The Nine Cauldrons

Chapter 25: Yearly Ceremony

Teng Yongfan exclaimed in admiration, “6,000 Black Armored Soldiers… It was rumored that the ancestor of the Gui Yuan Sect made a rule that the Black Armored Soldiers would always remain at 6,000 members. Whenever a strong newcomer joins, the weaker and older ones would be then be expelled from the troops. Despite being expelled, they would still remain a member of the Gui Yuan Sect. They’d become captains of small squadrons under the various cities of Jiangning.”

“Therefore, although it was widely spread that anyone that could lift 500 Jin would be able to join Black Armored Army. Actually, due to the troops remaining at a fixed number, the threshold became increasingly higher. Being able to lift 500 Jin would merely land you a position as a peripheral member of the Black Armored Army.” Teng Yongfan explained.

Teng Qingshan exclaimed in astonishment.

Because of the fixed number, the Black Armored Army became increasingly stronger. Indeed, the Black Armored Army was absolutely an elite legion.

“It is a troop that consists purely of warriors.” Teng Qingshan was taken aback.

He finally understood what kind of world he was truly in!

During his previous life, Teng Qingshan had once pondered that if 10,000 Internal Martial Art Practitioners formed an organization together, then this organization would definitely surpass any country across the globe. One could just imagine that if thousands of Internal Martial Art Practitioners infiltrated a country, and carried out assassinations, the entire country would submerge into a sea of chaos overnight.

However, something like that would be impossible in his previous world.

After all, the people who could generate inner strength was too small in number. For example, not even one cultivator of the Godly Thief Sec had inner strength. SS-ranked experts did exist in the entire world, but they were too few in number and supported only their own country.

“In the Land of the Nine Prefectures, a sect ranked second in Yangzhou could have such strong force! This world is simply too fascinating.” Teng Qingshan could feel his blood boiling as he thought about it.

It seemed like the so-called SS-ranked experts and Grandmaster in Teng Qingshan’s previous world could only be considered elites.

As the saying went, the powerful ones are lonely!

In the previous world, Teng Qingshan stood at the apex and felt that kind of loneliness that only powerful experts experience. As for this life, Teng Qingshan didn’t know what this world was like, but he realized and understood today.

“This kind of world is the world in my dream. A world where the ordinary folks are fierce and tough and there are numerous experts!”

******

When he realized what kind of world he was in, Teng Qingshan felt even more passionate and would spend most of his time on cultivating and training. As the world was brimming with the Spiritual Qi of Heaven and Earth, the inner strength in Teng Qingshan’s body became richer. Teng Qingshan would wantonly stimulate his internal organs, muscles, and bones with his inner strength, allowing these organs, muscles, and bones to absorb the energy and grow stronger.

In regards to Internal Martial Arts, personal health was placed first, while killing was second.

By maintaining his health, his organs would become much stronger, and his vitality would be incredibly powerful.

By killing, his muscles and bones would be pushed to attain the highest level.

During his past life, the insufficient amount of inner strength always worried Teng Qingshan. He never dared to waste any and only used a very little amount of inner strength during critical moments in battle. He did not have to worry about not having an insufficient amount of inner strength. Instead, he only had to worry about the slow speed in which his organs, muscles, and bones absorb the inner strength.

With a constant supply of inner strength, Teng Qingshan’s cultivation of the Internal Martial Art rose at a rapid rate.

…

Due to the heavy snowfall that occurred during the previous night, the entire village seemed as though it was covered in white yarn.

In the morning, the villagers paved the snow to the side and created a path. The snowfall lowered the temperatures, and the villagers were all adorned in thick cotton-padded clothes.

In the central room of Teng Qingshan’s residence, the family of four gathered for breakfast.

“Pastries!” Standing on a chair, a little girl with braided pigtails exclaimed happily, “Mother, where did it come from?”

Yuan Lan smiled as she answered, “Where do you think I got it? Your father asked someone to purchase these pastries from the ‘Baifu Hall’. Today is the New Year’s Eve, so of course we should get something special.”

