The Nine Cauldrons - One Cannot Defy Destiny

On the first floor of the Rising Sun Restaurant, Teng Qingshan found a table by the window.     

“Just make me any kind of food. I want three dishes of food, one bowl of soup, and one jug of wine,” ordered Teng Qingshan. The restaurant manager immediately arranged for the chef to make some exquisite and top notch food.     

“Clang! Clang! Clang!” The sound of gongs and beating drums echoed around.     

The sounds came from the street outside the restaurant. Teng Qingshan turned to look and saw that all the pedestrians on the street, wide enough to let ten Hunchbacked Beasts advance abreast, were scurrying to the sides.     

“Out of the way! Move out of the way!”     

“Quick move out of the way!”     

Loud berating voices rang from afar.     

The concentrated sounds of hooves caused the ground to tremble. Soon after, six cavalrymen riding on Hunchbacked Beasts were seen advancing. There were endless rows of cavalrymen. The cavalrymen behind lifted flags high up. A large ‘Dong’ character was emblazoned on the fluttering flags. There were over two hundred cavalrymen advancing down the street.     

At the rear was a luxurious six wheeled carriage pulled by four War Hous!     

The texture of the timber used to build the carriage was dark red color and the edges of the carriage were inlaid with gold. The carriage appeared very grand.     

“This is Dong Clan’s convoy?” Teng Qingshan lifted his wine cup and praised, “so extravagant.”     

“Tsk, tsk. That is the Hunting Battalion of Queen Dong. It was rumored that the carriage has a value of several hundred thousands taels of silver.”     

“What do you know? That carriage was build with Dark Incense Wood that can only be found in the Blazing Flame Territory. Just the great amount of Dark Incense Wood would already cost over ten thousand taels of gold. With the addition of the cost of the carvings, it would be valued at over one million taels of silver. The four War Hous pulling the carriage are all Snowy Divine War Hous. Such white furred war hou cost over ten thousand taels of silver each.”     

“Who is in the carriage? Queen Dong?”     

“Maybe not. It might be the little queen.”     

……     

Sounds of discussions could be heard throughout the restaurant. Each and everyone of them exclaimed and sighed in admiration, allowing Teng Qingshan to listen and understand many things.     

“Such a display of extravagance!” This was Teng Qingshan’s first impression of Dong Zhezi.     

“So f*cking unlucky.”     

A skinny old man, whose body was dusty and pants that seemed ripped at the knee, cursed as he entered the Rising Sun Restaurant. The waitress in the restaurant welcomed the old man with a face full of smiles and said, “Customer, the first, second, and third floor of the restaurant are fully occupied. Customer, how about waiting for a while?”     

“I am truly unlucky. I can’t even find a spot to eat!”     

The skinny old man seemed very unhappy and filled with discontent.     

“This Old Brother, if you don’t mind, come sit with me.” Teng Qingshan, who was sitting by the window, shouted with a smile.     

With a shock expression, the skinny old man turned and looked towards Teng Qingshan, while Teng Qingshan lifted his wine cup and he grinned.     

“Haha, it looks like my luck today is not that bad after all.” With a grin, the skinny old man walked to Teng Qingshan’s table and sat opposite Teng Qingshan. Teng Qingshan instructed the maid, “add one more pair of chopsticks and a cup.”     

“Yes.”     

As the maids had received instructions from the restaurant manager and knew that Teng Qingshan’s status was different, she hastily prepared another set of tableware and rushed to send it over to Teng Qingshan.     

“This little brother, my surname is Wang. Thank you!” The skinny old man sat down and took the chopsticks given by the waitress. He ate some food and poured some wine for himself. After taking a sip, he said, “Ahh! This food and wine are so good! I have come here many times, but I have never drunk such fine wine!”     

Teng Qingshan smiled and replied, “Old Brother Wang, the people that just passed must be Dong Clan’s convoy right?”     

Teng Qingshan knew clearly that…once he captured Dong Zhezi alive and hand this Dong Zhezi to Jiang Clan, Dong Zhezi’s fate would be very miserable. Therefore, Teng Qingshan wanted to know what kind of person Dong Zhezi was.     

