The Nine Cauldrons

Maze

The colorful Innate True Origins seemed rather sad in the pitch-black lake, floating on the Golden Dan innate experts’ weapons whilst they attacked the top of the Heavenly Flood Palace. Those who had not yet reached the state of Golden Dan stayed at the side, watching attentively. Teng Qingshan noticed the means of attack of the three Manichean Temple’s Monks and said to himself, ‘The experts of the Buddhist Sect are rather peculiar. A faint golden glow is enveloping their purple-red iron rods.’

Rumble~~~

The entire upper part of the palace began to tremble as a faint azure-green light rapidly dashed back and forth around the damaged area.

The hole blasted by the twelve super experts was about one and a half zhang wide.

“Guys, the hole is shrinking! Quick, get in!”

As soon as Ying Haojiang finished talking, the twelve superb experts speedily jumped through the whole.

“Quick!”

“The hole is shrinking!”

Yelling out warnings, the innate experts all jumped down at lightning speed. Teng Qingshan also followed the group and leapt into the hole at great speed. By the time Teng Qingshan jumped, the hole had already shrunk. It was now only one zhang wide.

The moment Teng Qingshan’s feet touched the ground, Teng Qingshan immediately dashed to the side in a flash, those behind him falling on the spot where he had just landed.

‘It’s pitch-black in here.’ Teng Qingshan scrutinized the surroundings and noticed that the walls on his left and right were all azure green colored. In front of them was a crossroads. However…… everything was made of the azure green material.

‘Why does this place looks like the passageways of Counterstrike’s Iceworld map in my previous life…?’ As a powerful hitman, Teng Qingshan needed to know some basic knowledge of society, basic social manners and others. He had to know all of these because it was necessary as a means to disguise himself. As for the game Counterstrike, it was rather popular when Teng Qingshan had still been alive in his previous world. He had played it a few times, acquiring basic knowledge of the game.

The Heavenly Flood Palace was pitch black. Perhaps others couldn’t see clearly, but Teng Qingshan had clear sight due to his night vision.

Azure-green ground, azure-green walls, azure-green ceiling, and long alleyways. This was a completely sealed environment, where nothing could be used as a landmark.

‘No matter how good an innate expert’s sense of direction is, if one takes two or three turns, one won’t be able to tell which way is east, south, west, or north!’ These thoughts instantly crossed Teng Qingshan’s mind, only two seconds after Teng Qingshan had descended on the floor of the palace. It was obvious that Teng Qingshan’s brain speed was extremely fast.

‘Everyone’s descended already!’ Teng Qingshan looked up and saw that the hole had shrunk to a width of only three chi.

A total of fifty-three human experts had gathered in one of the dark passageways of the Heavenly Flood Palace.

“This Heavenly Flood Palace isn’t actually filled with water!” the expert of the Shooting Sun God Mountain exclaimed.

“Martial Brother, what’s so weird about this? Didn’t The King of Beasts Wu Hou say that there’s no water in here when he charged into the Heavenly Flood Palace?”

“Of course I remember, Martial Brother. But the weird thing is… why didn’t the water flow in through the hole we blasted?”

Because of the profound darkness in the Heavenly Flood Palace, everyone had focused on being cautious, afraid that some demonic beast would jump out. Yet, no one had noticed this particular thing.

There is a hole, but why didn’t water leak in through that hole?

‘It really is true.’ Teng Qingshan looked up. At this moment, the hole had already shrunk to the size of a watermelon and a faint azure-green light was moving across it. However, no water was flowing in through the hole.

Teng Qingshan took a deep breath.

‘Such fresh air!’ Teng Qingshan felt weirder and weirder. The gates of this Heavenly Flood Palace were open, and a hole blasted through its ceiling, but no water had come in. Moreover, this enormous palace was completely sealed, but why… was the air so fresh?

Teng Qingshan looked around, furrowing his brows. All of these were very weird indeed.

“This is the power of Emperor Yu!” said Ying Haojiang, scanning the surroundings. “Don’t talk about unnecessary things. The most important issue now is to find Emperor Yu’s Treasure, and to leave this place after we find it. Third Brothers, you guys spread out and see what’s the situation in the surroundings.”

“Okay.”

The six black-cloaked Law Enforcing Elders scattered, but they could barely see ten zhang away, and only with the help of their own Innate True Origin’s glow. Since the Heavenly Flood Palace had no water, everyone could see farther away than before. If they were still in the lake, they would have only been able to see a few zhang in front of them.

“Martial Brothers, check the back and front.” Xiao Yao Palace’s men also scattered.

“Martial Nephews, you four take a look at the surroundings. Qing Hu Island’s Yuwen Liufeng ordered calmly. Immediately, the four True Dan innate experts scattered to explore their surroundings.

The different forces did not run around recklessly, but carefully analyzed the environs.

“Brother Qin Lang, let’s go check it out.” said the white-cloaked young man, Liu Xiu. He also couldn’t resist the urge to explore.

“Okay.”

Teng Qingshan immediately started advancing. The passageway was straight, with a single junction located twenty zhang away, and a dead end slightly further in the distance. Without even needing to walk over there, Teng Qingshan could tell at a glance that the road was sealed by a wall thirty zhang away. It was a dead end.

