The Nine Cauldrons

Chapter 42: Hong Si of the White Horse Gang

It was written on the first page of the “Earthly Ranking”.

“On the Land of the Nine Prefectures, there are countless courageous and powerful experts.”

“For example, Hong Tian, the King of the Northeast, who had ruled Youshou and Yanzhou, the bitter-cold lands in the north. Hong Tian had conquered a large part of the nine prefectures with his eighty thousand cavalrymen. The Qin Mountains in Yongzhou in the northwest that spanned three thousand Li had even gave birth to the Heavenly Emperor of Qin Mountains, someone who was unsurpassed in his generation. Back in the days, the Heavenly Emperor of Qin Mountains had stopped the flow of Yan River, which had a width of one hundred Zhang, with a single attack of his palm. Since then, he had been admired by the people and his story passed down from generations to generations. Beside Emperor Yu, he was the only other great and courageous hero to have conquered all nine prefectures! The prefecture Yuzhou located in the center of the Land of the Nine Prefecture gave birth to Emperor Yu, the most amazing hero since the creation of this world. Back then, Emperor Yu had leveled mountains, unified the Nine Prefectures, repartitioned the land, and forged the nine cauldrons. He became the number one emperor in history and had set up his capital in Yuzhou. Yuzhou, being the land of the Emperor, had countless elites…”

“However, over the several thousand of years, many heroes had turned into white bones. Several hundred years later, they were all forgotten by the descendants of the Nine Prefectures. When the Martial Ancestor of Wan Xiang Sect ‘Jiang Jun’ thought of this, he would sigh endlessly. At a later time, he had the idea of compiling the “Heavenly Ranking” and “Earthly Ranking” for the Land of the Nine Prefectures. The disciples of Wan Xiang Sect worked together and travelled the world, recording the tales of marvels of the heroes and elites from various places and modifying the collected information. And so, four rankings in the Nine Prefectures—the “Heavenly Ranking”, “Earthly Ranking”, “Hidden Dragon Ranking”, and the”Young Phoenix Ranking”were produced.”

“The four rankings of the Nine Prefectures would be updated every six months! It records the heroes and elites coming from all over the Nine Prefectures.”

“Wan Xiang Sect is determined to record the names of the great heroes on the Land of the Nine Prefectures in the four rankings so that the later generations born one thousand or ten thousand years later would be able to know the heroic stories about their ancestors.”

When Teng Qingshan read this page, he felt excited.

Wealth and riches might not be a form of temptation to many heroic experts. However, many of these powerful experts dreamt of having their names passed down from in history.

Teng Qingshan flipped to the second page.

“In the four rankings of the Nine Prefectures, the “Hidden Dragon Ranking” records one hundred and eight most outstanding young heroes in the Nine Prefectures who are within thirty years old. The “Young Phoenix Ranking” records the one hundred and eight most outstanding young female heroes in the Nine Prefectures within thirty years old.”

When Teng Qingshan saw this, his eyes lit up.

Across all the men and women in the Nine Continents, only the top one hundred and eight of each category was chosen. Each one of them was truly favored by the gods.

“The”Heavenly Ranking” and “Earthly Ranking”are the core of the four rankings. The cultivation realm on the Land of the Nine Prefectures is primarily divided into two—the Postliminary Realm and the Innate Realm! There is probably only one innate expert out of ten million people. Therefore, the great heroes across the world are still mostly Postliminary Expert. The “Earthly Ranking”records the seventy-two most amazing Postliminary Experts!”

Teng Qingshan’s eyes lit up as he thought, “There’s no age limit to this Earthly Ranking. Only the truly powerful ones can be ranked amongst the top seventy-two across the hundreds of millions of people across the nine prefectures. The Earthly Ranking is a lot better than the Hidden Dragon Ranking and the Young Phoenix Ranking. Each and every person listed on the Earthly Ranking aren’t to be underestimated.”

Teng Qingshan continued reading.

“On the other hand, the “Heavenly Ranking” records thirty-six great experts who have reached the innate realm. As there are few innate experts, the rankings to the “Heavenly Ranking” change very little even throughout the span of ten to twenty years. On the contrary, the “Earthly Ranking” has the most intense competition. Out of so many people in the world, only seventy-two people could be listed in the “Earthly Ranking” Compared to the Earthly Ranking from half a year ago, eleven people out of the seventy-two people on the ranking had been removed and replaced by another eleven.”

