The Nine Cauldrons

Underground Pursuit

The inn had completely transformed into a heap of ruins. The ground on which the backyard of the inn was located had cracked, and terrifying ravines appeared. It was as if an earthquake had happened. The deep well even collapsed and was buried under the crushed rocks and soil!

“He jumped into a well and escaped?”

Zhao Danchen and the three Golden Dan Innate Experts that dashed forward couldn't help but freeze as they saw Teng Qingshan jump into the well.

No one expected that…...

Teng Qingshan would actually jump into a well! The bottom of the well wouldn't be very big, thus it would be very easy for Zhao Danchen and the others to find Teng Qingshan if they went in.

“Haha, bastards of Qinghu Island! Do you think you guys can catch me, Teng Qingshan?” A roar came from beneath the earth.

“He's courting death!”

Zhao Danchen’s facial expression looked very bad. He instantly transformed into a blurred gold-colored figure and dived towards the location of the deep well. Simultaneously, the precious sword seemed to have enlarged in his hand and pierced into the the rocks, mud and the deep well buried beneath. “Boom!” A sound was heard, and a three zhangs wide passageway which reaches to the bottom of the well was blasted.

“Let's go down!” The thin silver-haired elder frowned and roared.

Immediately, the muscular man and the beautiful young lady darted into the bottom of the well with the elder.

At the bottom of the well!

“Huahua~~~” The water in the well had turned muddy.

“Eh? Where did he go?” Fully enveloped in the light of the Innate True Origin, Zhao Danchen plunged into the water in the well. The bottom of the well wasn't very deep and the wall of the well had broken. Thick and solid mud and some crushed pieces of rocks appeared behind the wall of the well.

Some underground water seeped through the cracks of the rocks and the mud.

“Break!” Zhao Danchen’s face turned cold and the light of the long sword in his hand intensified, transforming into an enormous beam of swordlight which pierced towards the bottom of the well. Before the Golden Dan Innate Experts, even the rock layers would be crushed, let alone this mud! Normally, when people dug wells, they would only dig until the layers of soil and wouldn't dig to the layers of rock.

“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” …….

The swordlight instantly blasted the mud away and revealed a big deep pit. Zhao Danchen immediately looked around the deep pit, wishing to find some clues or trails. Walla~ The mud that was blasted to the side soon collapsed again, burying over half of the deep pit. The water underground was also flowing slowly.

“Brother Zhao, did you find that Teng Qingshan?” The three men of the Emperor Yu’s Hall came to Zhao Danchen’s side.

“No!” Zhao Danchen frowned and looked around.

“We were only a second slower than Teng Qingshan, how is it possible that we can’t find his trail? You can only move ten to twenty zhangs underground in one second. Brother Zhao’s swordlight should be able to find his trail.” The beautiful young lady looked around with her brows furrowed. “This well is not very deep! There is mud everywhere. With some big movements, the mud would easily collapse and cover the trail. If it was rocks…..we would have found him already.”

The thin elder whispered, “Don’t worry, everyone! It’s all thick and solid mud. If Teng Qingshan wanted to drill into the earth to escape, he would definitely make sounds.”

“But we don’t hear any conspicuous sounds. It’s just the sound of the underground water flowing through the mud and the cracks of the rock.” The muscular elder frowned.

“Hmph!”

Zhao Danchen humphed, “We were only a second slower than him, therefore, he must still be somewhere underground. He’s just afraid that we would find his location through the noises emitted when he drills through earth to escape…...Therefore, he must remain motionless and silent now.

“Brother Zhao’s words make sense. If we left now, it would mean that we were fooled by him!” The skinny silver-haired elder nodded.

At the bottom of the well, the four Golden Dan Innate Experts pricked their ears and focused on listening, determined to not miss any sounds.

“We must catch Teng Qingshan quickly. I will have to trouble Brother Du and you two.” Zhao Danchen whispered.

