A Team of Powerhouses

　　Teng Qingshan really admired the first of the 《Heavenly Ranking》, the legendary super-powerful expert Wu Hou.

　　According to Wan Xiang Sect’s recordings on the 《Heavenly Ranking》, the Wu Hou belonged to no sect, and had grown up in the countryside at the border of Yanzhou. Because his hometown was near the Desolate Land, Wu Hou loved to venture into the desolate land, since young…..Therefore, he’d learned some peculiar skills. It was rumored that the Wu Hou The King of Beasts possessed the ability to communicate with all kinds of animals.

　　Plus, his strongest technique, 《King of Beast Fist》, had been created by himself.

　　‘By relying on his own strength, and perhaps through obtaining some secret techniques of the internal strength he had been able to create 《King of Beast Fist》, and had remained first of the 《Heavenly Ranking》 for over thirty years. No one could take him down. This Wu Hou is definitely a marvelous figure.’ Teng Qingshan followed the white-cloaked young man, Liu Xiu, and headed to the side.

　　“Brother Qin Lang, this is Boss Wu Hou,” Liu Xiu introduced.

　　Teng Qingshan, shocked, looked at the wild man in front of him, atop the Black Cloud Panther…… You really couldn’t judge a book by its cover. This wild man was actually the legendary first of the 《Heavenly Ranking》, Wu Hou The King of Beasts.

　　“Qin Lang here.” Teng Qingshan cupped his hands.

　　“Haha, we have met before, right?” A slight smile touched the corners of Wu Hou’s mouth as he replied.

　　Teng Qingshan froze for a second, then immediately nodded.

　　“Haha…… good. Now that you are here, we have a total of six free innate experts,” Wu Hou said with a faint smile and pointed nearby. “The green-cloaked lady over there is called Shui Fei! That silver haired elder is called Zhong Li Lin. The guy sleeping on the branch there is my brother, Bai Lihong, and you already know Liu Xiu.

　　Teng Qingshan looked over and smiled at the green-cloaked lady and the silver-haired elder Zhong Li Lin. The young man sleeping on the branch simply waved his hand and went back to sleep.

　　Teng Qingshan also understood that it was hard to judge a person’s age by appearance.

　　However……

　　However, one thing could be confirmed——If an innate expert had a young appearance, it either meant that this person was extremely strong, or extremely talented! Many people only had a breakthrough and reached the innate realm during middle or old age, and those who reached the innate realm at the age of thirty-forty would have a better future.

　　“There’s a total of six free innate experts.” Teng Qingshan looked towards the men of those sects. The differences between them could be easily noticed because of their clothes and adornments. The five experts of the Shooting Sun God Mountain, the six experts of Xiao Yao Palace, the five experts from the Snow Eagle Hall… There were also….nine people dressed in long black cloaks, wearing golden masks. Their genders couldn’t be told through their appearances.

　　“The Ying Family sent nine innate experts?” Teng Qingshan thought out loud, surprised.

　　The white-cloaked young man, Liu Xiu, smiled and said, “The Ying Family is the power second only to the Mani Temple. Their experts are as many as there are clouds in the sky. The Ying Family is deeply rooted in Yongzhou, and its base is a three thousand li wide land at Qinling. Everyone wants to join them. In the past, Heavenly Emperor Qin Ling left many secret techniques for the Ying Family, and they naturally managed to train a large number of powerful experts. It’s a piece of cake for the them to dispatch nine black-cloaked Law Enforcing Elders.”

　　Teng Qingshan nodded in response and secretly sighed.

　　Emperor Yu, Heavenly Emperor Qin Ling, Martial Ancestor Shiga, and Poetic Sword God Li Taibai – these four extremely powerful experts were the ones who had reached the pinnacle. Their understanding of the martial way had already reached the realm of perfection. If one pathway was clear, then all the other pathways would also clear up. These four most powerful experts could create many kinds of cultivating methods. Some methods were tricky, while others focused on building up the foundations.

　　Having a large amount of marvelous techniques, the sects could teach using these materials.