Teng Qingshan briefly read through the descriptions regarding the four great rankings.

It was clear that…

The “Hidden Dragon Ranking” and the “Young Phoenix Ranking” were the ones that that recorded the talented young heroes. Although many people valued the”Hidden Dragon Ranking” and the “Young Phoenix Ranking”, the “Heavenly Ranking” and the “Earthly Ranking”were considered more important. However, because Innate Experts were few in number, the”Heavenly Ranking” rarely changed. Therefore, the”Earthly Ranking” became the most competitive ranking.

Numerous heroic experts had risked their lives just so their names could be on the “Earthly Ranking”.

“There are people attracted by money, there are people who loved beauties. However, even more heroes value ‘fame’.” Teng Qingshan sighed and was about to flip the page to continue reading about the seventy-two powerful experts on the Land of the Nine Prefectures who had made it to the Earthly Ranking.

“Qingshan,” A voice suddenly rang out.

“Hmm? Father!” Teng Qingshan was jolted awake.

“What are you looking at? You were so engrossed in it.” Teng Yongfan asked with a smile.

At the side, Teng Qinghu grinned and said, “Qingshan spent ten silver taels to purchase this book”Earthly Ranking”.”

“You really don’t hold back with spending money.” Teng Yongfan did not blame Teng Qingshan. “Since we’ve bought all the things we need, let’s go. Let’s wait for the other members of the clan in the alley.” Teng Yongfan, Teng Qingshan, and Teng Qinghu all left the Wan Xiang Tower and came to the alley which was next to Wan Xiang Tower.

******

There were clearly lesser people in the alley than before. The other people from the clan had yet to arrive. Teng Qingshan leaned against the wall and continued reading the “Earthly Ranking”.

The “Earthly Ranking” described the seventy-two heroes and also wrote about some of the famous incidents concerning them.

“As long as one can cultivate inner strength and spend several decades in training, most of them would be able to reach the Postliminary Realm. However, even if they have the equal amount of inner strength, they vary a lot in power.” As Teng Qingshan read this book, he couldn’t help but sigh. Based on the descriptions in the”Earthly Ranking”, there were far too many people who had reached the Postliminary Realm.

Because there were many different types of secret cultivation manuals and different level of comprehension each person had, their abilities and power varied.

Take Teng Qingshan as an example.

The same Teng Qingshan who had and who had not cultivated the “Crossing Worlds” were on two different levels altogether. At this time, the secret manuals they had for cultivating inner strength would take up a huge effect.

There was also the consideration for the individual’s comprehension.

Teng Qingshan had comprehended the two great spear arts—the ‘Pursuing Shadows’ and ‘Transmutation Unity Qi’. Even if he were to exert a strength of only one thousand jin, he would be able to kill over 100 wild wolves easily with the use of a spear. Teng Qinghu, who could also exert a strength of one thousand jin, would still need Teng Yonglei and Teng Qingshan to help him if he was attacked by a pack of wolves.

The amount of inner strength was merely the foundation.

The way the inner strength was put to use and the individual’s comprehension level were very important as well. This was also the reason why certain secret cultivation manuals would bring about a massacre.

“Hmm?” As Teng Qingshan saw the biography of the person ranked fifty-eight in the Earthly Ranking, his eyes suddenly lit up.

“When Yang Fan was forty-eight years old, he pursued the notorious four brothers of Hong Clan for three days and three nights and for a distance of over a thousand Li. Three out of the four brothers died, leaving only ‘Hong Si’ behind. Hong Si fled to his hometown in Yi City and established the White Horse Gang. However, for the past twenty years, Hong Si had not dared to look for Yang Fan to seek vengeance. The year Yang Fan turned fifty-two…”

This was Yang Fan’s story, and Hong Si was just someone who was briefly mentioned.

However, Teng Qingshan was taken aback.

