The Nine Cauldrons

"The real mastermind?"

While several thoughts were going through Teng Qingshan’s mind, Teng Qingshan held onto his Reincarnation Spear and smirked as he said, "You are the mastermind. Are you really trying to implicate someone when you are about to die?"

"Sizzle~~"

The surging magma that was pushed away continuously emanated great heat. The flames that enveloped the Undying Phoenix, who was behind Shen Gongfu, was even hotter than the magma. Even as Shen Gongfu was amidst an extremely huge "oven," he felt cold. When he saw the killing intent in Teng Qingshan’s eyes, he knew that death was inevitable. He was filled with so much anger that he started shouting internally. "It was that old fool Jin Sheng. He gave me this stupid idea. If I had chosen not to listen to him, things would never be like this! Now...now..."

Shen Gongfu hated Teng Qingshan!

However, he also hated the person who gave him the idea.

"Why are you not speaking? Did you not think of a person to blame?" Teng Qingshan’s expression darkened. "If so... It is time for me to send you to hell!"

"Teng Qingshan!"

The veins on Shen Gongfu’s forehead popped. He looked like a mad silver-haired lion as he glared at Teng Qingshan and replied, "I, Shen Gongfu, admit that I did plan to kill your son. You killed my brother, and since then, I have been wanting to kill you. The Gods helped your son, but they did not help me! I hate this!"

"When your son was poisoned, you just so happened to be in Yong’an County. The heavens were helping you! It is not my fault. I have tried to help the Shooting Sun God Mountain. The heavens just want to destroy me and the Shooting Sun God Mountain!" Shen Gongfu screamed as though he had gone mad.

Teng Qingshan listened with an indifferent facial expression...

The surrounding magma churned.

"However,"

"Harming your son was never my idea." Shen Gongfu stared at Teng Qingshan and continued saying, "I admit that you are very talented and your power grew at an extremely fast pace. I originally had given up on taking revenge. However, to protect the Shooting Sun God Mountain, I had to spread negative rumors about you in Gui Yuan Sect to slander you. I wanted the relationship between Xing Yi Sect and Gui Yuan Sect to get worse."

Hearing this, Teng Qingshan was reminded of something.

It was true that the relationship between Gui Yuan Sect and Xing Yi Sect had been getting worse every year. The disciples of Xing Yi Sect thought that Gui Yuan Sect depended on their martial ancestor Teng Qingshan, so they felt that they were more superior than the disciples of Gui Yuan Sect. As for the disciples of Gui Yuan Sect, they thought that Teng Qingshan had betrayed Gui Yuan Sect and had taken the Fiery Gilt Battle Armors and the Fiery Feather Battle Armors that belonged to Gui Yuan Sect.

Both sides had their problems and opinions about each other. However, the intervention of the Shooting Sun God Mountain made things worse.

"However, I met an Emptiness Realm Expert last year. His name was Jin Sheng," As Shen Gongfu spoke, his eyes twitched. "I thought this traitor Jin Sheng was a friend. He gave me a very detailed explanation of the relationship between Xing Yi Sect, Gui Yuan Sect, and the Shooting Sun God Mountain. He told me that even though Xing Yi Sect and Gui Yuan Sect do not share a close relationship, things would never change as long as Zhuge Yuanhong has a good relationship with you. If Zhuge Yuanhong asked you to help during a critical time, you would never reject him. Inevitably, the Shooting Sun God Mountain will be destroyed."

Teng Qingshan also agreed about this.

"Traitor Jin Sheng? Shen Gongfu, can you at least blame it on someone who is well-known? I have never heard of this man," Teng Qingshan laughed coldly. However, he was thinking to himself, "Jin Sheng? His surname is Jin? The mysterious man who wore a golden mask in the Barbarian Tribe Temple was called Elder Jin."

"Why would I lie to you when I know that I will die soon?" Shen Gongfu looked at Teng Qingshan as he laughed coldly.

"Then tell me! What does he look like?" Teng Qingshan said coldly.

"I don’t know! He wore a golden mask," said Shen Gongfu, shaking his head.

Teng Qingshan was even more certain.

The person wore a Golden Mask and called "Jin Sheng."

"You are lying! You do not even know what he looks like!" Teng Qingshan laughed grimly as he said.

"Hmph."

Shen Gongfu scoffed, "So what if I don’t know what he looks like? That does not mean... You know what? You will know when you see him in the future. Anyway, he said that I was purely waiting for my own death! You would eventually kill me!"

"Therefore, he gave me an idea! He said that I should use your son because your son comes to Yong’an County often! All I needed to do was to make a member of Gui Yuan Sect kill your son. If your son was killed by a member of Gui Yuan Sect in the home base of Gui Yuan Sect, you would definitely hate Gui Yuan Sect. Even if Gui Yuan Sect did not become your enemy, you would not do anything for Gui Yuan Sect anymore."

"Then, the possibility of Shooting Sun God Mountain being destroyed would be zero."

"I doubted his plan at that time. I hesitated because I knew that the failure of this plan would result in a great catastrophe for the sect." Shen Gongfu could not help but laugh out loud.

"However!"

Insanity flickered in Shen Gongfu’s eyes as he said, "The traitor Jin Sheng said that indecisiveness inevitably leads to trouble! He said that anything that there would be a risk in anything that we do. If I did it, Shooting Sun God Mountain might exist for another thousand of years. If I decide not to go with the plan, the Shooting Sun God Mountain would still be doomed."

"Yes, what he said made sense," Shen Gongfu’s expression was ferocious, "It sounded reasonable. If I did according to the plan, there is hope for survival. If I did not go according to the plan, the Shooting Sun God Mountain would definitely be destroyed. It’s just a matter of time."

