The First Follower

　　“Ah Shou, why are you looking at me like this?” Teng Qingshan stared at Xiong Shou. At this moment, Xiong Shou’s facial expression shocked Teng Qingshan slightly. Some time had already passed since this teenager, Xiong Shou, first began following him in Danyang City. However, during this period of time, the teenager had never looked at him with such eyes.

　　A hint of desire and a slight hesitation could be seen in his eyes…

　　“Mister Fu!” Fu Dao walked over.

　　Teng Qingshan turned and stared at this Thunder Blade Martial Saint, Fu Dao. Great joy could be seen on Fu Dao’s face as he and said, “Before I met Mister, I thought my blade art had reached the pinnacle and that I could not improve anymore! I thought that in this world, no one would be able to surpass me. It’s only now that I know there is someone like Mister in this world—an obscure and unknown expert whose identity has been concealed! I, Fu Dao, will be forever grateful for the instruction you have given me.”

　　“Your Blade Art did reach the pinnacle,” Teng Qingshan said.

　　Hearing this, Fu Dao was stunned

　　“Blade Art… Blade Art is still considered a skill!” Teng Qingshan explained. “As the saying goes, skill progresses into Dao! You have already reached the pinnacle of the skill, and after that, it is all about Dao! Now, if you wish to breakthrough, you must seek for your own Dao! When you make achievements in Dao, you will become a Martial Immortal!”

　　On Duanmu Continent…

　　Innate experts were called saints, Martial Saints.

　　As for Emptiness Realm Expert, they were called gods, Martial Immortals.

　　Only the ones who reached the realm of the Omnipotent Expert were honored as Deity.

　　“Skill progresses into Dao..…. My Dao?” Fu Dao mumbled. His eyes immediately regained brightness, then he bowed again and said, “I won’t disturb Mister from resting. I will leave first!”

　　Teng Qingshan nodded.

　　Looking at Fu Dao, Teng Qingshan felt he was looking at himself when he had been pursuing the Dao. There was not much difference between him and Fu Dao. The only difference was..…. Fu Dao had not comprehended the Dao. As for Teng Qingshan himself, he had advanced a great distance in the Dao.

　　He was not far away from stepping into the Emptiness Realm.

　　“Mister, that flying demonic beast!” Fu Dao cast a glance at the Whole Gale Eagle on top of the carriage. “It’s Mister’s demonic beast?”

　　“I got it by chance.” Teng Qingshan glanced at the Whole Gale Eagle as well.

　　Fu Dao clicked his tongue and praised, “Mister, you are indeed not an ordinary person. You could actually make a powerful Demonic Beast obey your order. I, Fu Dao, know a lot about the experts in the world and know a few people who can control demonic beasts. However, I have never heard of Mister.” With this, Fu Dao admired Teng Qingshan even more.

　　Normally, when an expert reached the Hollow Dan Innate Expert, which was the Realm of Martial Saint, he would be famous.

　　If they reached the Golden Dan of the Innate Realm, all the clans in the world would probably know of this person.

　　However, Teng Qingshan‘s name was not known at all. In Fu Dao’s eyes..…. this was the authentic reclusive expert.

　　“I admire you!” Fu Dao then mounted on the Hunchbacked Beast and shouted, “Giddy-up!

　　The Hunchbacked Beast galloped forward, and Fu Dao disappeared at the end of the road.

　　“Big Brother Teng.” Li Jun was full of smiles as she said, “That was the Thunder Blade Martial Saint. He can be considered as the most powerful expert in Duanmu Continent. Yet, you still defeated him with one strike! In my eyes, there is probably no one in Duanmu Continent who can surpass Big Brother Teng.”

　　“Little Jun, you shouldn’t look down on the people of this world.” Teng QIngshan shook his head as he said this.

　　“Uncle, look at Old Uncle Wang.” Little Ping smiled.

　　Teng Qingshan turned and saw Old Wang was blinking and taking a deep breath to calm the astonishment in his heart. Old Wang stared at Teng Qingshan and laughed bitterly, “Boss, you don’t have to act humble. The one you defeated was the Thunder Blade Martial Saint! He is not an ordinary Martial Saint. Moreover, you won with just one move. It’s a pity no one was around. If it had been done under the eyes of a great crowd, this news would spread throughout the entire continent at an extremely terrifying speed. By that time, Boss, everyone will know your name!”

