The Nine Cauldrons

This Yu Tonghai finally revealed his intention, which was to invite Jing Yi to join Emperor Yu’s Hall.
Obviously, his real intention was to make the Six Legged Bladelike Chi work for Emperor Yu’s Hall.

“A valuable and precious gift?” Teng Qingshan raised his eyebrows.

Yu Tonghai smiled and said confidently, “I believe that you have heard about the G.o.dly Armor. When you fought with Blind Man Tie of Qing Hu Island and Shen Gongtu of Shooting Sun G.o.d Mountain, you should have experienced the power of this G.o.dly Armor.”

Teng Qingshan felt tempted.

G.o.dly Armor…?

Yu Tonghai continued, “Emperor Yu’s Hall also possessed very few sets of of G.o.dly Armor. However, if you join us, we will give you a suit of G.o.dly Armor, even if it causes the other Grand Supreme Elders of Emperor Yu’s Hall to have no G.o.dly Armor. With the G.o.dly Armor, your fights with other Emptiness Realm Experts would be a lot safer.”

Teng Qingshan suddenly opened his mouth and asked, “What exactly is a G.o.dly Armor?”

Yu Tonghai froze in astonishment.

“B-Brother Jing Yi, you don’t know?” Yu Tonghai said awkwardly.

Teng Qingshan nodded calmly as he replied, “Brother Yu, I am not part of any sect and have never really researched about this G.o.dly Armor. I really don’t know, I only know that this G.o.dly Armor has a very strong defense.”

“Ohh.” Yu Tonghai smiled while nodding his head. “Brother Jing Yi, I will explain to you like this. When an Emptiness Realm Culmination Expert achieves a breakthrough, he will step into the Insightful Emptiness Realm. You should know this.”

Teng Qingshan nodded.

“When an expert attains the Insightful Emptiness Realm, a void s.p.a.ce will form within his body. The void s.p.a.ce or emptiness is considered as the heavens and the earth—basically the world,” Yu Tonghai said. Then he smiled and continued expounding, “With the Spirit as his core, the emptiness will form in the Niwan Palace within the body. By that time, the Insightful Emptiness Realm Expert will not be using the Power of the Heavens and the Earth from the Land of the Nine Prefectures but the Power of his own world.”

Teng Qingshan’s heart stirred and remembered all of this in his heart.

The power of one’s own world…?

In the Heavenly Flood Palace, which lay beneath the Great Yan Mountain, the video Emperor Yu left behind had also said that a world would form within the Insightful Emptiness Realm Expert’s body. Whenever the Insightful Emptiness Realm Expert cultivated, he would be perfecting the world within him. Once the world within his body was able to resist the pressure of the Land of the Nine Prefectures, that world would be considered perfect.

By then, they would have entered the Omnipotent Expert Realm.

“The Insightful Emptiness Realm Experts shoulder the pressure of the Land of the Nine Prefectures. Yet, they can still use the power of their own worlds,” Yu Tonghai expounded, “The power of the world is a very mystical energy. For example, an armor which was refined with the power of the world for several hundred years would be ten times or hundred times tougher than any kind of ore in the Land of the Nine Prefectures.”

Teng Qingshan nodded.

Actually, just like the stone inscription of the Thirty Six Splitting Mountain Forms, Li Taibai’s Celestial Jade Annulus and Yu Huang’s Heavenly Flood Palace had both been simply left behind by their owners without having been carefully refined. However, the stone inscription, the Celestial Jade Annulus and the Heavenly Flood Palace all had the ability of self-repair.

Furthermore, as Emperor Yu’s weapon, the Splitting Mountain Axe was incredibly strong.

Previously, Shen Gongtu of the Shooting Sun G.o.d Mountain had tried to use the Void Piercing arrow to kill Teng Qingshan, but the arrow was deflected by the Splitting Mountain Axe. The axe did not even get a scratch.