“Little Yu.” Teng Qingshan who wore a blue-colored padded jacket sat on his chair. He took a glance of his younger sister, today is the New Year’s Eve. After today, Teng Qingshan would turn six years old, while his sister would be three. Although she was still young, she was extremely witty, and also a little naughty.

“You have a small tummy, so you can only eat one. There are two pieces here.” Teng Qingshan pointed at the pastries in the tray as he said, “This is the bigger one, while this is the smaller one. Tell me, which one do you choose?”

“Me?”

Qingyu’s big eyes swirled around as she stared at the pastries. She then leaned forward and grabbed the bigger pastry in her hands, “Brother, I want this one!”

Children are indeed greedy.

“Little Yu, you need to learn to be modest.” Teng Qingshan said, “With relatives around, you should choose the smaller one.”

“Why is that so?” Qingyu looked at Teng Qingshan with a puzzled gaze.

“Little Yu, you should learn from your brother. Learn to be modest.” At the side, Teng Yongfan laughed, “If there are good things placed before you, if you’re picking first, you should not pick the bigger one. If I made your brother choose, he would definitely choose the smaller one.” Teng Yongfan would teach and guide his children during their daily lives.

“Big brother, if you were to choose, would you choose the smaller one?” Qingyu asked.

“Yes.” Teng Qingshan answered.

“Then everything is fine. Since you chose the small one, I have to choose the bigger one. What did I do wrong?” Qingyu asked as she looked towards Teng Qingshan puzzledly.

Hearing this, Teng Qingshan was stunned.

Upon hearing Qingyu’s reply, Teng Yongfan and Yuan Lan both froze. They didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry as they saw the confusion and puzzlement showed on Qingyu’s young and tender face.

“Haha…” Teng Yongfan chortled out loud, “Yes, you are right. Qingyu, you should eat the big one.”

“Yes.” Qingyu nodded and immediately grinned naughtily towards Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan felt helpless. It was impossible to reason with a three-year-old child.

However, Teng Qingshan really enjoyed this joyous and harmonious atmosphere.

As an orphan during his previous life, Teng Qingshan had never felt the care of parent’s love. However, in this life, he was able to enjoy his parent’s love. He also had a cute sister.

Amidst this warm atmosphere, the family of four finished their breakfast.

“Qingshan, take Qingyu to play in the training grounds. The village will be holding the Yearly Sacrifice this afternoon and everyone will be heading to the training grounds. After the sacrificial ceremony is over, everyone will have lunch together.” Teng Yongfan instructed, feeling relieved that Teng Qingshan was the one caring for Qingyu.

Although Teng Qingshan would only be 6 after today, he was extremely smart and obedient like a ten-year-old child.

There was actually no choice for this. Teng Qingshan could not pretend to be a naive and foolish child. However, he did not dare to act too excessively. It was enough to speak like a ten-year-old. In this manner, the villagers would simply treat him as a genius.

If he spoke like an adult at the age of 2 to 3, everyone would probably think he’s a demon.

“Got it, Father.” Teng Qingshan answered with a nod. He then took his sister’s hand and walked toward the bustling training grounds.

*******

As noon approached, over two thousand people gathered in the entire training grounds. All the members of the Teng Clan Village were here.

All of them stood in the areas assigned to their households.

A large cauldron was placed at the before the training grounds. The over two thousand villagers of Teng Jia Village stood in an orderly manner and the chief of the village, Teng Yunlong, stood in front.

“Mother, what is Grandpa doing?” Amidst the crowd, Qingyu who was in Yuanlan’s embrace asked with puzzlement.

“Don’t talk.” Yuanlan replied softly.

Because of his father’s status in the village, Teng Qingshan and his mother and sister stood at the forefront of the crowd. Teng Qingshan could distinctly see the Chief Teng Yunlong walk to the side where a copper basin was placed. The Village Chief first washed his hands and wiped it with a white cloth which he then placed on the copper basin. Immediately, some villagers handed three long incense sticks to the chief.

With the three long incense sticks in his hands, Teng Yunlong held it up and shouted, “Light the incense!”

Immediately, a villager approached him with a candle and lit up the three long incenses.

