"Everyone knows? Good!" Teng Qingshan's eyes narrowed, a cold light flashing. "The Yu Emperor's Treasure holds immense allure. Across the Nine Provinces, besides the Eight Great Sects, there are also hidden, powerful recluses. Once word gets out, even without certainty, they will come to investigate. A massive influx of masters will be more than enough for Qinghu Island to handle!"
The matter of his parents filled Teng Qingshan with a murderous intent toward Qinghu Island, leaving absolutely no room for negotiation.
However, if all the innate masters of Qinghu Island were gathered in one place, he wouldn't even have a chance to strike... This was the perfect scenario for 'fishing in troubled waters'! The more innate experts that arrived, the more chaotic the situation would become, and the easier it would be for Teng Qingshan to insert himself.
...
Teng Qingshan could already foresee the predicament of Qinghu Island, and naturally, Gu Yong and the other twelve innate experts could imagine the reaction of the world upon learning this secret!
Contemplating the difficulty, all twelve of Gu Yong's group began to worry!
"Who spread this news?" Zhao Danchen's sharp sword-like eyebrows furrowed, his gaze sweeping sharply around.
Gu Yong took a deep breath, his eyes narrowing, and said slowly in a low voice, "Qinghu Island only obtained this treasure map a few days ago. Furthermore, only the high echelon of Qinghu Island knows this secret. Many soldiers, though ordered to apprehend people, have no idea about the Yu Emperor's Treasure. The leak did not come from within Qinghu Island."
"Ironclad Sect!" the burly man in black robes growled, gnashing his teeth, "It must be those bastards from the Ironclad Sect!"
"We killed the Ironclad Sect Master 'Nie Rong' and all the Enforcement Elders. Every important elder and commanding figure was executed. Not a single one escaped! Do you think the remnants of the Ironclad Sect, those without standing, knew about the Yu Emperor's Treasure map?" the purple-robed woman frowned as she spoke.
"Those remnants of the Ironclad Sect had low status. Logically, they wouldn't be privy to this secret," Elder Yuwen Liufeng sneered, "But if this was a retaliatory move orchestrated by Nie Rong before his death, then it's possible!"
"Elder Yuwen, you suggest Nie Rong deliberately sought death by offering up this treasure map? Surely they wouldn't be so careless as to let us grow stronger by obtaining the Yu Emperor's Treasure? Your theory doesn't hold up!"
"I think Nie Rong didn't want to die! Now that he's dead and the map is in our hands, the Ironclad Sect remnants are resentful... So they exposed the news to cause Qinghu Island endless trouble!"
The innate experts began to argue among themselves.
"Enough!"
Gu Yong cursed in annoyance, his gaze chillingly sweeping over everyone. "The highest probability is that this is retaliation from the Ironclad Sect remnants! What we need to prepare for now is how to deal with the experts from the great sects who are about to arrive! Given the speed of top innate experts, their mounts must be at least 'Black Nightmare Horses' or 'Blood Dragon Horses.' If they received the news yesterday and set off, some experts should be arriving today!"
The Three Great Dragon Horses were the finest divine steeds capable of traversing five thousand li in a single day.
Moreover, besides the Three Great Dragon Horses, some sects possessed other special mounts for their innate experts, such as tamed demonic beasts. While demonic beasts were difficult to tame, among hundreds or thousands of species, a very small number could be domesticated through special methods.
And those taming methods were secrets not shared by some sects.
The speed of some formidable demonic beasts was in no way inferior to the Three Great Dragon Horses.
"Let's go up," Gu Yong commanded.
Immediately, the twelve innate experts shot into the sky like lightning, occasionally leveraging the strength of the vines. In an instant, these twelve innate experts soared out of the bottomless pit hundreds of feet deep. At the location of the pit, they erected a military tent. Covered by the tent, outsiders could not know... that the tent was pitched exactly over the bottomless pit.
...
