The Nine Cauldrons

A thorough investigation

Bai Qi’s entire thigh and left arm had been chopped off. Even though Bai Qi had sealed his meridians, blood still kept flowing from his wounds.

Bai Qi’s face was pale white as his eyes gradually became dim.

“Quick, quick. Help me stop the bleeding. Quick!” Bai Qi hastily said with a weak voice.

Tian Dan, who was on the side, became worried and immediately stooped down to rip Bai Qi’s already torn outer garment into strips of cloth, tying the severed limbs tight. Since one of his thighs had been chopped off directly, sealing the meridians wasn’t very effective at slowing down the blood loss. If the bleeding continued, he could die due to the blood loss.

The wounds on his right thigh and left arm had stopped bleeding.

Bai Qi’s lips were pallid, and his face was ashen and bloodless. His eyes had dimmed, and he seemed to have begun to doze off.

“Quick, carry the Lieutenant up the mountain!” Teng Qingshan commanded the soldiers loudly, “And you two! Go to Huafeng City by horse and find the best doctor in Huafeng City! Quick!”

“Yes, My Lord!”

These soldiers were also shocked, as the Lord Lieutenant was the leader of the battalion of the Black Armored Army here. Immediately, two soldiers ran towards the place that held the war horses, while the other soldiers helped carry Bai Qi as they ran up the mountain.

Teng Qingshan and Tian Dan followed behind them.

Tian Dan still had a shocked expression as he turned to look at Teng Qingshan, saying, “Brother Qingshan, our fun has turned into something bad!”

“Indeed!” Teng Qingshan nodded in response.

If Teng Qingshan and Tian Dan had shown up in the first place, and scared those people away, everything would’ve been fine. In actuality, both Teng Qingshan and Tian Dan had wanted to see Bai Qi suffer a loss, but when they saw Bai Qi start to gain the upper hand, they’d felt displeased. However, who would’ve thought that the moment that they turned their heads away, Bai Qi would get done in.

“We’re not the ones to be blamed! We didn’t have any thoughts of harming him. Who could’ve known that the young fellow actually had such a ruthless concealed weapon! If something has to be blamed, then Bai Qi’s bad luck should be to blame!” Tian Dan said with a sneer.

Out of the people who ventured around this world, none of them could be considered cowards.

“Brother Qingshan, the things that we saw secretly… it’d be better if we didn’t tell anyone. Although it’s not a big thing, it would still cause an endless amount of trouble if it was investigated.”

Teng Qingshan nodded and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, I won’t look for trouble.”

For a lieutenant of the Black Armored Army to end up this way, the Gui Yuan Sect definitely wouldn’t let it go easily.

“If you and I don’t tell, no one will know,” Tian Dan chuckled and said, “To be honest, I, your brother, felt really great when I saw Bai Qi having this day! Haha. In the past, I saw him abuse his power, but even he himself would never have expected this day to come! Hehe. He brought this upon himself, and no one else is to be blamed.”

Teng Qingshan looked up the mountain road at Bai Qi who was being carried on a soldier’s back. Originally, Teng Qingshan had never liked Bai Qi.

“His whole life is ruined!” Teng Qingshan said indifferently.

“With one leg gone, he won’t be able to walk, and one of his arms was severed too. It’s ruined! It’s the end for him.” Tian Dan stared at the bag of Purple Gold in Teng Qingshan’s hand and laughed, “But who can he blame? It was obvious that Bai Qi wanted this bag of Purple Gold, thus, he acted in secret so that he could take this bag of Purple Gold for himself. He tried to steal a chicken but ended up losing the rice used to lure it. Even if his life is ruined, he can’t blame anyone!”

Teng Qingshan cast a glance at the bag of Purple Gold in his hand.

“Riches excite the greed inside of men.” Teng Qingshan knew clearly about the power of money. In his previous life, many hitmen of the Dark World had killed people because they had accepted the request for the money.

Money and authority had possessed endless power since ancient times.

