"No one would dare to say anything about Emperor Yu’s despicable actions. They can only feel angry. Only Master Teng would have the audacity to say it to their faces."

"Hmph, let’s see what Emperor Yu’s Hall is going to do..."

Many people in the caravan discussed softly.

All the merchants who traveled the world knew about the typical actions of Emperor Yu’s Hall. Emperor Yu’s Hall was notorious for framing and making false charges just so they could capture someone, but no one dared to offend Emperor Yu’s Hall! And today, when Teng Qingshan said those words, he openly tarnished the reputation of Emperor Yu’s Hall. With those words being said, there was no way Emperor Yu’s Hall would have the cheek to continue their notorious act.

"Teacher." The young general stared at the bald elder and said, "This... We..."

"Report it! Of course we should report this. Let the Supreme Elders make the decision." The bald elder gnashed his teeth in anger as he spoke. "I just don’t believe that Emperor Yu’s Hall is not strong enough to fight against a sect that has only existed for 16 years."

The Yu Yang Grand Canal was the great river that made Yangzhou and Yuzhou the two most wealthy prefectures in the Land of the Nine Prefectures.

Currently, a cruise boat sailed in the grand canal, braving the waves as it continued forth.

Teng Qingshan and the others could be seen on the boat. When the caravan left, Teng Qingshan did not go back to Jiangning County. Instead, he brought a group of people to the Yu Yang Grand Canal and purchased a cruise boat. The crowd then took the cruise boat and went along with the flow of the river, heading all the way to Yangzhou.

"The scenery is really good." Li Jun sat on the chair and watched the sceneries on both sides. She said with a grin, "I have never flowed along the Yu Yang Grand Canal before."

"Just enjoy the view." Teng Qingshan smiled.

Not only had Teng Qingshan left the sect to take Linlin home, he had also left the sect to go sightseeing with his wife.

The starting point of the Yu Yang Grand Canal was at the northwest of Yuzhou and continued forth in the southeast direction across half of Yangzhou. The Yu Yang Grand Canal even flowed into Jiangning County City. If Teng Qingshan and the others sailed along with the flow, they would soon reach Jiangning County.

"Father." Honglin sounded very excited. "Look there! What do you think about Big Brother Wei Jiang’s Cannon Fist?"

"Linlin, you better not point," Teng Qingshan hastily instructed. He then smiled as he stared at Wei Jiang, who was practicing his fist art on the deck. Wei Jiang and the other two young men were lucky enough to go to the Xing Yi Sect in the Great Yan Mountain with Teng Qingshan. Naturally, they were able to receive instructions from Teng Qingshan during the trip.

The other two has experience in the cultivation of the "Tiger Form Fist Art". And so, Teng Qingshan instructed one of the two to practice the Slashing Fist of the Five Element Fist and the other to practice the Bursting Fist.

Of course, he taught them their own special cultivation method.

As for Wei Jiang, Teng Qingshan instructed him to focus on the cultivation of the Cannon Fist first. Since Teng Qingshan reached Emptiness Realm Culmination, his understanding of the five Elemental Daos became extremely profound. Therefore, Teng Qingshan was able to modify the Five Element Fists of Xing Yi Martial Arts. He even created many types of unique ways of cultivating and attacking.

"Wei Jiang is indeed a gifted cultivator for the cultivation of Internal Martial Arts," Teng Qingshan commented in admiration as he watched. "Only less than ten of the third generation disciples of the Xing Yi Sect are as gifted as him!"

"Hmph, Emperor Yu’s Hall!" If Teng Qingshan had not been here, Emperor Yu’s Hall would have taken such a gifted cultivator. As Teng Qingshan thought about this, he couldn’t help but feel annoyance and rage.

A traditional rule existed in the Land of the Nine Prefectures since several thousand years ago...

This rule concerns the joining of any sect. The cultivator must be willing. He mustn’t be forced to join a certain sect. For example, Teng Qingshan has the free will to choose to join the Gui Yuan Sect, Qing Hu Island, or any other sects! This was very normal in the Land of the Nine Prefectures, and it had remained this way since generations.