At a turning corner of the underground waterway at the bottom of the bottomless pit, Teng Qingshan leaned against the damp rock wall, took the bundle off his back, and untied the tightly knotted rope securing the opening. The bundle was custom-made for Teng Qingshan, containing Silkworm Silk and other materials, with a leather exterior, making it absolutely waterproof.
He took out some dry rations and ate a little.
Although Teng Qingshan could go for a long time without eating, consuming food invigorated one's vital energy and clarified the mind.
Deep within the damp cavern, a blood-soaked human body lay on the cold ground—it was the severely wounded Teng Yongfan!
"Drip!"
A milky white droplet slowly seeped out from a crack in the rock wall above, taking a long time to drop a single bead. Teng Yongfan kept his eyes closed, mouth slightly open, waiting for the drop.
In fact, in this deep subterranean environment, finding water to replenish bodily fluids was easy. Some small depressions in the damp caves held accumulated water. But for Teng Yongfan in his current state, drinking water offered little benefit. The milky-white fluid he waited so long for had a special effect.
Teng Yongfan, lying motionless, retained complete clarity of mind.
Suddenly—
Teng Yongfan's eyes snapped open, an endless yearning and determination burning within them!
"Heaven has not abandoned me!" Teng Yongfan looked up at the crack in the cliff face above.
He still clearly remembered the sequence of events from dusk yesterday until now.
He had originally prepared to perish together with the Silver Flood Dragon Army soldiers, but the sudden appearance of the demonic beast, the 'Black Iron Centipede,' had given him a sliver of hope! Those soldiers, facing mortal danger, couldn't concern themselves with Teng Yongfan... Teng Yongfan knew well that his lower body was completely immobilized, making escape from the Silver Flood Dragon Army's range impossible.
Let alone the Silver Flood Dragon Army, the Black Iron Centipede alone could likely kill him.
So, at that moment, Teng Yongfan grit his teeth and, regardless of the consequences, pushed off with both arms, leaping toward the bottomless pit! Even with such decisive action, he still had most of one leg torn off by the Black Iron Centipede! However, the centipede, busy chasing down and killing numerous Silver Flood Dragon Army soldiers, gave Teng Yongfan just enough time to escape to the bottom of the pit.
At the bottom of the waterway, Teng Yongfan was bleeding profusely.
He had no choice but to immediately use cloth strips to tightly bind the severed artery above his left thigh to stop the flow of blood.
In the icy bottom of the waterway, there were countless dense holes, resembling a honeycomb.
Using his nose, Teng Yongfan chose a tunnel that had almost no stench of the Black Iron Centipede... The absence of the foul smell suggested that the Black Iron Centipede rarely entered this passage. Teng Yongfan crawled nearly a hundred zhang deep into the tunnel in one go. Severely blood-depleted, he was so exhausted that he directly fainted!
Without food, suffering massive blood loss, feeling faint and weak, it was impossible for Teng Yongfan to rely only on his arms to crawl that far, and then climb the vines to the exit of the bottomless pit!
"Heaven has not abandoned me; I never expected this milky white droplet to have such a miraculous effect!" Teng Yongfan sighed inwardly. After escaping into the tunnel and passing out, he woke up not long after... The reason he woke was that the milky white droplet fell onto his hand; its piercing coldness shocked him awake.
This milky white water droplet was extremely cold!
Teng Yongfan cautiously tasted a drop and felt a chilling coolness spread throughout his body. His body, previously weak and soft from exhaustion, gradually regained strength. Moreover, this icy coolness cleared the dizziness brought on by blood loss.
A night passed, and Teng Yongfan felt his body's strength recover significantly.
The reason he remained motionless was to conserve energy!
"I haven't eaten anything substantial in a long time! While this milky white droplet is strange, it can't solve hunger," Teng Yongfan knew clearly. "Even the most miraculous item has limited effects. Without replenishment from food, after losing so much blood, my strength will only decrease gradually... If I don't leave soon, waiting longer will mean I run out of time to escape."
...
