The Nine Cauldrons

Chapter 6: Battle between Life and Death

“Overestimating yourself.” Sun Ze could not help but sneered. However, his gaze appeared increasingly frigid.

Their words earlier seemed to be said for Teng Qingshan’s sake.

However, they wanted to influence Teng Qingshan’s willpower. If Teng Qingshan had committed suicide, it would be the best scenario.

If that were to happen, the two of them would be able to complete their mission without the need to put in any effort. However, if they really engaged in a life or death battle with Teng Qingshan, they would not be able to leave unscathed, even if they managed to kill Teng Qingshan,

“To think that this Dolgoterov isn’t affected much after being struck by one of my daggers…” Teng Qingshan threw a glance at that muscular Russian man. “Both Sun Ze and him are wearing black uniforms. These black uniforms must have very strong defense.”

Back when they were on the roof, this muscular Russian man did in fact got struck by a flying dagger.

However, the two of them had known for a while that Teng Qingshan was a master in flying daggers. This time around, both of them had came wearing specially made clothes with strong defenses.

After the flying dagger from earlier had pierced through his clothes, its prowess was already very weak.

Body Crusher ‘Dolgoterov’ easily clamped down on the blade of the flying dagger with his muscles and pushed it out.

“Monkey, since this wolf wishes to die, let’s just grant him his wish.” Although Dolgoterov was Russian, he spoke very fluent Chinese.

“The greater threat is Sharpshooter ‘Sun Ze’. I must kill him. Only then would I have a chance to survive.”

Without showing any signs, Teng Qingshan, suddenly lowered his body and stomped down hard. He clutched the ground with both of his hands. Like a tiger descending from the mountain, he leaped close to ten meters in distance and attacked Sun Ze with a Cannon Fist.

The lips of ‘Sharpshooter’ Sun Ze, who was standing at the entrance to the courtyard, curled up slightly before he immediately made his move. His movement drew in like an swift illusion, and at the same time, the silver-colored pistol also sent out sounds that were so soft that they were almost inaudible.

“Poof! Poof!”

The instant the other party had raised his pistol, Teng Qingshan had twisted his body and forcefully turned to leap to the side as if he was a venomous snake.

In terms of agility in close combat, amongst the three major Internal Martial Arts, the Eight Trigram Palm leads. The Eight Trigram Palm has the saying which goes by, ‘one walk, two look, three sit, fourth flip’. The first one was the most basic, which was to ‘walk’. ‘Sun Ze’, someone who was at the grandmaster level in the Eight Trigram Palm，was able to move like a swimming dragon, fast as lightning, smooth as the wind.

The bullets shot out from his pistols were harsh and difficult to deal with.

The combination of the Eight Trigram Palm’s agility with the prowess of the modern day’s gunfire was truly terrifying.

“My speed and flexibility are not comparable to this ‘Sun Ze’. I cannot catch up with him, but yet he can attack me continually, there’s also that ‘Body Crusher’ Dolgoterov… If I were to react a little slower, I’ll be dead. I only have one chance!” Teng Qingshan was very clear about this.

“Poof.” Another bullet shot out. Teng Qingshan could not avoid it in time and there was still the terrifying and monstrous ‘Body Crusher’ Dolgoterov who was launching an attack towards him from the side.

“This is bad.”

Teng Qingshan’s waist immediately became as soft as cotton. The moment the bullet hit his stomach, the burst of a strong inner strength reduced the bullet’s power by 70%. At the same time, his muscles trembled and turned as hard as a steel plate. Teng Qingshan bent backward and placed his hands on the ground. His back arched like a bridge made of steel plate. Like a dragon surfing the waves, he darted to the side.

Sun Ze, who was not far away, broke into a cold smile.

“Haha…” The Russian man laughed out loud and charged toward Teng Qingshan.

“Now’s the chance.” Teng Qingshan moved next to that peach tree in the courtyard, holding onto a flying dagger in each hand. He gaze turned dimmed and dejected, and both flying daggers shot out from his hands at the same time. Each of the two flying daggers cut across space in an ice-cold trajectory and darted toward Sun Ze and Dolgoterov.

Sun Ze let out a cold smile as he launched a single shot toward the flying dagger heading in his direction.

In terms of his shooting skills, Sun Ze would definitely be able to enter the top ten rankings in the world. For him to hit the flying dagger with one shot was an easy feat.

“Hmph~~” The Russian man ‘Dolgoterov’ let out a deep bellow and smashed out his right fist, which was in a metallic gauntlet, toward that flying dagger.

Teng Qingshan’s gaze was cold, profound, and emanating faint hint of sadness. The inner strength channeled into those two flying daggers had an unbelievable connection with Teng Qingshan’s mental state.

“Boom!”

“Boom!”

Just as that flying dagger was about to collide with the bullet, it had eerily exploded into seven or eight metallic pieces. It was under a circumstance where nothing was touching the flying dagger. The shattered pieces of metal changes their trajectory slightly, but continued to move toward Sun Ze. Of course, the bullet ended up missing.