“Master Hong Si of the White Horse Gang actually have such a history.” Teng Qingshan was astonished as he thought to himself. The White Horse Gang was considered the local despot of Yi City and its Great Master ‘Master Hong Si’ was known to be a top-notch figure in Yi City. Who would have expected that an influential character like him would have a time when he was in terrible straits.

“Father, look.” Teng Qingshan smiled and passed the book to his father, “Take a look at this.”

Teng Yongfan took it from Teng Qingshan with bemusement. He read that section and then said in surprised, “Master Hong Si had three elder brothers? No wonder he is called Hong Si [1]! But who on earth is this powerful Yang Fan?” Teng Yongfan then also started reading this book from the beginning.

Teng Qingshan smiled bitterly.

He had not expected that his father had gotten so engrossed in the book as well. However, it was fine since he had already read a large part of the book.

“Master Hong Si should be extremely strong as well.” Teng Qingshan inferred based on that event. “Those who could be listed in the Earthly Ranking were said to be at the pinnacle of the Postliminary Realm. They are powerful characters even across the entire Land of the Nine Prefectures. That Yang Fan had given chase after the four brothers of Hong Clan for three days and three nights, yet Master Hong Si had still managed to flee. Master Hong Si’s abilities are not to be underestimated. Moreover… The Hong Clan’s four brothers are said to be ‘extremely notorious’. If they didn’t have some sort of skill or ability, they would not be given such ratings.”

The individuals who were briefly mentioned on the”Earthly Ranking”definitely had extraordinary strength.

After all, if the Hong Clan’s four brothers were not in power, this event would not have been recorded.

…

While the three of them were waiting for the other members of the clan, on the streets several tens of Zhang away from where they were at:

“Do you see them? Over there. The three hunters there.” A man dressed in black whispered as he pointed in the direction of Teng Qingshan’s group.

“I see them. Brother Lang, you said that they have a note of ten thousand silver taels?” A skinny man with triangular-shaped eyes said in surprise.

The man dressed in black smiled coldly and said, “Would I lie to you about this? If not on the account that we’re from the same hometown and village, would I share this piece of information with you? This time around, our Lord had ordered weapons from them and we’d just given them a note that was worth ten thousand silver taels.”

“Ten thousand silver taels…” The man’s triangular eyes gleamed and then he grinned, saying, “Brother Lang, rest assured. After our people had killed and robbed them, we will not forget your share of the benefit. However, there’s something I don’t understand. Why is your lord telling us this and letting us rob them after he had ordered the goods and paid them?”

The man dressed in black laughed and said, “You don’t understand. Our Lord is someone who will seek revenge for the smallest grievance! This time around, he hadn’t planned on paying these villagers. Who would have expected that they would kick up a fuss, causing even the Old Master to have come out. Our Lord was left with no choice but to pay them the money. However, with his character, how could he possibly accept this? He might not have the audacity to express his anger toward the Old Master and his Eldest Martial Brother, but he definitely had the audacity to create trouble for these villagers.”

The man with triangular-shaped eyes replied with a grin, “Your lord is really brutal and vicious. But we like it. Haha.”

“Hmph. Followers like us also benefit quite a lot from following a lord like this. If the Old Master had not come out, I would have gotten at least one hundred silver taels out of these ten thousand silver taels.” The man dressed in black said.

“Don’t worry, Brother Lang. If we were to really get our hands on ten thousand silver taels, I’ll definitely bring you more than one hundred silver taels.” said the man with triangular-shaped eyes.

The man dressed in black responded with a smile.

“Hmmm? Look, the other hunters are all here now. It seems that they’re going to leave. You better go make the necessary preparations quickly.” The man dressed in black said.

“Don’t worry. We’re very familiar with Yi City. There’s no way that they would be able to escape.” The man with triangular-shaped eyes cupped his hands together as he said, “Brother Lang, I’ll be going off first. I’ll look for you tonight.”

“Go on.” The man dressed in black said.

…

By this time, everyone from Teng Jia Village had gathered.

“Since everyone’s here, come, let’s head back.” Teng Yongfan smiled and passed the book back to Teng Qingshan. “This book really isn’t bad. After we get back, you must lend it to me so that I can read it thoroughly.” With that, the group of hunters from the Teng Jia Village joked and laughed as they began their journey home.