　　Therefore, the Mani Temple, Emperor Yu’s Hall, and Qin Family were the three strongest sects of the eight greatest sects. These sects had an incredible number of innate experts. However, Heavenly Emperor Qin Ling and Emperor Yu used their energy on uniting the world and on governing the country, unlike Martial Ancestor Shiga, who devoted his energy to his sect…… Thus, Emperor Yu’s Hall and Ying Family were both weaker than Mani Temple.

　　As for the Poetic Sword God Li Taibai, he traveled the world leisurely. He didn’t establish any sects and refused to unite the world, but chose to live a free and comfortable life.

　　Teng Qingshan and the big group of innate experts were waiting leisurely, but the men of Qing Hu Island were feeling anxious.

　　Whew~~Whew~~~

　　Icy-cold wind blew past, the soldiers patrolling in the surrounding not having the audacity to make any sounds, as they were afraid that the sound could enrage the twelve innate experts.

　　“There are more and more people.” Zhao Danchen knitted his brows as he said, “Island Lord, if this continues, the other sects will combine forces. We wouldn’t be able to fight against that many innate experts.” Previously, there had been only sixteen innate experts, and Qing Hu Island would still be able to fight, but it would be trouble if the opposing side had too many experts.

　　The other innate experts became silent. Each and every one of them was very troubled.

　　“Most of the innate experts sent by each of the great sects are probably True Dan Innate Experts! Plus a small number of Golden Dan Innate Experts. Since this group of people has gathered together…… there’s no other way.”

　　Gu Yong shouted calmly, “Shiyou.”

　　“Father.” Gu Shiyou, who was nearby, hastily ran to his father.

　　“Lead some soldiers and seal up the entrance of the Bottomless Pit with iron, and then cover it with mud and soil. Make it so that no one can tell it’s a pit from outside…… Lastly, place carpets on the muddy ground,” Gu Yong instructed.

　　Each tent had carpets for the soldiers to sleep on. Originally, the Bottomless Pit had only been covered by a tent, and nothing else. And now, Gu Yong wanted to make the tent covering the Bottomless Pit exactly the same as the other tents. All of them had carpets and tables.

　　The only difference was that a carpet would cover the entrance to the pit.

　　“Yes, Father,” Gu Shiyou hastily said. He then speedily called ten soldiers to help him with the work.

　　“Island Lord, what’s your decision?” The eleven innate experts looked towards Gu Yong.

　　“There’s no other way. We can only delay them!” Gu Yong said with a faint smile. “I just don’t believe that those people can find the entrance to the Bottomless Pit. They would be in the midst of our great army, and constantly under our watch. We can find a time at night to sneak into the Bottomless Pit.

　　Since Gu Yong really had no other plan, this plan had to work.

　　Since this was a great camp, with over ten thousand people, and the opponents were only a dozen or so innate experts, it would be impossible to know the movements of Gu Yong and his men.

　　……

　　“Brother Wu Hou, we haven’t met in around thirty years!” A deep and fierce voice rang, and a sturdy man with a dozen braids came into sight. He was wearing a round iron hat and a full suit of scale armor.

　　“It’s been almost thirty years, Wu Ma. Your Hong Tian City has sent six generals this time.” Wu Hou said, touching his nose. “Including you guys, there’s a total of thirty-seven innate experts.

　　“Haha, just you alone could make up for six of us,” Wu Ma said, laughing.

　　Leaning on the tree, Teng Qingshan closed his eyes to rest. However, he could hear all the conversations going on around him clearly.

　　“One can make up for six?” Teng Qingshan knew clearly that these words were true! As the saying went, ‘It’s not possible to find “the best” in a writing contest, nor is it to find “the second best” in a fight’. This Wu Hou, King of Beasts has been the first of the 《Heavenly Ranking》 for thirty years. One could see that his abilities were indisputable and overwhelming.

　　It would probably take three to four ordinary Golden Dan innate experts to fight him

　　Of the six innate experts from Hong Tian City, it would already be considered good if even two Golden Dan Innate experts only were to come. A total of two Golden Dan innate experts and four True Dan innate experts could barely hold against Wu Hou.