“No—” Sun Ze’s countenance changed.

He was only less than ten meters away from Teng Qingshan. He had immediately fired his pistol the instant Teng Qingshan sent out his flying dagger. When the flying dagger shattered, it was only about two meters away from him.

With the short distance of two meters and the shattered pieces of the flying dagger moving toward him at such rapid speed, Sun Ze was only able to respond mentally when the pieces were already right before him.

“Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!”

Three of the shattered pieces pierced through Sun Ze’s face directly and shot out from the back of his head.

“Uh…” Sun Ze’s eyes were still filled with disbelief, but it quickly lost its gleam and he dropped down to the ground.

One of the fifty-two S-Rank hitmen in the World of Darkness, the Eight Trigram Palm expert, ’Sharpshooter’ Sun Ze, died!

For experts of the Internal Martial Arts, their faces tended to be where their defense was the weakest. This was with the exception of those who had attained the Grandmaster Realm and had not a single weakness all over their body. For people like Sun Ze who had yet to reach the Grandmaster Realm, getting struck in the face was definitely fatal.

“Boom!” The Russian man ‘Dolgoterov’ encountered the same scenario, but he was much luckier. It was because he had blocked the flying dagger with his right fist and had use his left fist to block his face out of habit. When two of the shattered pieces of the flying dagger shot out toward his face, he had easily blocked them with his opened up left hand that had a gauntlet on.

“You, you…” This Russian man looked toward his dead partner and then at Teng Qingshan in astonishment.

A hint of smile finally appeared on Teng Qingshan’s face.

“Monkey, Monkey…” Dolgoterov looked at Sun Ze’s corpse as he muttered, “How, how could the flying dagger had shattered?”

A flying dagger had shattered by itself for no reason?

Teng Qingshan stares at this Russian man as he secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

Back in the internal war in the Red Organization’s base, he had fought fiercely by himself against the many hitmen. He was hopelessly outnumbered and was on the verge of death when he suddenly made a discovery in his desperate and dejected state. Under that special mental state, by comprehending the unique conditions of surroundings, he could have a strange connection with the ‘inner strength’ in the flying daggers he had sent out.

By relying on this connection, he could control when the flying daggers would shatter.

How could the enemies react in time if a flying dagger suddenly shattered into a few pieces as it got near? Take Sun Ze as an example: With there being a mere two meters distance, he was unable to react at all and got shot in the head.

It was an absolute killing move!

Although Teng Qingshan did not understand why he could have that connection with the ‘inner strength’ in the flying daggers he sent out when he was under that mental state, he remembered that certain mental state and remembered the move. At the same time, he named this skill as ‘Saddened Dagger’.

“Wolf, you shall die to accompany Monkey!” The eyes of Dolgoterov, the Russian man, turned red as he let out a low bellow like an infuriated lion. The Russian man’s black uniform suddenly swelled up to be one size bigger and this strong killing machine stomped on the ground.

The cement ground trembled and cracked as he charged toward Teng Qingshan like a high-speed heavy truck.

“Haha, come!” Teng Qingshan let out a loud laughter and went to meet him heads-on instead of dodging the blow.

His two feet consecutively stomp down on the ground as if it was a giant stomping on the ground, causing the cement ground to continue to crack. Teng Qingsham appeared very ferocious, but his movements were smooth like a swimming dragon. His left palm was horizontally placed before his eyes whiles his right fist attacked like a Flood Dragon. With his waist as the central pivot, he focused all the powers in his body on his right arm.

“Chichi~~” His right arm eerily swelled up to become one size bigger.

The green veins on his arm popped up, as if they were going to burst. His muscles sprung back as if they were a cow’s tendons. A strong spinning force was produced and his right fist was like a spinning electric drill, letting out a sharp whistling sound.

“Ha!” The monstrous Dolgoterov leaped up and raised his right fist, which wore a metallic gauntlet, high up in the air. Then, with tremendous force, he smashed his fist toward Teng Qingshan like a cannonball that had been blasted out.

Leaving a series of afterimage, Dolgoterov’s huge clashed against Teng Qingshan’s fist.

“Chi~~”

Dolgoterov could clearly sense a strange force passing through his gauntlets. It even caused his right arm to twist unwillingly, letting out a very soft bumpy sound. The color of Dolgoterov’s body and face changed. Thankfully, he had a great level of mastery in Ancient Yoga and could forcibly defend against the impact from this spinning force. “If I’m even a little weaker, my arm could even possibly be twisted and broken! Right now, my right arm would probably only be able to unleash 80% of its prowess.”

Although Dolgoterov did not feel well, Teng Qingshan was worse.

The moment their fists clashed, Teng Qingshan tapped on the force and fled backwards. “Haha…” Dolgoterov let out a maniacal laughter and without any hesitation, rapidly gave chase.