The Nine Cauldrons - Volume 7 - Chapter 24

Book 7 Chapter 24 The Piercing Screech

Since Teng Qingshan occupied the Forbidden Area of the Sword Tower at the Bright Moon Island and began cultivating in seclusion, the forces of the Bright Moon Island grew restless as they worried about the current situation.   

As the eighteen Houses of Generals have ears and eyes everywhere, they easily found out what really happened, which astonished them. The two extremely powerful experts, the Lord of the Sword Tower, Huangfu Yujiang, and the former Lord of the Sword Tower, Tian Hong, fought Teng Qingshan together, but they were actually defeated by just one move of the mysterious expert. They immediately understood that—

If this Teng Qingshan had the ambition, then the entire Bright Moon Island would experience  chaos that had never happened before for thousands of years.

Each party began making careful preparations.

To many ambitious people, being the emperor of an island that has a population of over ten million certainly has its appeal. Teng Qingshan’s exceptional martial force would have the power to easily attract and subdue some men, and because of that, being the emperor wouldn’t be a difficult thing.

However, Teng Qingshan remained in that cave of the Forbidden Area and showed no other movements. This worried the people of the Bright Moon Island.

Sword Tower. At the bottom of the forbidden high mountain.

A big snow last night clothed the entire Bright Moon Island with a silver dress.

The bamboos around the bamboo house were also covered with snow, and a hint of the green sprout could occasionally be seen standing tenaciously through the pile of snow. Many disciples of the Sword Tower stayed in this place. If those ambitious people of position were interested in Teng Qingshan, then the elite disciples of the Sword Tower that wanted to become powerful experts were also interested in Teng Qingshan.

Whew! Whew!

The light of the sword flashed coldly. With the body like that of a swimming dragon, a white cloaked young man was brandishing his sword at the spacious area in front of the bamboo house. He only left very faint footprints on the snow, and every move of his sword caused the snow on the ground to swirl in the air.

“Whew! Whew!” The white cloaked young man suddenly stopped and panted as his face flushed slightly.

“Junior Martial Brother, something is wrong with your practice of swords arts recently.” Dressed in a white standardized cloak, the skinny young man sat cross-legged in the bamboo house as he watched the young sword practitioner.

The young sword practitioner blurted out, “Senior Martial Brother, tell me. If the Tower Lord was beaten by that expert called Teng Qingshan and that Teng Qingshan was using spear, doesn’t this mean that the spear and other weapons can be even more powerful than swords?” Since young, the native of the Bright Moon Island practiced their swords arduously and compete with the people of the same age. They improve one step at a time until they were able to enter the Sword Tower.

The thought of sword art being the most superior weapon was already implanted in everyone’s mind. As for spears? In their eyes, spears have no difference with tools like harpoon: spears were just ordinary tools.

“Junior Martial Brother, what are you saying? Of course sword arts are the most powerful!” The skinny young man scolded and said, “Can’t you see that Teng Qingshan wanted to be in the Forbidden Area just so he could watch the Sword Tower’s Celestial Jade Annulus?” 

“However, Tower Lord and the others…” The young sword practitioner was just about to speak.

The skinny young man abruptly interrupted in a stern voice, “Junior Martial Brother, did you forget how powerful the third martial ancestor was? If the third martial ancestor was still here, would this Teng Qingshan win? If you have the intention and you seriously cultivate with all your heart, you will reach the realm of the third martial ancestor one day. By that time, who would dare look down on the Bright Moon Island?”

Just thinking about the legendary third martial ancestor, the young sword practitioner immediately became energized and hastily said with respect, “Senior Martial Brother, I won’t think anymore nonsense.”

“Good. Prepare yourself. You will be the one delivering the food to the Tower Lord today,” instructed the skinny young man.

“Yes,” the young sword practitioner hastily responded.

Since Teng Qingshan began cultivating in the cave of the Forbidden Area, Huangfu Yujiang have always been outside the cave.

