The Nine Cauldrons

Book 4: Vermillion Tiger Fist - Chapter 14: Secret

Book 4 Chapter 14 Secret

Although Teng Qingshan had destroyed Liu Jian’s Dantian with a single punch, he was still quite confused as he thought to himself, “There is no enmity between me and this Tie Yi Hall, yet they still tried to attack me for entering the Boorish Desolate. There were many experts who frequently visit the Boorish Desolate. Due to the lack of manpower, the Tie Yi Hall couldn’t kill everyone that entered the Boorish Desolate, even if they tried. There must be a hidden secret around here somewhere.

As Teng Qingshan was thinking this through, he stared at Liu Jian like a lone wolf staring at its prey.

“No, no!” Liu Jian desperately crawled away. He didn’t want to die!

“Bang!”

Forcefully supporting himself up with his left hand, Liu Jian turned back and dashed away. Although his Dan Tian was destroyed, he was still a powerful martial artist with a body that was considerably high in quality. Therefore, he was quite fast on his feet. However...... compared with Teng Qingshan, he was considerably inferior.

Whoosh!

Liu Jian only felt a gust of wind sweep past before he felt a tightening sensation around his neck.

“Ah~~” Both of Liu Jian’s legs weren’t able to touch the ground.

Teng Qingshan grabbed Liu Jian’s collar and lifted Liu Jian up. Liu Jian hastily exclaimed, “Teng.. Teng Qingshan... no. Commander Teng! Commander Teng, I had only obeyed the command. You have already eliminated all of my internal strength, so right now I am just a useless person. Just consider it like letting out a fart and let me go!”

Liu Jian valued his own life greatly!

If his internal strength is gone, then so be it. With his identity as the guardian of the Tie Yi Hall, even if he had no more internal strength, his future still wouldn’t be very troublesome. He still had a few beautiful wives at home, and he hadn’t enjoyed this world of sensual pleasures, so how would he willingly die?

“Let me ask you!” Teng Qingshan asked coldly, “Why did you wanted to kill me?”

Liu Jian was secretly shocked. That secret was extremely important. Liu Jian had lived in Tie Yi Hall for over a dozen of years and he is still rather loyal. Liu Jian shook his head and smiled bitterly as he answered, “Our journey to the Boorish Desolate this time is of great importance. We all listened to Sovereign’s Martial Granduncle. As for why I wanted to kill you, it was an order given by Sovereign’s Martial Granduncle and I have no idea as to why.......”

“You don’t know?”

Teng Qingshan stretched his hand and grabbed Liu Jian’s disabled right hand finger and gradually began applying strength.

“Ahhh, it’s breaking.. it’s breaking.” Liu Jian yelled in fright.

“Kacha!”

Alongside Liu Jian’s painful screams, Teng Qingshan crushed that finger as if he was crushing a peanut shell. Teng Qingshan stared Liu Jian and warned, “I hope you won’t lie again! Because of this lie, I broke one of your right hand fingers. However, the next time you lie, I will disable your left wrist!”

Liu Jian’s face turned pale white.

“I didn’t......”

“You dare say you didn’t lie?” Teng Qingshan stared at Liu Jian as he asked.

Liu Jian opened his mouth and didn’t dare to make any sounds.

“Why did that Sovereign’s Martial Granduncle of yours ordered to have me killed?” Teng Qingshan continued to ask.

Liu Jian gnashed his teeth and thought to himself, “As long as I don’t tell him that secret, it should be alright. He probably wouldn’t doubt it.” Liu Jian then stared at Teng Qingshan with frightened eyes as he answered, “Commander Teng. In actuality we had come to the Boorish Desolate to gather the Grass of Immortality!”

“Grass of Immortality ?” Teng Qingshan was shocked.

A person’s life span is limited. If it was a Postliminary expert, no matter how good his health was, he would still die even without catching any sort of sickness at the age of one hundred fifty. One hundred fifty years old is the end of a Postliminary expert’s life! Usually, if the experts that reached the peak of the Postliminary Realm did not die in other people’s hand, they would mostly live to over a hundred years old.

As for the innate expert, the end of their life is two hundred years old.

