The Nine Cauldrons Book 3: Black Armored Army - Chapter 18: A move of heart?

Book 3 Chapter 18 A move of heart?
Zhuge Yun he and his sister Zhuge Qing, who had already taken off her veil, were walking on a small path within the Gui Yuan Sect.
“Sister,” Zhuge Yun shouted, but Zhuge Qing didn’t respond.
“Sister!” Zhuge Yun tried again.
“Ah!” Only just now had Zhuge Qing woken up from her daydream, noticing her brother’s smiling gaze. Thinking about what happened a moment ago, she couldn’t help but blush a bit and asked, “Brother, why are you shouting?”
“What were you just daydreaming about, you only heard me after shouting a few times,” Zhuge Yun chuckled.
“Just now, I …… “ Zhuge Qing cheek started to turn red.
Zhuge Yun whispered, “Little girl, could it be that you have a crush on a young genius ? Could it be Big brother Teng?” Zhuge Qing blushed so much that it seemed blood was about to ooze out of her cheeks. She replied, somewhat ashamed and angry, “Brother, leave me alone.” Actually, with Zhuge Qing’s age, she would be an adult after the Yearly Ceremony and was in the period where a young girl started to fall in love.
Zhuge Qing’s standard was really high due to having a talented big brother like Zhuge Yun. She didn’t pay any attention to other ordinary youths from the sect.
When Teng Qingshan went out and competed for the centurion position, Zhuge Qing had already noticed Teng Qingshan. This time she came because they invited Teng Qingshan for dinner. The important thing was……This time when Teng Qingshan killed that Qin San, his fortitude overawed Zhuge Qing.
Zhuge Qing didn’t know if it was due to fear or some other factor, but Teng Qingshan had made a deep impression in her heart.
If talking about filling in love, it would be a bit too early.
However, in Zhuge Qing’s heart there was at least Teng Qingshan’s shadow.
“It seems I guessed correctly. No wonder, it wouldn’t be strange to like an outstanding hero like big brother Teng. These martial sisters in the Gui Yuan Sect already came to ask me about Big brother Teng, the 16 years old First Rated Warrior.
Sister, you must be careful. If Big brother Teng got taken away, it would be too late to regret.” Zhuge Yun teased with a smile.
“Humph, brother always likes to tease me. “Zhuge Qing turned her head and intentionally avoided Zhuge Yun, but there were some doubts in her heart: “Do I really love Big brother Teng?”
Love was always a confusing matter.
Whether it was real love, was very difficult to determine.
At that moment, many thoughts gushed out of Zhuge Qing’s heart and it became very chaotic.
“Where did you both go so late?!” At this time, a familiar voice resounded from the distance.
When Zhuge Yun and Zhuge Qing turned their heads to have a look, they saw Zhuge Yuanhong wearing a white gown while sitting in front a checkerboard. He sat there alone, holding a Chinese chess manual, and in front of him the checkerboard was arranged with a complex layout of pieces.
“Father!” Zhuge Yun and Zhuge Qing shouted while simultaneously walking towards him.
“Father, you’re playing chess again. I’ll massage your shoulders.”Zhuge Qing ran behind Zhuge Yuanhong and started to massage Zhuge Yuanhong’s back.
“Yun’er, where did you go?” Zhuge Yuanhong asked with a smile.
Zhuge Yuanhong, was a relatively benevolent father. Although his son and daughter were always a bit awed in front of their father, they were usually very playful around him.
“Sister and I went and invited Teng Qingshan and Teng Qinghu to go out for dinner.” Zhuge Yun said before he reluctantly continued, “However, I never would have expected that we would encounter trouble during the middle of our dinner. Brother Teng Qingshan ran into an old foe and killed him out of anger.”
“Oh?” Zhuge Yuanhong’s complexion didn’t change in the slightest and said with a faint smile, “Let me hear this story in more detail.”
“Father, it was like this.” Zhuge Yun immediately started to tell the story and Lady Qing who was massaging their father’s shoulders would add details her brother missed from time to time. In a few minutes, they had told the whole story.