“Brother Zhao, just tell us if there’s anything we can do to help. Of course we will help.” The skinny silver-haired elder Du Xuan whispered, “Plus, this time, Emperor Yu’s Hall and Qing Hu Island trapped Teng Qingshan with so many men. If we still let that Teng Qingshan escape, the world would laugh at us.”

“Yes!” Zhao Danchen nodded.

As Zhao Danchen recalled that Teng Qingshan shouted ‘Bastards of Qinghu Island! Do you think you guys can catch me, Teng Qingshan?’ The entire Wu City must have heard his shout.

“Teng Qingshan is really terrible!” Even more hatred harbored in Zhao Danchen’s heart as he thought, “Because he shouted, everyone in Wu City knows! We can’t even keep it a secret now!”

Zhao Danchen immediately tried to calm himself down.

“Let’s separate.” Zhao Danchen lowered his voice and said, “We have four people. I will go in front while Brother Du moves backwards and the other two move left and right. All four of us must move forward in our own direction slowly. Simultaneously, we can also use the Innate True Origin to pierce through the mud and search for Teng Qingshan’s location. Also, be as quiet as possible! Try to control the Innate True Origin piercing through the mud! Don’t make any loud noises.”

“Alright.”

The three Golden Dan Innate Experts of the Emperor Yu’s Hall were very straightforward.

“He must still be within an area of a hundred zhangs. All four of us must be careful. Search everywhere in the surroundings. If he doesn’t move, we will definitely find him, but if he moves, he will definitely make sounds! Once he makes any sounds, we will definitely catch him with our speed!”

Zhao Danchen was very confident as he said, “Let’s go!”

Immediately, Qing Hu Island and the Emperor Yu’s Hall combined forces. The four Golden Dan Innate Experts separated. With the light of the Innate True Origin enveloping their bodies, they began moving a step forward as they opened up the mud!

They didn’t dare to go fast, and tried to keep their volume down!

“Teng Qingshan, you won’t be able to escape!” Zhao Danchen roared furiously in his heart. The beams of golden light shot upward, downward, and in front like arrows! Because the Innate True Origin was restrained, each beam of sword light only made a deep hole as thick as a baby’s arm, and each beam of light shot a distance of twenty to thirty zhangs.

The four Golden Dan Innate Experts obviously wanted to search the surrounding area of one hundred lis.

It was very easy to them.

At this moment——

Thirty lis left of the Du Xuan, the expert of the Emperor Yu’s Hall, Teng Qingshan, enveloped by the fiery red light, was underneath the muddy ground, pressed down by the mud. Because Teng Qingshan was far away from the four Golden Dan Innate Experts and because he was in the mud, he did not hear the whispers of those four.

“Eh?” Teng Qingshan frowned.

Pu! Pu! Pu!

Soft sounds rang repeatedly.

“They are searching underground? They should be using the Innate True Origin to pierce through the mud in order to find me!” A smile appeared on Teng Qingshan’s face as he said to himself, “Zhao Danchen...Zhao Danchen...If it was just you alone, I would play with you for an even longer time. However, looking at the speed of those three helpers, they should be Golden Dan Innate Experts! They must be men of the Emperor Yu’s Hall!”

“I must be right! This Splitting Mountain Axe belonged to Emperor Yu. It’s normal for the men of the Emperor Yu’s Hall to desire to possess it.”

Pu! Pu!

The sounds of the Innate True Origin shooting through the mud were approaching.

“Looks like they are about to find me! I don’t want to play with you guys anymore.”

A smile appeared on Teng Qingshan’s face. The fiery red glow which enveloped Teng Qingshan instantly changed into the shape of a bullet. The shape of the Innate True Origin could change at Teng Qingshan’s will, and changing into the shape of a bullet was very easy.

Simultaneously——

A bulging helical structure was on the surface of the bullet-shape.

