and arrived at the edge of the terrace with Li Jun beside him. 

A cold wind breezed through. In front of Teng Qingshan and Li Jun was a cliff with an endless depth. 

Teng Qingshan looked around and faintly saw the edge of the other mountain peak.

“In the past, Senior Poetic Sword God must have flown here and entered this cave through the terrace at the cliff on the waist of this mountain. He comprehended the pinnacle of the Dao of sword in this cave.” Teng Qingshan could faintly see the edge of the mountain peak. When he recalled that the other mountain peak had the same altitude as this mountain peak of the Forbidden Area, not to mention that neighboring mountain walls were very precipitous, he was struck by a thought. “Is it possible that when Senior Poetic Sword God comprehended the Dao of sword, he slashed one strike from a high altitude, and this strike had divided one mountain into two? The reason why there are two mountain peaks?”