……

When the soldiers carried the disabled and unconscious Bai Qi up the mountain, the whole mining area became filled with agitation, and all the black armored soldiers were shocked.

From afar, the captain of the Huafeng City Guards, Hu Tong, stared at the black armored soldiers carrying Bai Qi away. His facial expression looked ghastly as he said to himself, “I knew it! Nothing good would happen when that Bai Qi followed. As expected! That Dong Yan is really ruthless, such that even Bai Qi lost to him!”

“Now we’re in trouble, big trouble!”

At the mining area, Hu Tong’s forehead was dripping with sweat while his mind was in chaos.

Bai Qi’s leg and arm were severed! It was all over! The Gui Yuan Sect definitely wouldn’t let it go easily! Once the investigation was started…… During that time, Bai Qi had followed Dong Yan’s subordinate down the mountain, and had also seen Hu Tong doing the body check. “He probably knows that I was bribed!” Hu Tong was extremely nervous.

The mining area was a place that the Gui Yuan Sect valued greatly.

Whoever dared to be bribed, would be sentenced to death if discovered!

“No, Bai Qi might not have noticed that it was me that searched the middle-aged man. Maybe he won’t get me into trouble.” Drops of sweat dripped down Hu Tong’s forehead, but he himself didn’t notice it.

At this moment, he still felt unwilling, unwilling that he himself would just end this way, and a sense of hope existed within his heart.

He gnashed his teeth and spoke!

“It’s alright if I lose this position, my life is more important. Whatever! I’ll prepare first! I’ll go back to Huafeng City first, and watch how the situation goes before I do anything!” Hu Tong had already made up his mind secretly.

In the mining area, outside Bai Qi’s residence, the five centurions had gathered together.

“Lieutenant Bai Qi fell to this state, what should we do now?” Shorty Liu He was slightly nervous as he spoke, “The lieutenant of this mining garrison. If our superiors blamed us…!”

“Hmph, Sovereign and the others aren’t that foolish.” The lanky Wan Fanxiang narrowed his eyes and sneered, “We all know the whole course of the incident. It’s just Bai Qi himself coveting riches, thus, who can he blame? Don’t even mention being disabled, he can only accept it — even if he had died!”

At this moment, Wan Fanxiang was entirely looking down upon Bai Qi.

Because of his status of “Lieutenant, ” Bai Qi was respected by everyone in the past, but now that he’d become disabled, it wouldn’t be possible for him to be lieutenant. Naturally, some people already had no regards for Bai Qi in their hearts.

“Why talk about these useless things.” Tian Dan yelled, “There’re three things we need to do now. First, get a doctor for Lieutenant Bai Qi. Second, so much Purple Gold was found — how was it smuggled out? Third, spread this news to the Jiangning County City, and have the Commanders and Sovereign decide!”

Du Hong and Teng Qingshan also agreed with what Tian Dan said.

“We’ve asked for a doctor!” Du Hong said clearly, “How’s this? I’ll bring some men with me back to the Jiangning County City, and tell the commanders this news personally.”

“Yeah! We will trouble you with this then.” Tian Dan nodded.

Teng Qingshan and the others immediately divided the work. Du Hong personally led over a dozen black armored soldiers, and rode towards Jiangning County City at full speed. Teng Qingshan and the other four centurions began the serious investigation on how the Purple Gold was smuggled out.

A thorough investigation!

……

Teng Qingshan, Tian Dan, and the other three centurions were together.

“Have your men found any useful information?” Teng Qingshan looked towards the other three as he asked, “I’ve got nothing here!”

“Nope!” Tian Dan shook his head.

“We couldn’t find anything.” Wan Fanxiang and Liu He also shook their heads. Wan Fanxiang cursed, “Those motherf*ckers used some clever methods! The Purple Gold Mining Area was very heavily-guarded, yet they were actually able to take ten Jin of Purple Gold out. How did they smuggle it out!”