The light which enveloped Teng Qingshan’s body seemed to have transformed into an electric drill. Yet, Teng Qingshan’s limbs were not enveloped by the light of the Innate True Origin and this was because the invincibility of Teng Qingshan’s limbs could be compared with treasures like Darksteel. At this very moment, Teng Qingshan looked like a reptile as he moved with the aid of his hands and feet.

Bang! Bang!

As Teng Qingshan kicked the mud, a powerful force was immediately produced. With this force, the bullet-shaped electrical drill darted forward.

“Xiu!”

Teng Qingshan seemed like a streak of light, piercing through the mud in an instant and disappearing into thin air.

“You guys want to catch me? In your dreams!” Teng Qingshan’s speed was incredibly fast in the mud.

In his previous world, when the bit of an electrical drill moved, it could easily pierce through a steel plate, rocks, etc. Thus, of course it was easy when the ‘electrical drill’ formed with Teng Qingshan’s Innate True Origin wanted to drill through mud.

This huge-sized electrical drill of Teng Qingshan had the shape of a streamlined bullet, decreasing the force of resistance to the lowest.

The helical pattern could even use the strength of the mud and move forward rapidly.

With the push of the legs, the speed would be even more incredible!

The tip of the Reincarnation Spear was used as the drill bit of the Electrical drill, which consumed the most energy. With a speartip forged with the Millennium Coldsteel piercing through the mud, of course it was easy.

“It’s just like a pangolin, the kind of animals that are able to move rapidly underground, or the kind of animals that are adept in escaping underground; the body shape of these animals was an advantage! For example, the pangolin has a cone-shaped body! However…...to move rapidly in the mud, the most suitable shape is the form of the streamlined electric drill.”

Teng Qingshan was very fast in the mud at this moment.

It was to the point that Teng Qingshan didn’t even feel any forces of resistance.

……

“Teng Qingshan is here!” The skinny silver-haired elder shouted.

Whew! Whew! Whew!

Immediately, Zhao Danchen and the other two Golden Dan Innate Experts of the Emperor Yu’s Hall dashed over in lightning speed. As for the skinny silver-haired elder Du Xuan, he followed the sound and immediately started pursuing.

A few moments later, the four gathered.

“Where is he?” Zhao Danchen and the other two looked at Du Xuan.

Du Xuan shook his head and said unbelievably, “The sound was very loud just now and I immediately pursued with my fastest speed. However…..I realized that the sound was getting farther and farther away from me. I couldn’t even hear the sound anymore just now.

“Impossible! How can his speed be that fast?” Zhao Danchen’s facial expression immediately changed drastically.

“I heard the sound just now. It was very loud!” The beautiful young lady frowned and said, “But the sound was soon gone!”

If they were on land, they might be faster than Teng Qingshan.

But there was a great difference regarding the speed underground.

These people searched for a long time in the mud before they chose to give up.

At the bottom of the well.

Zhao Danchen and the other three returned to the well. At this moment, Zhao Danchen’s facial expression looked ghastly.

Teng Qingshan wasn’t caught! If this spread out, it would be very embarrassing.

“Haha…..” Suddenly, a loud guffaw sounded outside the well. The laughter resounded in the heavens and earth. “Zhao Danchen... The other three should be the Law Enforcing Elders of the Emperor Yu’s Hall, right……. Haha, Zhao Danchen, if you want to catch me, go back and train for fifty more years.”

Hearing this, the facial expressions of Zhao Danchen and the other three immediately changed.

“It’s Teng Qingshan!” Zhao Danchen immediately rushed out of the well.

“Where did Teng Qingshan go?” Du Xuan and the others were very shocked as they speeded out of the well.

A few seconds after the four left the well.

In the muddy waters in the well, a figure appeared out of nowhere. This figure appeared blurry at first, but the image soon solidified. With black long hair, this person wore a black long cloak and carried a godly sword in a black sheath on his back. The eyes below his white brows looked surprised as he said to himself, “Teng Qingshan is truly adept in camouflaging and escaping. Even the four Golden Dan Innate Experts couldn't find him.”

With this, the figure flashed and disappeared into thin air.