The Nine Cauldrons Chapter 12 - Millennium Chronicle

  

Book 1 Chapter 12: Millennium Chronicle

There was a genuine villa estate in an undeveloped area beside the West Lake. Almost all the villas inside of it were 500 square feet or more in size. Even the one with the lowest price cost over ten million.

The center of the whole estate was occupied by the largest villa, which was immediately adjacent to the artificial lake constructed inside the estate. Furthermore, a customized area of the artificial lake was being used as a private pool. As such, the scenery around this villa looked the most exquisite. Naturally, it also cost the most in the entire estate. This villa was the residence of the chairman of the Ming Shan Conglomerate, Li Mingshan.

In the outdoor pool on the flat roof of the third floor.

Li Mingshan was comfortably lying inside the outdoor pool,  facing the sky, watching the countless stars.

Whenever Li Mingshan pondered over some issue, he liked to be alone and soak himself in the pool. It would make his body comfortable, and his brain would figure out the solution at a much faster rate.

“I could make a billion with this order. I must think of a way to snag the items on the list.”

Li Mingshan frowned all of a sudden.

“Hmm?” He suddenly felt a gust of wind blow towards him. The exposed upper part of his body, which was above the water surface, couldn’t help but feel slightly cold. He glanced at the direction from where he felt the arrival of the wind, the look on his face abruptly changing.

He saw a youth in black pants and cyan t-s.h.i.+rt standing on the flat roof. The one who had just arrived was none other than Teng Qingshan.

“Who are you? How did you get here?” Li Mingshan still acted composed, even at the brink of danger, as he asked in a deep voice. Then he straightaway came out of the pool, casually picked up the bath towel kept at the side and tied it around his waist.

Teng Qingshan looked at Li Mingshan and examined him carefully. Li Mingshan looked like a refined middle-aged man, about forty years old, and his demeanor was extraordinary, “If I didn’t know about him already, I’m afraid it would be very hard to see his true nature.” Before coming to this place, Teng Qingshan had asked Elena about Li Mingshan’s information.

Li Mingshan had turned forty-three this year.

He was once a member of a thief gang when he was young, later he became the Elder brother of that gang. Afterwards, he tried to engage in trade, relying on the initial savings from the stolen money. As he had contacts with people involved in both legal and illegal works, as well as a large number of various kinds of people following him, the capital he invested increased at an extremely rapid rate.

Now, after the past twenty years, the a.s.sets of Li Mingshan’s Ming Shan Conglomerate were already worth more than than a billion.

“I advise you not to make any moves with that gun hidden in your bath towel.” Teng Qingshan indifferently said.

Li Mingshan’s complexion immediately changed, as he was originally going to quickly pull out the gun from inside the bath towel with the hand he was tying the bath towel with. While doing business in both legal and illegal things, he compelled numerous people to become dest.i.tute and homeless, making countless people commit suicide due to him lending money at an excessively high rate of interest. There were just too many people who had animosity with him.

So normally he carried a gun with him at all times.

Just when Li Mingshan was about to pull out the gun, Teng Qingshan, who was ten meters away from him until a few moments ago, already stood right before him.

“You.” Li Mingshan was completely scared by the unexpected movement speed of the other person. The gun he was holding was already in Teng Qingshan’s hand.

After a series of clacking sound of the firearms’ parts, the gun in his hand had actually been disa.s.sembled into many parts. Teng Qingshan grabbed the steel parts with a slight smile on his face, and warped them into the shape of a fried dough twist. Then he casually threw them away.

Li Mingshan was now so scared that his heartbeat accelerated. However, he still tried to keep his calm. He revealed a faint friendly smile on his face, and said, “Brother, you really have some good means. You even got to the third floor without making any sound at all. I truly admire you a lot!” Reaching the third floor without alerting the bodyguards and monitoring system&h.e.l.lip; What amazing means is this? Turning steel into the shape of a fried dough twist with just the power of his hand&h.e.l.lip; What amazing means is this?

“I’m going to ask you several questions.” There was not the least bit of change in Teng Qingshan’s expression. These kinds of defensive means of rich and powerful people, which were used against normal people, were completely useless against him. How could someone who travelled throughout the world all year round not have seen such strict defenses before?

“Brother, please go ahead and ask.” Li Mingshan hastily said.

Teng Qingshan stared at Li Mingshan: “Tell me, why do you want to kill Qin Hong?”

“Kill Qin Hong?” Li Mingshan was greatly alarmed at the bottom of his heart. There were very few people who knew about this matter. As Qin Hong was a member of National Special Operations Organisation, even he, Lin Mingshan, wouldn’t dare to openly proclaim such a thing.