　　“Old Wang, do you know if Martial Immortals exist in this world?” Teng QIngshan asked.

　　“There should be,” Old Wang hesitated as he answered.

　　“What do you mean there should be?” Teng Qingshan laughed, “It’s either yes or no!”

　　Old Wang laughed at himself as he replied, “Boss, I am just an ordinary expert. I am not even an innate expert. How many secrets can I know? Duanmu Continent is divided into four regions, and it has thirty-six major cities. Some big clans have a history of over a thousand years. Even the clans, which had suffered a defeat and lost their power, hid in islands or some mountain. So, it is very difficult to figure out the number of hidden experts.

　　“However, it was widely rumored that a Martial Immortal existed within the number one clan of Duanmu Continent, Tianfeng Clan! Of course, Tianfeng Clan is the dominator of the Northern Frosty Region. It was also said that Martial Immortal lived in the Tianfeng Canyon, one of the three extremely dangerous areas.”

　　When Li Jun and Little Ping heard what Old Wang said, they were shocked.

　　“Rumor… rumor… Is it true or false?”

　　“That’s what the world is saying. It should be true.”

　　Yet Teng Qingshan went silent. Teng Qingshan also had some information on Duanmu Continent. The center of the entire world was the Land of the Nine Prefectures. Ever since Emperor Yu forged the nine cauldrons and suppressed the origin of the heavens and the earth, there had not been many disasters in the Land of the Nine Prefectures.

　　However, Duanmu Continent suffered continuously from natural disasters!

　　The places with the worst environments were the three greatly dangerous areas—

　　The first one is the Blazing Flame Territory which is a zone of frequent volcanic eruptions. The Blazing Flame Territory is located in the Eastern Flower Region and has an area of eight hundred Li as well as numerous volcanoes. One never knew when a volcano in the Blazing Flame Territory would erupt! The shortest time interval between volcanic eruptions was several times in one year, while the longest time interval between two volcanic eruptions was just eight years!

　　The second one is the Cloudy Dreamy Swampland, which had an area of three thousand Li. It should be the one which had the greatest area, occupying almost half of the entire Western Tang Region. Danger lurked on every side of the Cloudy Dream Swampland; it was so dangerous that even Martial Saints had no audacity to venture within.

　　The third one was the Tianfeng Canyon, which was the coldest place in all of Duanmu Continent! The cold air blowing out of the canyon openings could freeze an expert, at the peak of Postliminary Realm, to death! If one had not reached the realm of Martial Saint, it would be impossible for them to enter the canyon. The Tianfeng Canyon was occupied by a very ancient clan. This clan was called the Tianfeng Clan, and it was Duanmu Continent’s number one clan!

　　“The Martial Immortal dwells in the Tianfeng Canyon?” Teng Qingshan nodded to himself, “This clan dominates the Northern Frosty Region and is Duanmu Continent’s number one clan. It would be weird if this clan had no one to rely on.”

　　“Besides this Martial Immortal, it is also widely rumored that another Martial Immortal exists in the world!” Old Wang intentionally said in a mysterious tone.

　　“Who is it?” Li Jun chuckled and asked.

　　“I’ve only heard of it,” Old Wang replied, shaking his head.

　　Teng Qingshan laughed. Duanmu Continent had a population of only two to three hundred million people. “My hometown, Yangzhou, is one of the nine prefectures. It has a population of two to three hundred million. However, there are only two Emptiness Realm Experts in Yangzhou, who are the Blind Swordmaster of Qing Hu Island and the one in Gui Yuan Sect. Thus, Duanmu Continent probably has only two as well!”

　　Since it was the land which gave birth to an Omnipotent Expert, Teng Qingshan didn’t dare to look down on the inhabitants of Duanmu Continent.

　　“Little Jun.” Teng Qingshan stared at Xiong Shou and said, “Ask him what he wants! Ever since I defeated Fu Dao, he has been staring at me like that.”

　　“Ah Shou!” Li Jun turned to look at Xiong Shou as well. She then emitted deep growls at Xiong Shou.

　　Xiong Shou stared at Li Jun and replied promptly with similarly deep growls. He seemed to be very impatient and eager.

　　“Eh?” Li Jun was stunned.

　　“What happened?” Teng Qingshan asked.

　　Li Jun stared at Teng Qingshan with a weird expression as she said, “Big Brother Teng, didn’t I tell Ah Shou to acknowledge you as his teacher previously?”