Standing at the crossroads, Teng Qingshan looked left and right——

Still the same azure-green walls. The left passageway also had one junction, and a dead end farther away.

On Teng Qingshan’s right, there were another four alleyways, all of them .leading into dead ends.

‘A maze!’

Through just this one glance, Teng Qingshan had figured everything out. ‘If my guess is correct, then the entire Heavenly Flood Palace is actually a maze, and each passageway is three zhang wide. Some lead to dead ends, and some have branches and junctions. The wall, floor and ceiling are all azure-green in color!’

Teng Qingshan gasped.

Such a maze was very troublesome. Normally, there would be only one correct way, while all the rest led to dead ends! And if one step was wrong, it would affect all the steps following after it! In his previous life, Teng Qingshan had only practiced this type of maze training as a pastime.

‘This Heavenly Flood Palace is at least a dozen li wide! A passageway is around twenty zhang…… If I calculate it this way, there are, at the very least, ten thousand passageways in this palace! And I haven’t even took into account the small and narrow ones…’ Teng Qingshan instantly calculated, his facial expression changing slightly.

Without a map, Teng Qingshan would have to rely on the exclusion method, and remember each passageway, eliminating them one by one so that he could find the way out.

Even with his memory and specially trained ability, it was possible that he would not find the way out even within one year, and then he would have starved to death after such a long time.

“If I could start eliminating paths from the entrance, and search the only right way, I might be able succeed within ten to fifteen days. The passageway at the entrance must be right. But it’s become troublesome now… because I am already inside the maze.”

Teng Qingshan looked back at Qing Hu Island’s Yuwen Liufeng and Elder Hu, who were still at the gathering location, and thought, “If they want to escape, they wouldn’t sprint off and draw other people’s attention.” Teng Qingshan ran to the next passageway, and scrutinized for some time. As expected——

All passageways were the same.

‘Go back!’

Teng Qingshan speedily dashed back to the first passageway. At this moment, Yuwen Liufeng and Elder Hu were still there. Teng Qingshan could hear the discussions in the distance, “It’s the same everywhere! It’s completely dark and the passageways lead to dead ends!”

“It’s a maze!”

“I don’t know each way to go.”

“I walked into two passageways and immediately lost the way after I turned to glance at the surroundings. If I hadn’t heard the group talking, and followed the sounds, I wouldn’t have found my way back.”

“The walls of this maze are all the same. It is very easy to go astray.”

The other innate experts were scared when they heard the others talk about their short explorations.

“I can see far away with my eyes, and I know the trick to solving this kind of maze, but I might not even find the right way within one year. As for them? Their eyes can’t see far…… Teng Qingshan pondered, “If it’s this kind of maze, Emperor Yu would definitely leave a map!”

Teng Qingshan scanned Qing Hu Island’s group of men.

‘Eh?’ Teng Qingshan sneered and headed towards the group of people.

……

Previously, when Yuwen Liufeng and Elder Hu had advised the four True Dan innate experts, they had also secretly instructed, “After you guys spread out and explore, don’t come back here. We will gather at the first passageway on the left.”

The experts of the other sects thought that the men of Qing Hu Island were exploring, but in reality, the men of Qing Hu Island were secretly moving to another spot. The four True Dan innate experts had already moved to the first passageway on the left. As for Yuwen Liufeng and Elder Hu, they were still waiting for the best time when to move.

Yuwen Liufeng and Elder Hu were already standing rather far away from the group of people. They were seven to eight zhang away, and only a few of the other experts were keeping an eye on them.

“Go!”

Almost at the same time, Yuwen Liufeng and Elder Hu dissolved the Innate True Origin on their bodies and were immediately swallowed by darkness.

Whew! Whew!

The two quietly ran to the left. They weren’t using their Innate True Origins anymore in this completely dark environment, and so the others couldn’t see. The two of them also remembered the way ahead, and could still head to the assembly location even though they couldn’t see.

“You two from Qing Hu Island, where are you guys going?” a loud and clear voice rang in the palace’s passageways, echoing continuously.

“They are escaping!”

“Qing Hu Island’s people are running away!” The innate experts formed their glowing bubbles and ran in their general direction.

In a second, Teng Qingshan and two other innate experts had started running towards the passageway on the left side. The large group of blind people spread out and ran onto different paths, but Teng Qingshan could see all this very clearly from afar.

At that moment, the six men of Qing Hu Island were still in the passageway on the left.

“They are here!”

As the shout rang out, the group of innate experts gathered towards the sound, Teng Qingshan already there, staring at the six men of Qing Hu Island. The six experts all had surprised and angered expressions. They did not know the way ahead and if they didn’t use the glow of their Innate True Origins and ran around recklessly like blind people, they would bump into walls very easily.

However, if they did use the glow of their Innate True Origins, they would be easily noticed by others.

“Why did they react so fast?” Yuwen Liufeng and the other five couldn’t believe it.

“Why are they running?”

“If we want to walk out of this maze, it’s as difficult as climbing up to the heavens! This maze must have a map!” Sounds of discussions echoed. Hearing the talk, a smile uncontrollably crept up Teng Qingshan’s face.