“An Insightful Emptiness Realm Expert had to refine for a few decades up to even a few centuries using the Power of the World in order to create the close-fitting battle armor that is the G.o.dly Armor,” Yu Tonghai explained. “This defense of this G.o.dly Armor is amazing. Normally, it would be very difficult for Emptiness Realm Experts to break the G.o.dly Armor, unless the G.o.dly Armor is a low-level G.o.dly Armor.”

“Oh? A low-level G.o.dly Armor?” Teng Qingshan asked curiously.

“Haha,” Yu Tonghai laughed pa.s.sionately. “Brother Jing Yi, the quality of the G.o.dly Armor depends on the original material of the armor. However, since it’s the armor of an Insightful Emptiness Expert, the material won’t be bad, so it’s usually not about the material. Secondly, it depends on how long the G.o.dly Armor was refined for. Among the Insightful Emptiness Experts, there are still great differences in power. There are some who have just entered the Insightful Emptiness Realm and others who are one step away from being Omnipotent Experts.

“For example, Hong Tian City. The Northeastern King, Hong Tian, left behind a set of G.o.dly Armor—the Hong Tian G.o.d Armor—which is one of the best among the many sets of G.o.dly Armor,” Yu Tonghai explained.

Teng Qingshan finally understood it fully.

“Brother Yu, the four Omnipotent Experts should have left some sets of G.o.dly Armor as well, right?” asked Teng Qingshan.

Yu Tonghai frowned. He was somewhat unhappy as he speculated inwardly, “Do you think you deserve the Armor of Omnipotent Experts?” Although he felt unhappy, he still said, “Of course, the armor left by Omnipotent Experts are not called G.o.dly Armor but Omnipotent G.o.dly Armor. In the Land of the Nine Prefectures, from what I know, Emperor Yu—the founder of my sect, Emperor Yu’s Hall—as well as Ying Family’s Heavenly Emperor of Qin Mountains and the Martial Ancestor Shakya from the Buddha Sect, all have Omnipotent G.o.dly Armor. As for the Poetic Sword G.o.d, Li Taibai… Senior Li Taibai never settled in one place and had no heir. All these years, I have never heard of a set of Omnipotent G.o.dly Armor left behind by him.”

“The sets of G.o.dly Armor are very precious, but what about the Insightful Emptiness Experts’ weapons?” Teng Qingshan asked. “The weapons which were refined for centuries by the Insightful Emptiness Experts using the Power of the World should be precious as well, right?”

“What’s the point of refining weapons?” Yu Tonghai shook his head. “The weapon just needs to be able to display the full strength of an Emptiness Realm Expert’s attack. In the eyes of a child, do you think there would be any difference between an ordinary iron blade and a Darksteel Blade?”

Teng Qingshan just responded with a grin.

As long as the weapon could withstand the user’s highest level of unleashed power, it could be used. No matter how great the material was, it would not be able to increase the damage of the attacks. This was also why the people of this world did not fight for the weapons of Omnipotent Experts and Insightful Emptiness Realm Experts. Of course, those weapons were still valuable commemoratives.

Yu Tonghai and Teng Qingshan chatted for a long time. Then finally, Yu Tonghai could not wait any longer, and he asked, “Brother Jing Yi, you can see the sincerity of Emperor Yu’s Hall. Now, why don’t you tell me something? Are you willing to join Emperor Yu’s Hall? Don’t worry, I know your wife is the Saintess of the Snowy Lotus Cult in the Heavenly G.o.d Palace. We won’t make things hard for you. We will never make you fight against the Heavenly G.o.d Palace.”

“Brother Yu,” Teng Qingshan apologized, “Emperor Yu’s Hall is the oldest sect in the Land of the Nine Prefectures. If I want to join a sect, I will choose yours. But I am used to being unfettered, and right now, I really don’t want to join a sect. I am really sorry for wasting Brother Yu’s time…”

“Hu!”

Yu Tonghai stood up and said, “No problem, Brother Jing Yi. Say no more. I understand. Whenever you want to join Emperor Yu’s Hall, just go to Yu City.”

“Certainly.” Teng Qingshan stood up as well.

Yu Tonghai immediately walked out of the pavilion. He transformed into a green light and flew toward the sky, very quickly flying out of Teng Qingshan’s domain.