Using his arms as two legs, he moved slowly forward.
"There are so many tunnels in this waterway. That demonic beast is probably not alone. Once discovered by a beast, I will surely die," Teng Yongfan advanced with extreme caution. He surmised that the Silver Flood Dragon Army soldiers who went down to investigate the bottomless pit were likely pursued by the beast because they made too much noise and were detected.
Moving slowly, after a long time—
Teng Yongfan was only five or six zhang away from the mouth of this tunnel. Once past these few feet, he would enter the main waterway.
"Whoosh~~" A sound of rushing water suddenly echoed.
"Hm?" Teng Yongfan was greatly alarmed and froze instantly.
At five or six zhang away, Teng Yongfan's vision could barely make out a dark shadow sweeping past the tunnel entrance, and a fishy odor permeated the air.
Upon smelling the stench, Teng Yongfan's face changed drastically. "It's that demonic beast!"
This fishy odor was something Teng Yongfan would never forget as long as he lived. This was precisely the stench of the 'Black Iron Centipede'... Clearly, he was right. There was more than one Black Iron Centipede inhabiting these dense tunnels!
Teng Yongfan was an insignificant figure, so he had to struggle for his life.
The innate experts standing at the peak of the Nine Provinces, however, were consumed by greed and madness over the Yu Emperor's Treasure.
...
At the foot of Great Yan Mountain.
"Haha, Brother Wang! In my opinion, given Gu Yong's temperament, it will be hard for him to allow Qinghu Island to share even a morsel with us," a refined middle-aged man dressed in a purple robe laughed. The back of his robe was embroidered with the pattern of a Green Edge Sword, and he was walking casually down the main road with his hands behind his back.
Along with him, five others walked the official road empty-handed.
Besides these six, there were five men dressed uniformly in scale armor, leading Black Wolves. The five Black Wolves led by the foremost man were each larger than an ordinary warhorse.
"Elder Shi!" the burly man with four braids, who was leading a Black Wolf, spoke up. "Hmph, it's the general trend! How can Qinghu Island possibly stop everyone? However, whether the Yu Emperor's Treasure is real is still debatable! You from the Carefree Palace and our Sun-Shooting Divine Mountain can join forces to pressure them! If Gu Yong dares not let us search, then the Yu Emperor's Treasure is indeed real!"
Just then—
The sound of hooves rang out, and dozens of warhorses quickly caught up from behind.
"Venerable One!" Dozens of riders jumped down, one of them kneeling respectfully on one knee.
The burly man with four braids, clad in scale armor, glanced down at him disdainfully and snorted, "News from the Divine Mountain should have reached Jiangning Commandery City early this morning! The disciples of the Carefree Palace already collected their Elder's warhorses. But you... you only arrived now."
The leading man broke out in a sweat but dared not argue.
"Take the five Ink Wolves and go. Take good care of them. If you fail in your duties again... Hmph," the burly man grunted coldly. "Go."
"Yes, Venerable One."
The leading man respectfully arranged for men to lead away the five Ink Wolves. The Sun-Shooting Divine Mountain was located in Yan Province. As the foremost sect in Yan Province, which itself was the southernmost province of the Nine Provinces, it was characterized by dense forests and proximity to the barren lands. Taming Ink Wolves was one of the great secrets of the Sun-Shooting Divine Mountain. Each Ink Wolf was extremely precious.
These several dozen men took the five Ink Wolves and swiftly departed.
The eleven experts from the Carefree Palace and Sun-Shooting Divine Mountain then entered the mountains and advanced a short distance within the peaks.
"Look, in the sky," a bald, lean man from the Sun-Shooting Divine Mountain, carrying a black heavy bow, looked up.
The other ten experts immediately followed his gaze.
They saw five Snow Eagles slowly circling high above Great Yan Mountain.
"The speed of the Snow Eagles is truly fast. Even though they are far north in Yan Province, the people from the Snow Eagle Sect have already arrived," a bald old man in a purple robe chuckled.