The other sects could lure the Internal Martial Arts cultivators with various kinds of benefits. That was acceptable. After all, even though they were bribed, the Internal Martial Arts cultivators would be joining willingly.

Unexpectedly—

Emperor Yu’s Hall actually framed and made false charges. This enraged Teng Qingshan.

"Emperor Yu’s Hall is being outrageous." Li Jun could no longer endure in silence.

Honglin was slightly worried as she said, "Father... Mother... By saying that, aren’t you publicly shaming Emperor Yu’s Hall? Aren’t you being too bitter?"

"Haha..." Teng Qingshan laughed and shot Honglin a glance. "Linlin, you don’t know much about my relationship with Emperor Yu’s Hall. I will explain it to you today. Back in the day, if the Undying Phoenix hadn’t arrived in Heavenly Cloud Mountain, I would have been killed! I would have been killed by Shengong Tu and Yu Tonghai.

"Since then, the relationship between the Xing Yi Sect and both the Shooting Sun God Mountain and Emperor Yu’s Hall has been very bad.

"They never came to celebrate the establishment of the Xing Yi Sect." Teng Qingshan said with a smile, "Because of this deep grudge and because my sect is in opposition with their sects, they wish to kill me. Considering this, why should I give them any respect?"

"Oh, really?"

Honglin was very astonished. She had heard of the stories of when Teng Qingshan and Li Jun sailed the seas. However, she rarely heard of the grudge between her father and the other Emptiness Realm Experts in the Land of the Nine Prefectures.

"This time, I said it in public. I am curious as to how Emperor Yu’s Hall will respond." Teng Qingshan laughed softly and continued, "Unless they really have no shame!"

...

The bald elder, Hu Zhong, wrote Teng Qingshan’s words verbatim in a letter and sent it to Emperor Yu’s Hall. The letter was sent to the Blind Bear Mountain Range in the outskirts of the city and was then shown to the two Supreme Elders, Liu Xia and Huang Tianqin.

On the first floor of a lofty temple in the Blind Bear Mountain Range:

"Martial Ancestor, Teng Qingshan took away an Internal Martial Arts cultivator in the region of Yuzhou. He even asked us to tell the two Martial Ancestors everything he said." An elder of Emperor Yu’s Hall stood respectfully outside the hall as he handed over the letters.

"Eh?"

"Teng Qingshan?"

Liu Xia and Huang Tianqin both exchanged glances and frowned. They wished to kill Teng Qingshan just to feel the satisfaction and joy. However, the current Teng Qingshan was not someone that could be easily trifled with...

"Let’s read the letter." Liu Xia opened the letter.

The two Emptiness Realm Experts were initially sneering as they read the letter. However, soon, their faces became very red and their expressions darkened.

As Liu Xia held the letter, he was so angry that his right hand kept trembling.

The contents of the letter was—

"Go back and tell the Supreme Elders of Emperor Yu’s Hall, Liu Xia and Huang Tianqin, that I will forget that Emperor Yu’s Hall has been luring Internal Martial Arts cultivators with various kinds of benefits. However, don’t make false charges against the Internal Martial Art cultivators who refuse to join Emperor Yu’s Hall. Don’t capture them with such devious methods! If the world learns about this, it’ll be embarrassing! Not only will this ruin the reputation of Emperor Yu’s Hall, but it will also ruin the reputation of the founder, Emperor Yu!"

It was indeed verbatim. Not a word was wrong!

"This is intolerable!" Liu Xia could no longer endure, and he roared out in rage.

"Teng Qingshan!!!" Huang Tianqin’s face darkened.

These two felt as though the rage within them had risen and clashed with the Baihui Meridian in their heads. It was as though the rage was overflowing.

After a long time, the two Supreme Elders in the great hall calmed down. They looked at each other and could perceive the bitterness and helplessness in each others’ eyes. By saying those words, Teng Qingshan had indeed publicly humiliated them. That was worse than literally being slapped! This was because words said in public would spread throughout the world. The people in the Land of the Nine Prefectures would soon know about what Teng Qingshan had said, and all of them would mock Liu Xia and Huang Tianqin for bringing shame to the founder of Emperor Yu’s Hall!