Zhuge Yuanhong listened, before nodding and saying: “Teng Qingshan’s killing intent was really decisive!”
Regarding the so-called Gold Sword Clan, Zhuge Yuanhong didn’t care in the slightest ……In Zhuge Yuanhong’s eyes, that Gold Sword Clan was nothing more than an ant that he could trample to death. It wasn’t worth ruining his mood thinking about them.
“By the way, father.” Lady Qing continued, “When Big brother Teng killed that man called Qin San today, he easily defeated that man’s two fellow apprentices. Afterward we asked Big brother Teng …… and unexpectedly, we’ve found that he’s already reached the sixth level of Vigor of the Reckless Bull!”
“What sister said is true.” Zhuge Yun said excitedly, “It was indeed the sixth stage. In merely one days time, he’s already achieved the sixth stage of Vigor of the Reckless Bull. Teng Qingshan said that he’s opened most of the eight extra meridians, and that’s why he could cultivate so quickly.”
“Oh?” Zhuge Yuanhong eyes lit up.
Lady Qing continued: “If big brother Teng and big brother Yue Song competed now, big brother Teng would definitely defeat big brother Yue Song with ease.” Immediately, a hint of cunningness flashed in Lady Qing’s eyes, before whispering, “Father, Big brother Teng has already reached the sixth stage and that stone only has the first six stages of the secret technique. Shouldn’t we give Big brother Teng the cultivation methods for the remaining three stages?”
Zhuge Yun shot a look at his younger sister and smiled.
“That’s right father. Big brother Teng doesn’t have a secret technique to cultivate and his strength can’t improve. It is a waste of time.” Zhuge Yun also said.
“It seems that you two have a pretty good relationship with Teng Qingshan.”
“However, the Vigor of the Reckless Bull is a medium Human Class secret technique of my Gui Yuan Sect! The first six stages are available to the public, but the latter three can’t be easily made available. After all, Teng Qingshan just entered my Black Armored Army. “Zhuge Yuanhong continued, “Once he’s stayed in the Black Armored Army for several years, or contributed some great merit, we can talk about it again.”
“Several years? Contributed to some great merit?” Lady Qing was gentle and quiet in front of others, but in front of her father she liked to act like a spoiled princess, “Doesn’t father allow Yue Song to read all our Human Class secret techniques? He also just entered the sect.”
“He is he, and Teng Qingshan is Teng Qingshan.” Zhuge Yuanhong intentionally didn’t agree since Yue Song was Wei Wuya’s disciple. Zhuge Yuanhong was entrusted him by Wei Wuya, therefore he would of course give the warmest hospitality towards Yue Song, who was also a junior nephew.
Lady Qing stood there sullen and deliberately didn’t speak.
“Oh, it seems like my baby daughter has taken a liking to that Teng Qingshan. If it’s like that……Yun’er, you accompany Qing Qing and go to the secret chamber to take out a complete copy of Vigor of the Reckless Bull. Choose a time and give it to that Teng Qingshan!” Zhuge Yuanhong helplessly said, “There’s no other way. If my daughter wants to give Teng Qingshan the secret technique and I don’t give in, then in the future nobody would give her father a shoulder massage, ah.”
TLN: Qing Qing is a nickname of Zhuge Qing
“Yes, Father!” Zhuge Yun readily replied.
Lady Qing’s face reddened a bit.
“Father, I’ll go back and sleep now.” Lady Qing quickly ran away and left.
“Father, I’ll also go back first.” Zhuge Yun said and left as well.
Zhuge Yuanhong looked at his pair of children and a smile appeared on his face. He then looked in the direction of the Black Armored Army, “That Teng Qingshan unexpectedly reached the sixth stage in one go. It seems I guessed right, he indeed had some fortuitous discovery and ate some nature’s treasure with so much inner strength. That nature’s treasure changed his constitution and helped him breaking through so many meridians…… I will just give you the Vigor of the Reckless Bull and see how far you can reach with it! Want to be my son-in-law? Show me what you got!”