“That is the Dong Clan’s hunting squad.” The skinny old man touched his nose and cursed softly. “Those rampant bastards. I was already walking at the edge of the wide street, yet a Hunchbacked Beast still brushed against me. It almost broke my old bones! I was so unlucky.”     

The skinny old man flicked a astonished glance at Teng Qingshan and inquired, “Little brother, are you a foreigner?”     

“Yes, I am a foreigner. I have just arrived at Shuangshan City.” Teng Qingshan nodded.     

“No wonder. All the locals know about the Queen of Dong Clan. Tsk, tsk…” The skinny old man signed emotionally. He immediately realized something and hastily explained, “This Queen Dong is the Matriarch of Dong Clan.”     

“The Matriarch of Dong Clan is inside the carriage?” Teng Qingshan asked.     

“Who knows?” The skinny old man shook his head and answered. “That daughter of Queen Dong has the same character as her mother. Queen Dong and her daughter both love hunting. The one in the carriage might be Queen Dong. It might also be her daughter…Nevermind. Let’s not talk about this Queen Dong. We might get in trouble for discussing too much about her. That Queen Dong is very powerful.”     

The skinny old man spoke in an extremely low voice.     

“Old Brother, this is my first time in Shuangshan City. Tell me, is the patriarch of Dong Clan really that terrifying? So terrifying that you all called her Queen Dong?”     

“Tsk, tsk. Little brother.” The skinny old man placed his wine cup down and stretched his head closer to Teng Qingshan as he whispered softly, “Queen Dong is no ordinary person. Her method of doing things is extremely cruel! Whether it’s her subordinates or the people in the region governed by her, everyone knows about the power of Queen Dong. The plants in the backyard of Queen Dong use fertilizer made of human flesh!”     

“Human flesh fertilizer?” Teng Qingshan was stunned.     

“Of course.” The skinny old man hastily continued, “This Queen Dong loves to torture people the most. I heard that she whipped one of her important generals to death just because he accidentally offended her! This is already considered good. The ones with a miserable fate…all went into Queen Dong’s secret dungeon!”     

“Secret dungeon?” Teng Qingshan said in shock, “The great clans all have prisons. Is Queen Dong’s secret dungeon really that horrifying?”     

“That is true.”     

The skinny old man said softly, “Queen Dong tortured people with extremely cruel and ruthless methods. Some of the methods said to be used in her residence were ‘Sitting on Blood Hump’ and ‘Wearing Armor’….”     

“What is ‘Sitting on Blood Hump?”     

The skinny old man laughed proudly and whispered, “This ‘Sitting on Blood Hump’ is not making you sit on a red furred Hunchbacked Beast. Instead, it is—Making prisoners take off their pants and underpants. Tie their hands, part their legs, and make them sit on an iron wedge. Have you seen wooden wedges?”     

Teng Qingshan nodded. The sides of the wedges are triangular.     

“If one sat on that sharp iron wedge with the legs parted, it would be f*cking painful. The blood would flow down directly and dye the iron wedge red. Therefore, it was called ‘Sitting on Blood Hump.’”     

“As for the cruel tortures like ‘Wearing Armor’ or Iron Comb… Nevermind, let’s not talk about those gross things during mealtime.” The skinny old man shook his head and continued, “Anyway, that Queen Dong is extremely cruel and fierce. All the maids and servants in Dong Residence tremble in fear before her.”     

“It was rumored that whenever she created some cruel torture and didn’t have time to search for criminals, she would capture some unfavorable servants to test it out.”     

When Teng Qingshan heard, his brows drew together.     

“Old Brother, continue eating. I will head out for a while.” Teng Qingshan picked up the sheathed Reincarnation Spear and proceeded to walk out the restaurant.     

“Little Brother, don’t trick me. You didn’t pay, right?” The old man hastily stood up in fear. While he was eating the food, he already knew that the meal must be costly.     

“This customer, don’t worry. That lord has already paid for the food.” The waitress hastily ran over.     

When the old man heard this, he was so embarrassed that his face flushed.     

……     

Carrying the sheathed spear on his back, Teng Qingshan walked out onto the street by himself.     

