A Dark and Quiet Time

　　It was a late night.

　　On the vast and cold Qing Lake, a boat was moving forward like a flying arrow.

　　Dressed in an old cotton jacket, a middle-aged man with messy hair stood on the boat. The glow of the Innate True Origin beamed out of his body, hitting the lake waters and propelling the boat forward. There was another person on the boat, dressed in an azure long cloak with black stripes and carrying a sword on his back.

　　He had silver hair and looked as young and handsome as a teenager!

　　It was Zhao Danchen! Beside him was a handsome and muscular Dark Demonic Horse.

　　Moments later——

　　The boat arrived ashore.

　　“Elder Zhao.” Wearing old clothes, the boatman with an ordinary appearance spoke with a deep-sounding voice, “You are going to kill Teng Qingshan this time…..Because I have to obey the Martial Ancestor’s command, I cannot come with you. But Elder Zhao, please capture Teng Qingshan alive. If you don’t torture him to death…..I cannot let this hatred go.

　　As the boatman spoke, his eyes were like a ferocious lion’s.

　　“Gu Yong, If I am able to catch Teng Qingshan, I will definitely keep him alive. But If I can’t catch him alive, I will kill him.” Zhao Danchen nodded, “However, Gu Yong, The Martial Ancestor wanted you to be a boatman so that your temperament could be trained. If you want to kill him to feel happy, no one will blame you. However, if you still can’t cultivate because of the hatred in your heart, then that’s absolutely wrong.”

　　“I understand that!”

　　The boatman said in a deep voice, “I understand the principle. However, doing that…..is too hard. I have always desired to make Qing Hu Island greater, but I became……someone that had sinned against Qing Hu Island! I am a sinner! And my son Shiyou died. Over ten thousand silver dragon soldiers all died. They all died!”

　　“If so, I will definitely kill Teng Qingshan this time.”

　　Zhao Danchen sighed, “Gu Yong, you have the highest potential in this generation of Qing Hu Island’s disciples. Until now, a second Emptiness Realm Expert has not appeared on Qing Hu Island. If the Emptiness Realm Expert of Qing Hu Island died before the birth of a new Emptiness Realm Expert, then it would be a terrifying crisis for Qing Hu Island!”

　　Even if over half of our innate experts died, it’s still not as dangerous as not having an Emptiness Realm Expert.

　　A sect must be passed on from one generation to the next generation. Therefore, a sect must always have an Emptiness Realm Expert.

　　“Martial Ancestor asked you to practice your sword art at the Edge of Sword Mountain. He wanted to teach you personally. He has entrusted great hope in you. You just need to reach the Emptiness Realm! And by that time, you will be the meritorious disciple! The meritorious disciple with the greatest achievement! The future generations of disciples will never forget you.” Zhao Danchen said solemnly.

　　The boatman silenced, but his eyes shined brightly.

　　An Emptiness Realm Expert can only live five hundred years old! Which meant that an Emptiness Realm Expert could ensure the prosperity of a sect for three to four hundred years.

　　As long as a sect had three to four Emptiness Realm Expert, it would be able to stay strong for over a thousand years. The ordinary disciples are like the tiles of a roof while the Innate Experts are the pillars and the Emptiness Realm Experts are the foundation of the entire building! If the Emptiness Realm Experts did not exist, everything would be a castle in the air.

　　TLN: Castle in the air means imaginary, unrealistic.

　　“Whew!”

　　Zhao Danchen mounted the Dark Demonic Horse and with a kick, the Dark Demonic Horse immediately neighed and a black beam of light shot out of its eyes.

　　Whew!

　　The horse transformed into a black blurry image in an instant and disappeared at the end of the path.

　　“Temperament……” The boatman stood on the bow of the boat. He had heard that although Zhao Danchen’s dominant right arm was cut off and his left hand became weaker, this heavy blow helped Zhao Danchen understood something. Within one short month, Zhao Dancheng was able to create a left handed swort art with the foundation of his previous sword art.

　　Although the time was short and even though Zhao Danchen’s ability now could not be compared to his ability in the past, but it is certain that he could make it in the top twenty of the Heavenly Ranking.

　　“Martial Ancestor desired a breakthrough and so he blinded himself. He sat in boredom at the Edge of Sword Mountain everyday and still managed to attain an incredibly powerful ability. As for Elder Zhao, his right arm was cut off and he actually had breakthroughs.” The boatman muttered softly. There were experts that became stronger after they were disabled! However, such cases were very rare!