"There’s nothing we can do." Liu Xia shook his head as he smiled helplessly.

"At this moment, Teng Qingshan is fully equipped." Huang Tianqin shook his head and said, "Even the Honored Lord is unwilling to provoke Teng Qingshan, not to mention taking action against Teng Qingshan. Moreover, Emperor Yu’s Hall will not be able to survive the attacks of the Undying Phoenix." As Huang Tianqin thought about the terrifying Undying Phoenix recorded in the book, he could feel the chill down his spine!

Teng Qingshan was someone that even the Honored Lord was unwilling to provoke...

"What should we do now?" Liu Xia stared at Huang Tianqin as he asked.

"What can we do? Firstly, we must hold on to our claim that the person we tried to catch was a criminal. Secondly, we mustn’t force Internal Martial Arts cultivators to join Emperor Yu’s Hall. If it is an extremely talented cultivator, invite him to join our sect. If he won’t join even after the invitation, then... kill him. We must not give all those people the chance to gossip about Emperor Yu’s Hall," Huang Tianqin instructed.

******

Just as the Supreme Elders had predicted, Teng Qingshan’s words spread in the Land of the Nine Prefectures through the caravan.

In the beginning, just one knew about it. Soon, it was ten and then a hundred. In the end, everyone knew about what Teng Qingshan had said that day.

Within only less than two months, this became a very hot topic in the entire Land of the Nine Prefectures. For some time, Emperor Yu’s Hall became a joke. Because of this, the other sects that were planning to copy Emperor Yu’s manipulative and devious actions were so terrified that they didn’t proceed with what they had planned to do.

In one’s lifetime, what does one pursue and wish for? To all these powerful experts, reputation was the most significant. The reputation of a sect was much more significant!

Unless it was a matter of life or death, those experts would always value their reputations.

...

Thanks to Teng Qingshan, Wei Jiang and the other two Internal Martial Art cultivators joined the Xing Yi Sect very easily. The other two cultivators became fifth generation disciples. As for Wei Jiang, because he was extremely talented, he was taken in by Teng Hong, a second generation disciple, and became a third generation disciple!

The Xing Yi Sect did have this rule.

If an Internal Martial Arts cultivator was extremely talented, he could be the disciple of one of the Innate Experts of the second generation disciple. It was rather impossible to become the direct disciple of Teng Qingshan. Even when Meng Lutong reached the Grandmaster Realm, Teng Qingshan only gave him instructions and advice regarding cultivation. Teng Qingshan didn’t accept Meng Lutong as his disciple.

Teng Qingshan had only three direct disciples—Teng Shou, Yang Dong, and Xue Xin.

...

During the chilly winter, Youzhou was naturally the coldest place as it was the northernmost and easternmost prefecture in the Land of the Nine Prefectures.

In a county city named Blood Blade County in the region of Youzhou, there was a seemingly ordinary house. Although it was already snowing, a handsome and fierce-looking young man was still seen pacing back and forth in the training field. He seemed to be deep in thought.

"Master, it’s snowing very heavily," the maid who came over said respectfully.

"Leave," the young man instructed with an indifferent tone.

"Yes." The maid immediately left.

The young man took a deep breath and mumbled as he looked up at the sky, "By doing that, they have pushed Qing Hu Island into a dangerous spot again. Teng Qingshan is not someone that can be trifled with... Teng Qingshan, you destroyed Qing Hu Island! And you killed and injured so many of my brothers. However, you showed me great kindness back then.

"I can’t let them do this! I can’t let them take revenge on Teng Qingshan. This will bring no benefit to Qing Hu Island. It will only make things worse." After the young man achieved the Innate Realm, he became one of the higher-ups of Qing Hu Island. As someone who was ranked highly in the sect, he was now very worried about the current situation.

"Teng Qingshan!"

"This time, it will be considered the payment of the kindness you showed me. After that, I do not owe you anything. I just hope that Qing Hu Island will rise again while I am alive." The young man no longer hesitated. He went into the study room and closed the door. Immediately, he took the writing brush and wrote a secret letter.