"So I ordered my men to begin executing the plan. I made sure that they made no mistakes..." Shen Gongfu stared at Teng Qingshan and laughed bitterly, "Teng Qingshan, your son did escape death but I destroyed anything that could expose the mastermind of the plan. It is impossible for Zhuge Yuanhong to find any evidence. He didn’t give you any, did he?"

Teng Qingshan still had an indifferent expression. A rare smile then appeared on his face. "Teacher gave me very convincing evidence."

"Evidence? Impossible!" Shen Gongfu’s eyes enlarged as he shouted.

Swoosh!

A colorful ray shone. Shen Gongfu only had enough time to touch the light with his godly blade before he was thrown into the air by a powerful spiraling force.

"Puchi!"

The Reincarnation Spear pierced through Shen Gongfu’s heart; the Power of the World almost crushed Shen Gongfu’s vital body parts into dust. Bright red blood flowed out through the Reincarnation Spearhead and was then absorbed by the red tassel.

"It is impossible for an evidence to exist... What...is...it..." Shen Gongfu looked at Teng Qingshan. Even though his ’Spirit’ was powerful, his body was completely destroyed to the point that he could not make any sound. He could only stare at Teng Qingshan before his head drooped and he no longer moved.

As he pulled out the Reincarnation Spear, the flames of the Undying Phoenix enveloped Shen Gongfu’s body. The flames even melted even the godly bow.

As Teng Qingshan watched Shen Gongfu’s corpse being burned to ashes, Teng Qingshan held the Reincarnation Spear and said in a deep voice, "My teacher did give me the most convincing evidence! He gave me the answer ’yes.’ If he said so, I would never doubt him. After all, I owe him a lot!"

"Little Blue," Teng Qingshan said as he looked at the Undying Phoenix. He then leaped onto the back of the Undying Phoenix, leaving afterimages behind.

"Yu!"

The Undying Phoenix flapped its wings. The magma that was surging underground immediately split apart. It then flew up to the sky, dashing through magma, rocks, and mud... It continued flying until it was several thousand Zhang above the ground. It then flew towards Yong’an County.

Although the sun hung high, the temperature was very low and the winds of winter raged on.

When the Undying Phoenix arrived above Yong’an County, Teng Qingshan looked downwards and saw the whole army of Yong’an County, especially the ones on the training field of Gui Yuan Sect, moving very quickly. All of them wore Fiery Gilt Battle Armors and Fiery Feather Battle Armors and were assembling at the training field.

"Gui Yuan Sect is preparing their attack on Yanzhou," Teng Qingshan then focused his eyes on the headquarters of Qingshan Enterprise.

Swoosh!

The fiery red light streaked past in a beautiful arc and landed in the courtyard of Teng Qingshan’s residence in the headquarters of Qingshan Enterprise.

Since Teng Qingshan left, his wife Li Jun has been waiting quietly in the courtyard. When she saw the Undying Phoenix and Teng Qingshan, who wore a white cloak, she hastily stood up and exclaimed as she ran over, "Qingshan!"

"Little Jun," Teng Qingshan walked over and held his wife’s hands with a smile.

"Where’s Hongwu?" said Teng Qingshan as he continued smiling.

"Li Jun smiled while shaking her head, "I did not tell Hongwu that you went to the Shooting Sun God Mountain to kill Shengong Fu. I did not want him to worry... I think he’s still training at this time."

"Mhmm," nodded Teng Qingshan.

"By the way, how was your trip to the Shooting Sun God Mountain?" Li Jun asked. Obviously, she was not worried about Teng Qingshan as Teng was already an Insightful Emptiness Realm Expert. She was just worried that someone from Shooting Sun God escaped. It would be very troublesome to deal with an Emptiness Realm Expert who is not part of any sect.

"I successfully dealt with it. I killed Shen Gongfu and that demonic wolf. Everything is done," answered Teng Qingshan.

Li Jun let out a sigh of relief.

No mercy is shown in the Land of the Nine Prefectures. The ordinary survivors of a sect could be ignored because it is extremely unlikely for one of those survivors to rise up and become an Emptiness Realm Expert. However, those who have reached the Emptiness Realm must be eradicated. If one escaped, the consequences would be disastrous. For example, Gu Yong...

Gu Yong had caused Teng Qingshan a lot of trouble.

"Qingshan, after you went to the Shooting Sun God Mountain, I thought about it calmly and felt that something was not right," Li Jun frowned, "Your teacher said that the mastermind was the Shooting Sun God Mountain but...he did not give us any evidence. Before that, when the disciples of Gui Yuan Sect were protesting, your teacher announced that the truth would be revealed on the 9th of December. When he made that announcement, he seemed very confident."

"If he had the courage to say that everything would be revealed on 9th of December, he must have found a piece of evidence. Otherwise, why would he make the announcement with such confidence?"

"However, he never told us. We only knew that the mastermind was the Shooting Sun God Mountain when your teacher announced before the numerous disciples on the 9th of December. Qingshan, don’t you think it is weird?" Li Jun looked at Teng Qingshan and said with suspicion, "Qingshan, do you think your teacher was using you..."

"Don’t overthink."

Teng Qingshan held Li Jun’s hands with a smile, "Teacher did not show you the evidence, but he showed it to me! Let’s go see Hongwu. By the way, the main purpose of the trip to Yong’an County is to propose marriage for Hongwu. Let’s go and discuss with Hongwu."

"Propose marriage? Hmm... Little Ru is a good child. We should start the marriage proposal." Li Jun replied before she headed with Teng Qingshan to the place where her son Hongwu trained.