While Yu Tonghai was high up in the sky, a cold glint flickered in the two squinty eyes below his broom-like brows as he cursed, “Jing Yi is so arrogant. I spoke to him with such nice words, and yet he didn’t even give me any respect. I even talked to him for such a long time. What a waste of my saliva!” With a wave of his sleeves, Yu Tonghai accelerated and quickly disappeared into the ends of the northwest skyline.

“To think that he invited me to join Emperor Yu’s Hall?” Teng Qingshan shook his head as he thought, “How can I join other sects?”

These sects wouldn’t let you join and then quit whenever you desired. It was not possible to join, get a suit of G.o.dly Armor, and then quit. If Teng Qingshan did that, Emperor Yu’s Hall would pursue him to the ends of the earth. They would be willing to do anything in order to punish traitors. Of course, it was an exception when Teng Qingshan betrayed and quit the Gui Yuan Sect. Everyone had understood the true reason, and a lot of people in the Gui Yuan Sect were still proud of Teng Qingshan.

“G.o.dly Armor…

“If I really have a G.o.dly Armor, a fight with another Emptiness Realm Expert…” Just a thought of it made Teng Qingshan excited.

Unfortunately, G.o.dly Armor was too rare. Even the most ancient sect, Emperor Yu’s Hall, couldn’t let every Emptiness Realm Expert in the sect wear a set of G.o.dly Armor.

Then at this moment…

“Hmm? Tie Fan? Qing Hu Island’s Tie Fan? He’s the Island Lord of Qing Hu Island, so why has he come to my Yi City? Is he unafraid that I will kill him?” Teng Qingshan was immediately suspicious when he saw Tie Fan on a high-cla.s.s battle horse riding on the road outside Yi City toward its gate.
……

Tie Fan’s golden hair was very famous. The people of the Land of Nine Prefectures called Tie Fan the ‘Golden Lion’, but today, Tie Fan’s golden hair had been cut down until it was only three Cun long. Moreover, he wore a hat on his head, so his golden hair could not even be seen.

Once he entered Yi City, Tie Fan led his war horse and arrived at the house where Teng Qingshan was living in.

“Who are you?” The guard shouted.

“This is my name card, please pa.s.s along this message: I want to see senior Jing Yi,” Tie Fan said as he took out a name card that he had prepared. The name card had a silver note on top.

The guard took a look, and his eyes shone. Them he took it with a smile. “Mhmm, wait for a while, I will help you take the name card in. However… there are many people who want to see senior Jing Yi. I do not know whether Senior Jing Yi will see you or not.” For the sake of the silver note, the guard specially spoke a few more sentences.

Immediately afterward, this guard gave another guard a look and then ran into the house.

Inside the garden:

“Master, master,” Teng Shou ran in.

Teng Qingshan threw the spear in his hand, and it landed it on the weapon rack.

“Master, do you know who has come?” Teng Shou grinned while holding a name card.

“The Island Lord of Qing Hu Island, Tie Fan, right?” Teng Qingshan walked over with a smile.

Teng Shou was shocked. “I forgot that Master can see everything within 34 Li.”

“Ask him to come in. I want to see what this Island Lord of Qing Hu Island came to me for,” Teng Qingshan ordered.

“Yes.”

Then Teng Shou ran out.

Teng Qingshan stepped inside the pavilion. He then sat down, poured a cup of tea for himself, and took a sip. At this time, Tie Fan had already appeared at the gate of the garden. He took off his hat, revealing short golden hair which made him look valiant. Even so, he walked cautiously. He had no audacity to walk casually and boldly like how he would normally do in Qing Hu Island.

“Tie Fan is pleased to meet senior Jing Yi.” Tie Fan stood outside the pavilion and bowed courteously.

However, Tie Fan’s heart was perturbed.

Teng Qingshan, holding the cup of tea, shot a cold glance at Tie Fan and said coldly, “Tie Fan, you’re so daring. You actually had the audacity to come here alone. Why, did you think that I wouldn’t kill you because I have to conduct myself with dignity?”