Teng Yunlong held the three long incense sticks and strode toward the huge cauldron as three muscular men followed behind him. The three were Teng Yonglei, Teng Yongfan, and Teng Yongxiang. Each of them carried a big plate with cooked pig heads, sheep heads, and cow heads.

Solemnly, Teng Yunlong climbed onto the platform and inserted the three incense sticks into the gigantic cauldron.

Teng Yongfan and the other two placed the offerings on the platform before the large cauldron.

“Let the music play! Welcome the deity!”

Teng Yunlong turned toward the villagers and yelled.

“Clang!” The sound of gong sounded suddenly. Soon after, the drums were struck nine times.

“Kneel!” Teng YunLong yelled out once more.

Immediately, everyone in the training grounds knelt, making a loud rumble.

At this moment, Teng Yunlong was also kneeling before the gigantic cauldron. He said with clarity, “The Great Emperor Yu…Immediately, poems of praise were cited. As Teng Qingshan listened, he didn’t know what to say as he thought to himself, “Grandfather isn’t even reading a script. He’s just reciting it. Still, to be able to say so much in a single breath showed that he really has a good memory.” Teng Qingshan remarked as he stared at the gigantic cauldron.

After arriving in this world, Teng Qingshan realized that the people of this world held an utmost respect for the cauldron.

He only knew about this history last year.

Several thousand years ago in this world, Emperor Yu, the most extraordinary figure since the splitting of the heaven and earth, did something that was unprecedented: He unified the lands beneath the heavens and divided the land into nine prefectures. He then gathered the bronze in the nine prefectures and forged nine gigantic cauldrons, distributing these nine cauldrons to the nine prefectures.

Since then, the cauldron symbolized the highest imperial power and became the spiritual belief of men.

However, there are powerful forces and numerous experts in this world. It was too difficult to conquer and unite the lands. After Emperor Yu died, the land collapsed and divided once again. Several thousand years had passed since Emperor Yu’s death and since then, only the Celestial Emperor of the Qin Mountains had conquered and unified the lands. Still, chaos resumed after the death of the Celestial Emperor of the Qin Mountains.

Teng Qingshan had arrived in this world for six years and he also heard of the two greatest men who had lived in this world.

Emperor Yu and the Celestial Emperor of the Qin Mountains.

These two men were the only ones who had achieved the impossible feat of unifying the lands. Similarly, the moment these two had passed on, the lands submerged into confusion and chaos once more.

…

Teng Yunlong finally stopped reciting for a rest. He then yelled, “Bow!” With this, he led the crowd and bowed.

Everyone who knelt on the ground bowed.

“Once more!” Teng Yunlong shouted.

“The third time!”

Everyone paid their respects once more, hitting their heads on the ground.

“Rise!” Teng Yunlong shouted.

With a loud rumble, everyone arose.

“It is done!” Teng Yunlong said loudly.

At this moment, everyone heaved out a mouthful of breath. Many of the women could not help but massage their knees. Their legs had already gotten sore after kneeling for such a long time.

“Haha…” Teng Yunlong chortled out loud at last, “Today is the New Year’s Eve. Everybody! Today, go ahead and eat to your liking! Let’s feast!”

Almost immediately, tables are rapidly laid out throughout the training grounds and all kinds of food are served onto each table.

“Qingshan.” Teng Yongfan came over.

“Father.” Teng Qingshan knew what his father was about to say.

“After today, you’ll turn six years old. After eating lunch, when we’re holding celebration activities, the examination of children your age will also begin. This examination will determine your future paths. You must do your best and make me proud.” Teng Yongfan said it in a casual manner, but he still appeared slightly nervous.

Kids could play as much as they liked before the age of six. The village would not care at all.

However, once they reach the age of six, they must either, train in the bow and arrow, spear, or various other crafts.

“Your elder cousin Qinghu could lift a weight of sixty Jin when he was six.” Teng Yongfan said. “I don’t have high expectations, but you must at least attain the above-average qualification!” Since Teng Yongfan was the next Village Chief and the number one hero in the village, he would feel distressed if his son was too weak.

“Above average?” Teng Qingshan nodded without a second word.