The Nine Cauldrons
Book 4: Vermillion Tiger Fist Chapter 5: Martial Pavilion

It was morning, as the rising sun shone its gentle autumn rays of light onto the green, two-story building, completely blanketing it with a dreamy orange color. The moss and the marks on the stone walls all showed the old age of the stone building!

Near the roof of the building, two confident words were flamboyantly displayed — Martial Pavilion!

“Qingshan, this place, the Martial Pavilion, is where all of Gui Yuan Sect’s secret manuals are kept!” Zhuge Yuanhong showed a faint smile. “The Martial Pavilion has been here ever since the founding of our Gui Yuan Sect. As of today, it already has a history of over a thousand years!”

“Sovereign!”

There were two disciples standing on guard at the entrance of the Martial Pavilion. They quickly bowed and greeted when they saw Zhuge Yuanhong.

Teng Qingshan followed Zhuge Yuanhong into the Martial Pavilion. Looking around, he saw the first floor filled with many bookshelves, each storing many secret manuals. “There are probably hundreds of secret manuals contained on this floor alone!” Teng Qingshan exclaimed to himself. “Alas, this is just as expected from a sect with a history of over a thousand years.”

“Those stored on the first and second floors are Human Grade and Mediocre secret manuals. Earth Grade secret manuals are stored underground. Follow me.” Zhuge Yuanhong said as he made his way inside, passing by many bookshelves.

“There are more underground?”

Teng Qingshan quickly followed. There was a desk in the corner of the first floor near the windows. There were wine flasks, wine cups, and books laid out on the desktop. A white haired old man was deep into a book whose pages had turned yellow.

“Martial Granduncle!” Zhuge Yuanhong called out.

Teng Qingshan was shocked. “The Martial Granduncle of my master? Commander Ji Hong was the Second Martial Uncle of my master! Then, this person must be the master of Ji Hong. Ji Hong is already over a hundred years old. This old man must also be over a hundred years old.” But there were so many people in the sect. It usually was not easy to accurately to guess someone’s age based on their seniority.

In Gui Yuan Sect, even an old man of seventy or eighty years old could still be addressed as a young man of twenty to thirty years old as Martial Uncle!

“Ahh! Oh, Sovereign.” It was only then that the white haired old man jolted awake.

“Martial Granduncle, Yuanhong did not bring the key for the door to the secret underground passage. I’ll have to trouble Martial Granduncle this time.” Zhuge Yuanhong said.

Teng Qingshan also noticed that the stairways to the secret passageway was behind the white haired old man.

“Sovereign, please wait one moment.” The old man immediately went down the stairs, and took out the key to open the black steel door. With a ‘kuang’ sound, the door opened.

“Hmmm…” Teng Qingshan threw a glance towards that book. At the top of the page that was opened and these words were written. ‘The second day, Zhang Ye held on to an exquisite metal bow and entered the mountain again. This time, he did not make the same mistake and successfully hunted down a wild boar’. Seeing these few lines, Teng Qingshan was a bit stunned. He could tell from there —

These were some random books recording unofficial history and such.

The old man threw a glance at Teng Qingshan and grinned. “Young man, you also like to read such random books? This is the unofficial history of our Yangzhou’s ‘Zhang Ye’, a towering figure of his generation, but it is an interesting read. If you like, I can lend you a book or two ?”

“No, it’s alright”.” Teng Qingshan said.

“Qingshan, Martial Granduncle is the one who guards the Martial Pavilion. You can call him Martial Elder.” Zhuge Yuanhong smiled.

“Qingshan pay his respects to Martial Elder.” Teng Qingshan bowed.

The eyes of the Martial Elder gleamed and squinted. “Oh? You are that Teng Qingshan?! I heard that Ji Hong that chap had stepped down from the position of First Commander and you had taken over! Mmm, good, good……That Ji Hong also, is already over a hundred years old, but still hogged the commander position. He should have stepped down long ago. He would not have lost an arm if he had stepped down.”

“Martial Elder, I will bring Qingshan in first.” Zhuge Yuanhong said.