Zhuge Yuanhong could no longer spend time on it, and immersed himself in his chess game.
……
Late at night.
Teng Qinghu was already asleep, but Teng Qingshan calmly sat cross-legged in the courtyard to meditate. He had already practiced the Internal Martial Arts to the pinnacle and whether it was his internal organs or his blood flow, Teng Qingshan could already control them perfectly. While in this calm state of meditation, his breathing was so weak that it was barely detectable and it slowed down to once a few minutes.
While sitting cross-legged, it was like a spatial boundary. If he meditated for an hour, it was the same as catching up to 3-4 hours of sleep.
When the darkness of the dawn broke and the first ray of light appeared between heaven and earth, Teng Qingshan opened his eyes.
Teng Qingshan immediately got up to practice the Three Body Postures until tea time, before finally stopping: “In the past, he achieved the Grandmaster Realm of Internal Martial Arts and everyone thought that it was the ultimate level. Founder Ji Jike created the 《Godly Tiger Form Technique》 so that he could advance further even after reaching the Grandmaster realm! Could I now be like founder Ji Jike, and use the previous people’s foundation to create a stronger secret technique while improving the Internal Martial Arts’ might?”
Internal Martial Arts was Teng Qingshan’s foundation.
As of now, the 《Godly Tiger Form Technique》 was no longer useful to Teng Qingshan since his body strength had already reached a limit and was unable to improve again.
“Within the Three Postures of Xing Yi Martial Arts, I can only look for the answer within the Three Body Postures. However, how do I find it?” Teng Qingshan also felt that from evolving his spear arts, his Internal Martial Arts Realm would also improve to a point higher than he had ever reached in his past. However, this was temporarily unhelpful and didn’t improve his physical qualities.
“Forget it, nobody was able to break through and reach a higher realm of Internal Martial Arts for thousands of years. This cannot be rushed! To enhance my strength, the only method is to improve my inner strength!” Teng Qingshan knew this very clearly.
Now he cultivated the Vigor of the Reckless Bull to the sixth stage.
With his meridians’ capacity, he had an explosive force of 30,000 Jin. In addition, with his powerful arm strength of 180,000 Jin, his would be able to burst out 200,000 Jin from his arms by combining both inner strength and physical strength.
Regarding powerful warriors.
Most are relatively weak and those with 1,000-2,000 Jin of physical strength would be counted as quite strong, but it could be ignore when compared to their inner strength. However, Teng Qingshan was the opposite, since his body was stronger.
“Unfortunately, I have only the first six stages of the Vigor of the Reckless Bull! I don’t know when I can get the last three stages.” Teng Qingshan thought to himself.
……
That same morning, the sergeants of the Black Armored Army started their morning practice after breakfast.
“He!” “Ha!”
The sergeants were wearing heavy armor and continuously stabbed out with their spears.
Teng Qingshan was practicing his spear art beside his hundred man team; however it was different than his sergeants. In Teng Qingshan’s hands, the long spear was as fast as lightning and left dozens of after images in it’s wake. One spear shadow after another appeared and it was as if the Reincarnation Spear existed endlessly.
“My Lord!”
“My Lord!”
The sergeants who were practicing suddenly shouted.
“Hm?” Teng Qingshan turned his head to look at the sergeants and one of them pointed at a place far off in the distance: “My Lord, there!”
Teng Qingshan turned his head to look and saw that Zhuge Qing, who was wearing a green gown, was waving at him from inside the school ground. Teng Qingshan put away his spear and walked towards her.
“Lady Qing, how come you’ve come here?” Teng Qingshan asked somewhat surprised.
“Ah, it’s my brother.” Zhuge Qing said, “He asked Father for this book of Vigor of the Reckless Bull yesterday to give to you. However, right now he is cultivating and doesn’t have the time, therefore he made me come to give it to you. This is the complete book and has all nine stages.”