　　‘Wu Hou surpasses my teacher, and he was ranked first of the 《Heavenly Ranking》. I wonder how strong he is.’ Teng Qingshan knew clearly that among the thirty-seven innate experts present, most were True Dan Innate experts. The Golden Dan Innate experts were smaller in number. ‘As for me, with my ability and my physical strength…… I am probably considered a True Dan Innate Expert.’

　　Teng Qingshan hadn’t won when fighting Deng Geng.

　　Although he had actually killed Elder Lian of Qing Hu Island… But that had been a stealthy attack, in a completely dark environment. Teng Qingshan’s ability ought to have been the same as the Elder Lian’s.

　　“Among this group of people, I should be considered a figure at the rear in terms of ranking,” Teng Qingshan thought calmly.

　　However, his flying knife has caused many powerful ones to look at him differently. Everyone now remembered the name Qin Lang, and nobody would want to offend a powerful hidden-weapons expert. Because…….. if a truly powerful hidden-weapons expert wanted to sneak attack, it would be extremely terrifying.

　　After a while——

　　Rustling sounds rang out.

　　“Mani Temple’s monks have arrived.” All the innate experts present looked over and saw a group of monks dressed in purple and red frock. Each of the monks held a purple-and-red iron stick as they strode forward.

　　The number one sect of the eight great sects, The Mani Temple – all the others desired to take its place! However, none of the sects could do it.

　　！

　　This was Mani Temple!

　　“Twelve innate experts?” Teng Qingshan was secretly shocked. This was the number one greatest sect. The Mani Temple had easily dispatched twelve innate experts. In that moment, Wu Hou, who had been grinning by the side, suddenly looked gloomy as he said, “The twelve arhats of the Purple Staff Hall, which is the third hall of the sixth court of Mani Temple. Looks like the Mani Temple is determined to get Emperor Yu’s Treasure.”

　　The Arhat Realm in Buddhism was the same as the Innate Realm.

　　Among the twelve monks, the old leading long-eyebrowed monk said with a faint smile, “Shooting Sun God Mountain’s five experts, Xiao Yao Palace’s six experts, Snow Eagle Hall’s five experts, Hong Tian City’s six experts, Ying Family’s nine experts. Brother Wu Hou’s group has six people and Mani Temple has twelve people. There’s a total of forty-nine experts, the product of seven times seven….. it’s a good number. Everyone, Emperor Yu’s Palace is at Yuzhou, which is nearer to here than Yanzhou, Youzhou and Yongzhou, but they are still not here. I think…… we shouldn’t wait for them anymore. Let us just go straight to Gu Yong of Qing Hu Island and ask him to lead us to the location of the Emperor Yu’s palace.

　　They spoke without any emotions, but each of their words had uncontested dominating power.

　　This was Mani Temple!

　　The monks of Mani Temple rarely left their two prefectures, Rong Zhou and Liang Zhou, but once they ventured the world, their amazing power was known by all.

　　“Yeah. Emperor Yu’s Hall is still not here. I think there’s no need to wait anymore.” The men of Xiao Yao Palace all stood up.

　　“Twelve monks. It looks like Mani Temple is planning to keep Emperor Yu’s Treasure for themselves.” The tallest of the nine black-cloaked Law Enforcers of the Ying Family humphed coldly and said.

　　“The nine black-cloaked Law Enforcing Elders are more adept at the Nine Spear Formation,” said the old long eyebrowed monk, smiling calmly

　　Teng Qingshan shook his head secretly as he looked from the side. Mani Temple and Ying Family……they hadn’t even begun fighting for Emperor Yu’s Treasure, but they were already going against each other secretly. However, this wasn’t weird at all….. Perhaps in the eyes of the Mani Temple and the Ying Family, they didn’t think that Qing Hu Island would have the audacity to disobey them.

　　“Let’s go. Depart!”

　　King of Beasts Wu Hou shouted clearly, and led the way. Zhong Li Lin, Teng Qingshan, and Liu Xiu, the free innate experts, followed behind him. The experts of the Shooting Sun God Mountain, of Hong Tian City, and those of many other sects also departed. The Mani Temple and the Ying Family did not hesitate and headed towards the great army of the Qing Hu Island along with the other sects.