In the cave of the Forbidden Area was the natural cave that the Omnipotent Expert Poetic Sword God Li Taibai was at when he comprehended Dao of heavens and attained great success.

The surface of the Jade Annulus continually emitted an azure luster.

With his hair draped on his shoulder, Teng Qingshan, whose face was full of stubbly beard, sat crossed-legged. A faint glow could be seen on his face as he shone like a precious jade. The Reincarnation Spear was placed on his knees.

Suddenly—

He opened his eyes, his eyes that were bright like black jade.

“The Dao of Sword that the Azure Lotus Sword Melody contained is indeed as vast as the sea and immeasurably deep.” Teng Qingshan eyes were calm as he said to himself, “The Poetic Sword God Li Taibai must have began the cultivation of this Dao through the element of water! He then went deeper into this Dao and merged it with other Daos.”

As Teng Qingshan continued cultivating in seclusion, he realized that Li Taibai’s Dao of Sword was becoming increasingly difficult.

“The water element was the beginning, and soon it blended with the Dao of Bright Moon!”  Teng Qingshan was clear that he began the cultivation of the Dao of Heavens through the five elements, but others might be different. Since the mountains, river, sun, and bright moon contained different kind of Daos and all these Daos were just a small part of the Dao of Heavens!

As for Li Taiba’s Dao of sword, it first started with purely the Dao of Water which Teng Qingshan could comprehend and merge with his own Dao.

However, in the end, Li Taibai’s Dao of Water began merging with the Dao of Bright Moon, and Teng Qingshan was barely able to take out the part that contained the Dao of Water and barely managed to comprehend some.

However, in the end, it was completely muddled. The Dao of Water and the Dao of Bright Moon merged together perfectly. Teng Qingshan was unable to separate the two Daos. He had no understanding of the Dao of Bright Moon, thus, he was unable to comprehend it like how he did with the five elements.

TLN: The five elements: Gold, wood, fire, water, earth. 

“I shouldn’t be greedy too! This Celestial Jade Annulus had already saved me from several years of painstaking cultivation.” Teng Qingshan stood up and saw Li Jun in the passageway. Due to the icy cold weather, Li Jun appeared to be freezing as she leaned on the wall of the passageway with a thick cotton blanket wrapped around her body. 

Due to the coldness, her face appeared pale.

This image stunned Teng Qingshan as he thought to himself, “Little Jun…”

“I have been cultivating in seclusion for a few months. During these few months, when I was sensing the Dao of Sword, she didn’t even dare to rest, lest the people of the Sword Tower sneak attacked. She was also afraid that I might be trapped in the realm of this Dao of Sword. Half of her day was spent watching me, and she only went to get some food and rest when I stop experiencing the Dao of Sword to merge the things I comprehended into the《Water Element Fist》.

Whenever Teng Qingshan tried to comprehend the Dao of Sword, his perception of the outside world would drop to the lowest point, thus, it is indeed easy to sneak attack him.

“I haven’t really talked to her during these few months.”

Teng Qingshan secretly sighed.

During these few months, Li Jun silently guarded him and didn’t care about the tiredness. This touched Teng Qingshan’s heart. Immediately, Teng Qingshan walked over quietly and held Li Jun’s extremely cold hands. He then placed her hands into the cotton blanket and pulled the blanket so that it would be wrapped tighter on Li Jun’s body

Li Jun’s nose occasionally flared as she slept. A sweet smile could be seen on her face; it was as if she was having some good dream.

Teng Qingshan stood up with a smile and headed towards the terrace outside.

The terrace near the cliff was covered in snow.

Whew! Whew!

As Teng Qingshan walked to the terrace, a chilly wind blew and sobered him. Teng Qingshan was at the waist of the mountain as he gazed into the distance below. The vast earth was snowy white.    ……

Li Jun’s eyelid flinched before she opened her drowsy eyes. She immediately saw the tall figure standing on the terrace near the cliff.