　　“What did he say?” Teng Qingshan nodded hastily while his heart filled with a suppressed excitement.

　　Could it be?

　　“This wild little beast is finally willing to acknowledge me as his teacher?” Teng Qingshan thought to himself. In order to make this teenager, Xiong Shou, acknowledge him as his teacher, Teng Qingshan had done everything he could. However, nothing Teng Qingshan had done could persuade this blockheaded teenager. Thus, Teng Qingshan could only just bring this teenager along for now. He would wait and and see whose patience would run out first!

　　Teng Qingshan was not willing to give up on such a good disciple.

　　“Ah Shou just told me that he is willing to acknowledge you as his teacher.” As Li Jun conveyed the message, she was between laughter and tears.

　　“Really?” Teng Qingshan couldn’t help but reveal an immense joy. He stared at Xiong Shou, who was still staring at him with a cold expression, and asked, “Why is he willing to acknowledge me as his teacher now?”

　　With a weird expression, Li Jun answered, “I just asked, and he said that..…. the person carrying the blade was even more powerful than the elder in the army! And you are even more powerful than the person with the blade! Ah Shou said that he wants to be as powerful as you. Therefore… he wants to acknowledge you as his teacher.”

　　“What is this nonsense?” Teng Qingshan was between laughter and tears.

　　Who was more powerful than who?

　　Little Ping promptly said cleverly, “Ah, Uncle, I know! The army of the Rising Sun Trading Company is in charge of sending slaves away. As for that Administrator Mu, he is the leader of the army. Administrator Mu was very respectful toward Fu Dao. Fu Dao lost to you and was very respectful towards you. He even called you, Mister, respectfully. Ah Shou must have suffered greatly in the hands of the people who escort slaves. So, that’s why he now wants to be as powerful as you.”

　　“This make sense.” Li Jun nodded.

　　“What kind of logic is this?” Teng Qingshan laughed bitterly. “Previously, when we were outside Danyang City, didn’t I beat Fang Clan’s cavalrymen to the ground? He should know my ability. Why didn’t he acknowledge me as his teacher at that time?”

　　“Ah Shou’s brain works differently from ordinary people.” Li Jun couldn’t help but laugh.

　　Teng Qingshan stared at Xiong Shou, who still had a sulky expression, and sighed inwardly. This eldest disciple of his was skilled in killing and had even reached the realm of bone synchronization without anyone teaching or guiding him. However..…. his mind was still like an insensible kid.

　　Additionally, he was even more stubborn than kids!

　　“Little Jun, tell him to kowtow and acknowledge me as his teacher.” Teng Qingshan said.

　　“Alright.” Li Jun immediately conveyed the message.

　　Xiong Shou stared at Li Jun with a pitiful expression. He had never kowtowed before and had no idea how to kowtow. Under Li Jun’s instruction, Xiong Shou understood the moves, which were to kneel with his hands on the ground and then bang his head on the ground!

　　“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

　　Three loud bangs sounded! After the third kowtow, the teenager actually prepared to do another one.

　　“Roar~~” Li Jun reminded hastily, and the teenager stopped then.

　　Seeing this, Teng Qingshan touched his forehead and thought to himself, “Heavens, he even needs someone to teach him how to kowtow. Teaching a disciple like this will probably be very hard.”

　　“From now on, I am your instructor, and you are my follower! Remember, whatever the instructor asks you to do, you will have to do it. If the instructor doesn’t allow you to do it, you must not do it.” Teng Qingshan could only use such a rigid method. Li Jun then conveyed Teng Qingshan’s message to the teenager, Xiong Shou.

　　Xiong Shou knelt there and roared promptly, showing that he would obey Teng Qingshan’s words.

　　Teng Qingshan’s face revealed a smile.

　　“You have no given name and surname. From today onwards, you will take my surname. Since you grew up with beasts, you shall be called Teng Shou,” Teng Qingshan said with a smile. At the side, Li Jun explained to the teenager Xiong Shou. She even pronounced the two words, ‘Teng Shou’, several times.

　　“Teng…… Hou……” The teenager finally managed to say these two words, but the word ‘Shou’ was always pronounced wrongly.

　　“Teng Hou!” The teenager exclaimed even more excitedly.

　　He finally has a name!

　　Henceforth, the teenager, Teng Shou, who had grown up amidst a group of beasts, became Teng Qingshan’s first follower.