No matter how powerful and how healthy the innate martial artist is, he wouldn’t be able to fight against the time of his demise! Of course, two hundred years is already a very long time.

The Grass of Immortality can prolong one’s life span.

It does not mean that by eating this Grass of Immortality, you would really become immortal! Instead.... it was told that by eating the Grass of Immortality, it would let you live for two hundred more years! If the ones that were heavily injured to the point of dying ate this Grass of Immortality, they would recover within a short amount of time. To an innate expert with two hundred years of life span, it would mean adding another two hundred years to their life span......and most likely, no innate expert could fight against such temptations.

Among the spirit treasures of the world, the Grass of Immortality was also considered top-rank.

“The Boorish Desolate has no end, so therefore, it is possible to have the Grass of Immortality. Tie Yi Hall could actually obtain this information.” Teng Qingshan stared at Liu Jian as he spoke.

“This Grass of Immortality is extremely significant. If this information was leaked, it might attract some super powerful ones that are living in seclusion. By that time, Tie Yi Hall wouldn’t be able to deal with the powerful experts of the whole world.” Liu Jian continued to say, “Therefore, this journey was led by Sovereign’s Martial Granduncle personally and we advanced carefully along the way. However......we saw you, Commander Teng, in the lodge at Nanman and met you at the Boorish Desolate once again. We then suspected that you were following us!”

Teng Qingshan nodded to himself.

So they had met me twice.

“This Grass of Immortality is of great importance, therefore, just in case what we suspected was true, Sovereign’s Martial Granduncle had ordered me to kill you.

“Who is your Sovereign’s Martial Granduncle?” Teng Qingshan yelled.

Liu Jian answered, “Sovereign’s Martial Granduncle’s name is ‘Deng Geng’!”

“Deng Geng? An innate expert?” Teng Qingshan asked.

“Yes. An Innate expert. He is the Law Enforcing Elder of our Tie Yi Hall.” Liu Jian replied. Hearing this, Teng Qingshan furrowed and continued questioning, “What state of the innate realm?”

Liu Jian shook his head and replied, “I don’t know about that.” Seeing that Teng Qingshan’s eyes were gradually turning cold, Liu Jian exclaimed in fright, “Commander Teng! I really don’t know! Sovereign’s Martial Granduncle has a very high status in our Tie Yi Hall. Most people know that he is an innate expert, but whether or not he is of the Emptiness Dan, True Dan, or Golden Dan, how would I, a small guardian, know that? That is a very big secret.”

“Hmph.” Teng Qingshan nodded.

How long has that Deng Geng reached the innate realm?” Teng Qingshan asked again. Based on the time a person has reached the innate realm, one could guess the level of the person’s ability.

“Around twenty years.” Liu Jian answered.

Twenty years!

It’s a not so long and not so short time. Some people could make no improvements after entering the innate realm for twenty years, but some people could cultivate from the very bottom, the Emptiness Dan, to the peak, which is the state of Golden Dan, within twenty years.

“Let me ask you one last question! If you answer it nicely, I will not kill you.” Teng Qingshan threw Liu Jian off to the side and Liu Jian crashed onto the pile of dried twigs and dead leaves. With a smile on his face, Qingshan continued, “However, if you lie! I will break all four of your limbs and slowly crush your fingers one by one. I will then cut many light wounds onto your body with my knife, and fresh blood will flow out. The scent of blood..... will attract many beasts in the surroundings and those beasts will eat you alive. I think you will like that very much.”

Hearing this, Liu Jian face became pale.

“Tell me! Where in the Boorish Desolate are you guys going to?” Teng Qingshan suddenly yelled!

The shout caused Liu Jian to feel a sense of suffocation

The destination is a big secret and if he said it, it would be very bad.

“A man of character.” Teng Qingshan smiled and stretched his hand, grabbing Liu Jian’s left arm at lightning speed. Liu Jian immediately shouted in fright, “No, no! I.. i will tell! I will tell!”

“Crack!”

Teng Qingshan twisted Liu Jian’s arm forcefully and a wood cracking sound rang. The arm was broken completely, showing the white bones.