　　Most of the disabled experts, or rather almost all the disabled experts couldn’t restore their abilities to the previous state.

　　“Emptiness Realm…..”

　　The boatman muttered while he rocked the paddle and the boat rowed towards Qing Hu island slowly.

　　Late at night in Wu City at Yuzhou.

　　In the room at the backyard of a restaurant opposite the inn which Qing Tengshan dwelled, candle light could be seen faintly in one of the windows.

　　Inside the room.

　　There were three people in the room. All three of them wore white fur coats. It was a skinny silver-haired elder, a tall and muscular man, and a beautiful young lady. The three sat around a table. Delicious food and dessert were placed on the table. Each of them had a flagon of wine placed in front of them so that they could pour themselves a cup when they wanted and enjoy it by themselves.

　　“When will the people from Qing Hu Island make their move?” Asked the young lady.

　　“The Golden Dan Innate Expert from Qing Hu Island will probably arrive before dawn.” The muscular man said in a deep voice. “However, they definitely won’t trust our men, therefore, they will dispatch the men at the stationary point near Wu City. However, even if they sent the order with their fastest pigeon, the men at the stationary points would only make it here latest by dawn because they don’t possess any of the three great Dragon Horses. With that in mind, I think they will attack tomorrow during daytime.

　　The skinny elder lowered his eyes as he ate the pastry in his hand and said, “They will probably be prepared by tomorrow morning and attack during the afternoon!”

　　“Looks like we need to wait one more day.” The young lady said with a helpless expression, “Actually, why can’t we just kill Teng Qingshan immediately?”

　　“It wouldn’t sound good to the world. The world will think that Emperor Yu’s Hall became the sword of Qing Hu Island!” The skinny elder sighed and said, “Although that Teng Qingshan left Gui Yuan Sect, everyone knew the truth. Teng Qingshan did it to protect Gui Yuan Sect! And Gui Yuan Sect probably valued Teng Qingshan even more after that. Don’t forget that Gui Yuan Sect also has an Emptiness Realm Expert now. It’s true that we don’t care……but if there’s no need to offend Gui Yuan Sect, why should we?”

　　“Emperor Yu’s Hall is the most historical sect of the eight supreme sects! We have always been standing firm and we did not just rely on force to achieve that..

　　The other two nodded in agreement.

　　The force is important but the action of a sect is important too. Who in this great land of the nine prefectures would dare to look down on the Emperor Yu’s Hall? Even the Mani Temple feared the inestimably deep Emperor Yu’s Hall.

　　However, the men of the Emperor Yu’s Hall never acted arrogantly and rarely offended people. But if anyone dared to provoke them, they would mercilessly sentence the offender to death.

　　As the saying goes, a person that acts too strong won’t last long. If a sect always acted arrogantly, it wouldn’t be able to exist for a very long time no matter how powerful it is. Even the Mani Temple only prefered to rule the two prefectures in the west and rarely left the two prefectures. Having an iron hand in a velvet glove is the best!

　　“Plus, Sect Lord’s way is better. We can get Qing Hu Island’s men to kill Teng Qingshan and take the Splitting Mountain Axe after that! The Splitting Mountain Axe originally belonged to our Martial Ancestor Emperor Yu, therefore, reason stands on our side.” The skinny elder said with a smile, “With reason on our side, we can act confidently! By that time, would Qing Hu Island have the audacity to take the Splitting Mountain Axe?”

　　……

　　The men of the Emperor Yu’s Hall had already spread their nets and were just waiting for the men of Qing Hu Island to attack. Yet, Teng Qingshan knew nothing.

　　The night was late and long. In the Inn.

　　Thump! Thump! Thump!

　　Teng Qingshan walked down the stairs. Standing in the counter, the waiter keeping watch at night immediately greeted him with a smile, “Customer, what would you like to eat?’

　　“Give me a jug of wine. I want the Fiery Burning Wine and put it on my tab.” Teng Qingshan ordered.

　　“Alrighty, customer.” The waiter immediately took out a jug of Fiery Burning Wine.

　　Although Teng Qingshan came down the stairs, he was not worried about the boxes and luggage cases in his room, because Teng Qingshan set up a small trap in both the boxes and the luggage cases. If the luggage cases was opened, the bell in the luggage would ring. If the boxes and luggage case moved, the bell would ring. As long as the bell sounded in the inn, Teng Qingshan would be able hear it with his keen senses.