Tian Dan spoke, “We only know a little information right now. The dead man is called Old Li San, and works at the second mining area to the south. He worked at the Gold Mining Area, so how did he get Purple Gold?”

Hearing this question, Teng Qingshan’s brow also furrowed.

It was impossible for the workers of the Purple Gold Mining Area to get into contact with the workers of the other four mining areas. Even their living regions were separated so that it was impossible to meet each other.

“There are two possibilities.” Teng Qingshan said as he furrowed his brow, “Firstly, there’s a traitor among the one hundred black armored soldiers guarding. He secretly obtained the Purple Gold, and thought of a way to give it to Old Li San! However, the black armored soldiers guarding the Purple Gold mining area aren’t allowed to leave their own region; they’re also under the strictest control. Therefore, the probability of a traitor among them isn’t high!

Of the guards at the five great mining areas, the guards at the Purple Gold mining area were the unluckiest ones.

Teng Qingshan was finally experiencing it. Among the five centurions, he himself was the one under the greatest pressure!

Because, during this case of Bai Qi being disabled, the most serious thing wasn’t Bai Qi being disabled — but the 10 Jin of Purple Gold that was taken out!

Ten Jin of Purple Gold is one million silver taels! And this is a huge amount of money!

Bai Qi was nothing to the Gui Yuan Sect, since there were numerous postliminary experts, thus, Bai Qi’s life wasn’t worth one million silver taels!

“10 Jin of Purple Gold were stolen this time, and another 10 Jin could be stolen next time!” Teng Qingshan said solemnly, “The Gui Yuan Sect definitely won’t allow this kind of thing to happen! Bai Qi being disabled is something small, but the Purple Gold being stolen and smuggled out is a big thing. We must find out the way that the Purple Gold was smuggled out. If we don’t……we won’t be able to live a smooth and steady life.”

The other three centurions nodded.

The Tie Lian Mountain Gold Mine was the Gui Yuan Sect’s precious treasure. Even Qing Hu Island and the other forces were jealous, and the Gui Yuan Sect protected this treasure with all of its effort.

Now someone actually had the audacity to steal Purple Gold — how could the Gui Yuan Sect tolerate this?

“Brother Qingshan, you just said that there were two possibilities as to how the Purple Gold was smuggled out. The first possibility was a traitor amongst the Black Armored Soldiers, what about the other one?” Tian Dan asked.

Teng Qingshan gazed at the mine cave in the distance, “Mining caves are deep and serene. The miners will dig downwards with all their effort in order to extract Purple Gold! As years have passed, many kinds of tunnels must exist within the cave. I’m guessing… is it possible that an underground area, which connects the Purple Gold Mining Area and Gold Mining Area, was dug through, causing the workers of the Purple Gold Mining Area and the Gold Mining Area to meet?”

Tian Dan and Wan Fanxiang froze.

However, Liu He shook his head and said, “Brother Qingshan, don’t the guards here inspect quite often? The guards and black armored soldiers of the gold mining area will head down to inspect. If the two areas were connected, it should’ve been found.”

“It could’ve been connected, but sealed off again. “ Teng Qingshan spoke, “This isn’t impossible.”

In the depth of Teng Qingshan’s heart, he couldn’t believe that one of the soldiers under him was a traitor, because of the strict discipline of the Gui Yuan Sect, and that once they were discovered it would bring unbearable consequences.

“Investigate. We can only investigate with all of our effort.” Tian Dan said.

“It’ll be fine if we just do our best. If we can’t find anything, there’s nothing we can do.

“Lords, Lord Lieutenant is awake! ” Suddenly, the black armored soldier taking care of Bai Qi dashed towards Teng Qingshan and the others.

“Awake?” Teng Qingshan and the other three immediately stood up.

“Ask Bai Qi. He must know something.” Tian Dan said, “Otherwise, why would he pursue and kill that Old Li San.”

The four centurions immediately ran towards Bai Qi’s residence.