“Remember! Don’t hesitate! I don’t have much time to waste with you!” Teng Qingshan stood up.

“It’ Half Moon Lake! The Half Moon Lake of the Boorish Desolate!” Liu Jian hastily answered.

Teng Qingshan’s face fell and he yelled, “Liu Jian! The real reason I came to the Boorish Desolate had nothing to do with Tie Yi Hall. You came to kill me yourself t..... According to reason, I should kill you, but I gave you many chances! However, you have disappointed me. You actually chose to still lie! Therefore, this will be your burial place.”

“No, I didn’t lie.” Liu Jian hastily shouted.

“Hmph! Half Moon Lake is in the region at the center of the Boorish Desolate. The nearest route from your capital to the Half Moon Lake at the Boorish Desolate should be advancing all the way straight into Yanzhou and enter the Boorish Desolate from Yanzhou!” Teng Qingshan said as he looked towards Liu Jian. Liu Jian’s facial expression changed as he explained hastily, “Tie Yi Hall has manpower in all of Yangzhou, so we went.....”

Teng Qingshan then interrupted, “Even if you guys departed from the Nanman city to the Half Moon Lake of the Boorish Desolate, you guys should have advanced westsouth instead of towards the south! Perhaps your Sovereign’s Martial Granduncle loves taking detours?

Liu Jian gnashed his teeth, feeling the resentment harbored within his heart.

Of course the destination wasn’t “Half Moon Lake. ” Tie Yi Hall has raised him for many years, and so even if he was afraid of death, he was still very loyal. Because of his loyalty, he had immediately said a name during that time of urgency, however, he did not expect that Teng Qingshan would instantly see through his lie.

“Fine. I will tell you, but you can’t kill me.” Liu Jian gnashed his teeth and said.

“You must pay a price for lying.” With this, Teng Qingshan stretched his right arm outward again.

“No.. don’t!” Liu Jian yelled quickly.

Pa!

Teng Qingshan crushed Liu Jian’s right wrist and shoulder and said with a faint smile, “This is just a small punishment...... Say it. If you don’t, you won’t have another chance.”

Liu Jian was in such great pain that drops of perspiration covered his forehead. He hastily nodded as he replied, “I will tell you, but you must let me go.”

“Hmph, still saying unnecessary words.” As Teng Qingshan spoken, he stretched his right hand again. Liu Jian was terrified of Teng Qingshan’s right hand and hastily answered, “It’s Silver Horn Mountain! The Silver Horn Mountain in the Boorish Desolate! Sovereign’s Martial Granduncle and the others went there. I definitely didn’t lie this time. If I had lied, I would be struck by lightning.”

Silver Horn Mountain?

Teng Qingshan knew that place. That was a very dangerous mountain located two thousand Li in the Boorish Desolate.

“Don’t leave so quickly.” Teng Qingshan stretched his hand and took out everything in Liu Jian’s bag as he thought to himself, “Maybe he brought a map and their destination is marked on the map.”

A map was found instantaneously. Teng Qingshan opened it and it was the map of the Boorish Desolate. Unfortunately, there were no markings on the map of the Boorish Desolate.

“You are quite cautious. Teng Qingshan said as he shook his head.

“I can leave now, right?” Liu Jian asked with trepidation. Seeing that Teng Qingshan nodded, he then turned back and walked away. Hatred filled his heart as he said secretly, “Teng Qingshan! I will never forget this grudge. You——”

“Ah!”

Liu Jian howled in pain.

Pu! Pu! Pu!

Blood splashed in all directions as Liu Jian collapsed on the ground with his four limbs drooping helplessly. Seeing this, Teng Qingshan then sheathed his Blood Sucking Saber.

“You.. you said.. you said you won’t kill me and you will let me go!” Liu Jian glared at Teng Qingshan.

“I didn’t kill you. Aren’t you still alive?” Teng Qingshan turned and left. Liu Jian watched his own blood flow continuously while “ShaSha” sound began resounding from the surroundings. From afar, a pair of green shiny eyes stared at Liu Jian. The scent of the blood had already attracted the beast in the Boorish Desolate!