“Älright, alright, I know you find me long-winded.” Martial Elder buried his head and began reading the transcript of unofficial history again.

Teng Qingshan did not know whether to laugh or cry.

Old kid, old kid!

This old man of over a hundred years old had an interesting temper.

They followed the stairways and entered the underground passageway. It was very dim in the underground passage. After they walked into the underground passageway for a distance of tens of zhang, the stone door was pushed open and they entered a spacious room. There were two altar lamps lit up, so it was not considered dark in the room. After Zhuge Yuanhong entered, he lit another two candles!

“Qingshan, these two bookshelves hold Earth level secret manuals!” Zhuge Yuanhong said.

Teng Qingshan also saw that there were two bookshelves on the two sides of the room, which almost covered the whole walls. There was many secret manuals on the bookshelves, but there were also rocks, metal pieces, bamboo pieces, and such.

“Amongst the secret manuals here, most of them are only records of some skills or the methods to channel and control the Innate True Origin.”

“The 《Dark Moon Spear Technique》 over there is the most treasured secret manual of the spear art of your Gui Yuan Sect. It includes the processes from achieving the innate realm all the way to reaching the ‘Golden Dan’ of the innate state, as well as the insights of the predecessors.” Zhuge Yuanhong pointed to a bookshelf in a distance.

Teng Qingshan immediately looked over.

There were thick layers of of sheepskin laid out into three stacks.

“This is……” Teng Qingshan was a bit astonished.

“Those sheepskin are the original records of the 《Dark Moon Spear Technique》! There are only detailed records of the methods of training, but not on the insights from the predecessors. Because paper was only invented a few hundred years ago, the original records of the secret manuals from further back were mostly recorded on stone tablets, metal plates, sheepskin, bamboo sheets, and such. That book over there are the copies. Take one!” Zhuge Yuanhong said.

There were three copies of the records of the 《Dark Moon Spear Technique》.

Teng Qingshan also noticed that all three books were exactly the same. He took one of them.

“It’s really thick!” Teng Qingshan casually flipped it open.

The 《Dark Moon Spear Technique》 was created by a strong warrior by the name of ‘Wu Kefan’. There are four main sections to it, including the postliminary realm, innate Emptiness Dan, the innate True Dan, as well as the innate Golden Dan.

“You can bring this secret manual back and study it slowly. Qingshan! Remember, this 《Dark Moon Spear Technique》 can be considered top grade amongst the Earth level Secret Manuals. Do not divulge the information contained in it to others!” Zhuge Yuanhong sternly instructed.

“Yes, master.” Teng Qingshan was also well aware.

The usual Earth level secret manual only recorded the training needed to achieve the state of the ‘Innate Emptiness Dan’. Some did not even have records on the realms, but only focused on the spear techniques.

On the other hand, this 《Dark Moon Spear Technique》 had everything from the postliminary real to the ‘Innate Golden Dan’.

Such secret manuals were hard to come by.

“With your talent, if you were to give up the spear and take up the sword, within three years, your sword skills would definitely catch up to your spear’s! By then, with the 《Gui Yuan Heart Technique》. The difficulty of your training would definitely be lower after you reach the innate realm!” Zhuge Yuanhong looked towards Teng Qingshan and said, “You chose 《Dark Moon Spear Technique》. Even if you were to regret it in the future, I will not give you the 《Gui Yuan Heart Technique》 again. You’ll have to decide carefully now.”

Teng Qingshan smiled.

“Master, I want to learn the art of the spear.” Teng Qingshan also understood what his master was thinking.

Three years? To get his sword skills to reach the level of his spear’s at present.

In three years time, he would probably have attained a new level in his spear art.

“You chose this path for yourself!” Zhuge Yuanhong looked stern. “You will need to depend on yourself in the future! In addition, in a few days time, on the 28th of September, your Martial Brother will have a battle with you! At that time……I hope that you will not hold back. If you are to win, do so cleanly!”

“Yes, master.” Teng Qingshan was a bit shocked.

Master was asking him not to hold back?