“Big Brother Teng, why did you stop cultivating this early today?” Li Jun was slightly surprised.

During this period of seclusion, Teng Qingshan only spent his time sensing the Dao of Sword and merging it with the 《Water Element Fist》; he didn’t even rest. However, at this moment, he was actually standing on the terrace near the cliff and looking at the scenery? This was very rare.

“Big Brother Teng, are you hungry now? I will get you some food now.” Li Jun hastily stood up.

The moment Li Jun’s voice rang,  the Whole Gale Eagle that was in the Great Hall arrived.

“Litt;e Jun, there’s no need to hurry.” Teng Qingshan turned and walked over.

“Little Jun, how long have we been here?” Teng Qingshan asked.

Li Jun glanced at the marks on the mountain wall and replied, “Yes. Including today, a total of three months and twenty-three days.”

“Three months and twenty-three days?” Teng Qingshan shook his head and said, “I didn’t expect that the Yearly Sacrifice would be over during the period of my seclusion!” Teng Qingshan left the Heavenly Rock Island on July and sailed the sea for almost four months. From that time, over three months had passed, thus, the Yearly Sacrifice was already over!

Teng Qingshan was now one year older.

“Huangfu Yujiang!” Teng Qingshan shouted, and his voice reeverberated in the heart of the mountain through the passageway. “I return this cave of the Forbidden Area to you!”

This shout surprised Li Jun.

“BIg Brother Teng, we?” Li Jun stared at Teng Qingshan.

“Depart. It’s time to leave the Bright Moon Island.” Teng Qingshan smiled and said, “This Celestial Jade Annulus is useless to me. Let’s go.”

“Yes!” Li Jun excitedly noded.

During this period of about four months, Teng Qingshan had no time to talk to her. Although Li Jun did not regret these days, she did felt a lot more happier when the seclusion ended.

“Screech~~Screech~~~” Li Jun emitted bird cries.

The Whole Gale also stayed in the Bright Moon Island during this period of almost four months and was already very bored. Thus, when it heard Li Jun’s screeches, it immediately became excited and hastily responded responded with high-pitched screeches, “Screech~~Screech~~” The bird cries resounded in the high mountains.

As Teng QIngshan looked back and saw Li Jun and the Whole Gale Eagle screeching joyfully, a smile crept up his face.

    …

Outside the cave of the Forbidden Area.

Huangfu Yujiang and over a dozen experts guarded outside the cave. When they heard the screech resounding within the cave of the Forbidden Area— “Huangfu Yujiang, I return this cave of the Forbidden Area to you!” The experts involuntarily stared at each other for a moment. 

Huangfu Yujiang then dashed into the cave, and the over a dozen experts came back to their senses as they immediately followed Huangfu Yujiang.

In the natural cave.

The first thing Huangfu Yujiang and the over a dozen experts did when they rushed in was to look at the Celestial Jade Annulus.

“Thank the heavens that this Celestial Jade Annulus is intact!” When Huangfu Yujiang saw the perfectly intact Celestial Jade Annulus, he heaved a sigh of relief. If the Celestial Jade Annulus was really destroyed by Teng Qingshan, then Huangfu Yujiang would really be in a tearless grief. No matter how much hatred he held, he would be unable to take revenge on Teng Qingshan, as his ability was impaired because of the bloody hole that was thrusted on his shoulder.

“This Teng Qingshan is a person of his word!” The other experts felt relieved too.

“Look outside.” One of the experts dashed to the terrace of the cliff and the others followed. The experts of Sword Tower looked up at the sky, and a huge male eagle could be seen flying amidst the vast sky. An azure cloaked man and a white cloaked girl sat on the back of the eagle, soaring to the highest of the heaven on the back of the eagle.

“Screech~~~”

The joyful screech of the Whole Gale Eagle resounded between the heaven and earth.

Hearing that screech, Huangfu Yujiang heaved a a sigh of relief as he said, “This demon is finally gone!”