“No wonder the Sixth Elder said that the people of Jiang Clan that were taken hostage suffered greatly and hated this Dong Zhezi to the core!” Teng Qingshan sighed inwardly as he thought, “No wonder they requested for me to take action. No matter what…with such a cruel heart, she deserves to die.” Teng Qingshan had made his decision—     

To capture Dong Zhezi alive!     

By relying on the city map given by the restaurant manager, Teng Qingshan walked amidst the bustling crowd and soon arrived at the Dong Residence.     

Dong Residence was a luxurious mansion that occupied an extremely great area. Just its main entrance had a width of over ten zhang.     

The main entrance was guarded by a few dozen soldiers.     

“Stop! This is the Dong Residence. Any outsiders shall go no farther.” Immediately, a soldier holding a long spear shouted at Teng Qingshan, who was slowly strolling towards the main entrance.     

Teng Qingshan grinned and continued walking.     

“Eh?” The group of soldiers immediately had a serious expression.     

“Boy, are you looking to die?” A total of ten soldiers encircled him.     

Teng Qingshan shook his head and smiled. Whew! Leaving a blurred afterimage, Teng Qingshan passed through the circle.     

“Ah.” The soldiers stared at the disappearing afterimage with astonishment. They turned and saw that Teng Qingshan had already entered the mansion. The strangest thing was—Teng Qingshan appeared to be strolling leisurely, but each of his steps carried him seven to eight zhang. His body only blurred a few times and completely disappeared from their sight.     

The soldiers looked at each other. Fear and shock could be seen in their eyes.     

“Assassin!”     

“Assassin!”     

This group of soldiers immediately shouted at the top of their lungs.     

“Assassin!” The shout resounded through the entire Dong Residence and even the pedestrians on the street outside Dong Residence clamored.     

“Assassin!” “Assassin!”     

There were many soldiers on patrol in the Dong Clan as well as many powerful Henchmen. As the sharp and loud cry of ‘assassin’ rang out, the entire Dong Residence burst into action.     

“Stop!”     

When Teng Qingshan heard this commanding voice, he only smiled and continued to stroll forwards leisurely. Presently, Teng Qingshan was performing the Qing Gong Body Art created through the 《Dao of Earth Element》. Of course, this Qing Gong Body Art was still in the pioneering stage. Its speed was not as fast as Teng Qingshan imagined.     

However, his speed was still faster than the Qing Gong of ordinary Golden Dan innate Experts.     

“The assassin is here!”     

“He’s here!”     

The shouts attracted a great number of soldiers, causing them to rush towards the location of the voices. However, many people only saw Teng Qingshan’s blurred figure before he disappeared from their sight.     

His speed was too fast!     

His body art was too strange!     

“Haha, Dong Zhezi, you bitch, Do you hear that? Someone is here to kill you. Haha…” I already said that for a bitch like you, even the gods would come take your life! Now, someone is here to kill you! Haha…” The laughter sounded slightly weird, as if the person laughing had a hole in his mouth.     

Teng Qingshan immediately followed the sound and “sauntered” away.     

“Catch him!”     

“Kill him!”     

In the midst of being chased and encircled, Teng Qingshan easily arrived at a garden.     

“Old Third Tie, very courageous, aren’t you? I already pulled out nine of your teeth, yet you are still cursing. Very well. Continue…pull out another nine of his teeth. Extract them slowly. Evening is still six hours away. Extract nine of his teeth within six hours. Don’t do it fast, but not too slow,” a condescending voice commanded.     

“A bitch like you.,If men can’t send you to hell, the gods will. Don’t you—Ah..hoooo..Owhhh!” Painful cries rang out.     

There were many experts in this beautiful yard. Yet none of them stopped Teng Qingshan.     

Teng Qingshan gazed at the beautiful woman dressed completely in red. She appeared in her thirties to forties with an ample figure. The beautiful woman sat up high on an elevated seat. Behind her were an array of experts. At this moment, she flicked a glance at Teng Qingshan with her seductive eyes.     

“Are you Dong Zhezi?” Asked Teng Qingshan indifferently.     

……