“But you shouldn’t be careless either. Your Martial Brother had devoted all his heart to his training and has seldom ventured out. While his reputation is not great, his skills are quite good.” After saying this, Zhuge Yuanhong extinguished the two candles. “Go now!”

Teng Qingshan followed behind Zhuge Yuanhong and left the Martial Pavilion.

Bang!

The door to the underground passage closed shut. Teng Qingshan and Zhuge Yuanhong quickly left the Martial Pavilion. Thereafter……Teng Qingshan headed for the Black Armored Army while Zhuge Yuanhong returned to his quarters.

In the evening, a cooling breeze was blowing and the yellowed leaves fell down gently.

Teng Qingshan sat cross-legged in the backyard, and his gaze fell on the 《Dark Moon Spear Technique》. The 《Dark Moon Spear Technique》 was laid out on the floor, flipped open. The page it was opened to had the records on how to achieve the innate realm!

“Based on the 《Dark Moon Spear Technique》, the most difficult step was for the ‘spirit’ to break through the Ni Wan Palace! My ‘spirit’ has already broken through the Ni Wan Palace and I am in the pinnacle of the postliminary realm. I need to be able to attain the “harmony of spirit and Qi’, in order for the spirit and inner strength to merge as one and become the Innate True Origin.” Teng Qingshan read the contents on this page for a few times.

Based on what the secret manual had recorded.

For the ‘spirit’ to break through the Ni Wan Palace, one must “focus the mental state on the Dan Tian, harmonize the spirit and Qi”. These simple words.

Based on the insights of the other three predecessors who had practiced the 《Dark Moon Spear Technique》.

“Focus the mental state on the Dan Tian, harmonize the spirit and Qi”

When one focused their mental state on the Dan Tian, it would also be the moment where the spirit and inner strength merged.

To create the first gush of ‘Innate True Origin’, amongst the three predecessors, the fastest one took only 2 hours. The slowest one took 3 days! In short, once one’s ‘spirit’ breaks through the Ni Wan Palace and achieved the pinnacle of the postliminary realm, it would not be hard to reach the innate realm. As for the amount of time taken, it should be related to the strength of one’s ‘spirit’!

“Hmm? My ‘spirit’ was already able to break through the Ni Wan Palace in my previous life. Having trained for so long, I would think that the state that I have reached should not be any lower than a strong warrior who achieved the state of the innate Emptiness Dan. With my ‘spirit’, I should be able to create the ‘Innate True Origin’ within two hours, but why……”

This afternoon, Teng Qingshan practiced for a whole four hours!

But he could still not create any ‘Innate True Origin’.

“What is going on?!”

Teng Qingshan shook his head and stood up, keeping the secret manual in his chest. “Get some food first. Amongst the three predecessors, it took the slowest one three whole days to achieve it. Mmmm, I will continue the training tonight.”

……

Teng Qingshan was not one to give up easily, but……A consecutive six days!

These six days, Teng Qingshan did not give a hoot about his upcoming battle with Zang Feng. His time and efforts had all been spent on how to reach the innate realm!

Teng Qingshan spent most of his time on this. However, even after six consecutive days of vigorous training, the inner strength in Teng Qingshan’s Dan Tian still did not create his first gush of ‘Innate True Origin’! This first gust of First True Origin was the most important. Once the first gush was created, it would be fast for the conversion in the future!

Within the six days, there was no changes his inner strength, but the intermittent training in his 《Godly Tiger Form Technique》 had gradually and consistently increased the strength of his body.

“The fastest one of the three predecessors who had practiced the 《Dark Moon Spear Technique》 had only taken two hours. The slowest one also only took three days. I have spent six days but there has been no change to my inner strength.” Teng Qingshan was confused. “What is the reason? I had achieved both the pinnacle of the postliminary realm and my spirit has already broken through the Ni Wan Palace! As compared to the other warriors, my unique trait is that my body is too strong! Could it be that the reason why I did not achieve innate realm is related to my body being too strong?”

Teng Qingshan was contemplating the reason!