　　Teng Qingshan carried the jug of wine and returned to his own room.

　　“Creak!” The door closed.

　　There was no light in the room and it was pitch-black and slightly cold. Carrying the jug of wine, Teng Qingshan walked to the window and opened the window directly.

　　Whew!” The cold wind during late winter blew on his body, but Teng Qingshan didn’t feel it. He sat on the window and leaned on the wall with one foot on the window sill..

　　“The yearly sacrifice is nearly here! Father, mother….”

　　During festive occasion, one would miss the dear ones far away even more. It’s almost the Yearly Sacrifice, and Teng Qingshan couldn’t help but miss the relatives faraway in Yangzhou. His parents, sister, teacher, good brothers, and the relatives are all there. Unfortunately, he couldn’t be with them now. He could only be in this small Wu City in Yuzhou alone.

　　“Little Yu and Little Yun will soon get married.” Teng Qingshan smiled.

　　“When they are married and have kids, father and mother will be able to help take care of the children. They will definitely be very happy.”

　　Teng Qingshan continued imagining, “The clan members are all in the Jiangning County City. Teacher will definitely help take care of them. I also gave grandfather a Scarlet Fruit Wine and ten thousand taels of gold and gold notes. That would be enough for the clan members to live the rest of their life happily. It’s the Yearly Sacrifice…..The six years old kids in the clan will be tested again. I wonder who among the six years old children will lift the heaviest?”

　　Many scenes appeared in his mind.

　　When he was in Teng Jia Village, he lifted a rock weighing one hundred jin during the year he turned six years old. He also led the Hunting Squadron and successfully hunted animals and the villagers cheered and praised when he returned…….Also, when the Iron Mountain gang threatened the Teng Jia Village, he secretly frightened the Second Leader of the Iron Mountain Gang and caused the Iron Mountain Gang to leave on its own accord.

　　Those scenes really warmed his heart.

　　“The day I succeed, I will stay with my clan or in the Gui Yuan Sect willingly to teach the future generations.” Teng Qingshan said to himself.

　　“But, that is too far. Success is still too far from me now.”

　　An appearance involuntarily appeared in Teng Qingshan’s mind

　　“Qing Qing.”

　　Teng Qingshan felt his heart ache. Lady Qing was a pure and goddess-like girl.

　　“Cat.”

　　The strong and cold hitwoman which roamed the previous world with him. The woman that would only act tenderly in his arms. The woman that he himself had loved.

　　“Qing Qing, Cat…..” He wanted to spend the rest of his life with these two women.

　　But they both died!

　　“Maybe I shouldn’t talk about love.” Teng Qingshan lifted his head and poured the jug of fierce wine into his mouth. The Fiery Burning Wine entered his throat like a dragon in fire and his entire chest immediately felt this burning hotness.

　　The Icy cold night!

　　The Burning hot wine!

　　As well as that one lonely heart.

　　Scenes of Cat and Qing Qing appeared repeatedly in Teng Qingshan’s mind. The life-or-death situations that he himself and Cat experienced, and the warm scene where he himself went sightseeing on the boat with Qing Qing. Teng Qingshan drank continuously, and the jug of wine emptied.

　　Closing the window, Teng Qingshan returned to his room and place the wine bottle on the table.

　　“I just acted dispirited!” Teng Qingshan took a deep breath. With insightful eyes, Teng Qingshan said to himself, “I can’t act this way now. I don’t have the right to waste my time acting this way! I have to go back. I have to go back to Yangzhou! I have to return to Jiangning! I must possess the absolute power so that I can return openly.

　　When he was travelling with the caravan, Teng Qingshan could appear full of smiles and joke around with people. He seemed very straightforward and cool. That was because he was the ‘Wolf.’

　　TLN: ‘Wolf’ : the Hitman code name.

　　Wolves!

　　Wolves do get angry and if they get really mad, they will kill the enemy at all cost.

　　If the difference in ability is too big, it would endure and endure until it is strong enough to bite the enemy again.

　　Even if it was wounded, it would find a place without anyone to lick its wounds. It does not need anyone’s mercy

　　This is the Wolf.

　　“The best way to rid this low-spirit, sadness and anxiousness is to make myself busy to the point that I don’t have any time to think about those things.” Teng Qingshan closed his eyes as he muttered and began pacifying his mind.

　　That night…..

　　Teng Qingshan spent the whole night practicing the Three Postures and cultivating in silence again.