“Brother, from where did you hear of this rumor? It’s nothing more than slander. Someone’s trying to frame me!” Li Mingshan hurriedly said, “Although I, Li Mingshan, am no honorable businessman and have even killed others to achieve my goals when I was young. However, no matter how bold I am, I honestly wouldn’t dare to have Qin Hong killed.”

“Swis.h.!.+”

Li Mingshan suddenly heard the sound of wind and then felt a severe pain in his left ear and on the left side of his face.

Teng Qingshan had slapped him. Li Mingshan fell down after being hit, his bath towel also fell off. Li Mingshan was cutting a sorry figure, wearing nothing but underpants.

“Brother, why did you do that&h.e.l.lip;?” Li Mingshan angrily raised his head and looked at Teng Qingshan. But Teng Qingshan simply watched him with ice-cold eyes in return while he spoke  in a calm voice, “It’d be best for you not to use petty tricks in front of me. If you try to lie again, this very day will be your Memorial Day next year.”

Li Mingshan trembled at the bottom of his heart.

He, Li Mingshan, was involved in various dirty things and had seen many murderers and ruthless people in his life. However, Li Mingshan felt&h.e.l.lip; that those vicious murderers were no more dangerous than a pet making threatening gestures compared to the person before his eyes.

He lowered his head and looked at the awkwardly warped gun barrel. It let Li Mingshan completely sober up. He raised his head to look at Teng Qingshan, and hastily said, “Brother, I, Li Mingshan, have no grievance or hatred with Qin Hong. Yes, it’s true that I asked a person to help me kill Qin Hong, but that’s only because this task was entrusted to me by someone else.”

Teng Qingshan frowned. Entrusted by someone else?

“Who is it?” Teng Qingshan continued to ask.

Li Mingshan hesitatingly looked at Teng Qingshan and saw his eyes suddenly turn fierce.

Li Mingshan immediately got so scared that he hurriedly said: “It’s Shen Yangming! Northeast’s Shen Yangming!”

“The Two Tigers of the Northeast’s Shen Yangming?” Teng Qingshan puckered up his brows. He never thought that Shen Yangming would be the one behind this.

In the Underground World, The Two Tigers of the Northeast was also a comparatively powerful a.s.sociation of independent hitmen. Amongst the members of the a.s.sociation, there were two high cla.s.s. .h.i.tmen called ‘w.a.n.g Qing’ and ‘Shen Yangming’. Thanks to these two, ‘The Two Tigers of Northeast’ enjoyed a significant reputation. However, one year ago, ‘w.a.n.g Qing,’ one of the two Northeast’s tigers, suddenly died. This caused the hitman organization to disbanded as a result.

Among the hitmen in the world, some belonged to big organizations, and some worked independently.

The Two Tigers of Northeast was an a.s.sociation of independent hitmen, who were involved in this profession just because they were fond of it.

“Correct. Do you also know Shen Yangming?” Li Mingshan said with a wry smile, “Brother, since you know about him, you must’ve already realized my predicament. Shen Yangming has a well-established name in the Underground world! Though my heart doesn’t easily waver from external pressure, I do not dare to provoke someone like him. This time he requested me to kill Qin Hong, so I couldn’t help but accept his request to show my respect to him.”

Teng Qingshan’s gaze was as sharp as knife as he carefully examined Li Mingshan.

“Shen Yangming, humph.”Teng Qingshan’s eyes turned cold.

Hearing his words frightened Li Mingshan. The mysterious youth before his eyes didn’t seem to  care about Shen Yangming at all.

“Oh, it’s too bad. You sent someone to kill Qin Hong, so I have to give you punishment for it!” Teng Qingshan still spoke in an indifferent voice.

“No, wait a moment.” Li Mingshan hastily said in panic. How could an experienced person such as him not guess Teng Qingshan’s meaning? “Don’t kill me. There isn’t anything to gain for you if you kill me. As long as don’t kill me&h.e.l.lip; I can give you a lot of things. I can even give you the entire Ming Shan Conglomerate.”

Li Mingshan knew very well that the kind of things he was involved in were accompanied by great risks. Therefore, he had already saved up a large amount of money in an overseas bank account, which he could then use at a crucial time if he was ever forced to run for his life. So even if he gave the entire Ming Shan Conglomerate to the other person, he would still be a wealthy man.

“I don’t care about money.” Teng Qingshan said indifferently.

Li Mingshan’s mind was working out a measure to survive through this plight at an extremely fast speed.

If the other person doesn’t care about money, then what should be done in this situation?

“I, I also have a secret guide!” Li Mingshan’s eyes brightened as he shouted out, “I know that you’re very powerful, Brother. Although I have also practiced Internal Martial Arts, my strength was insufficient to actually become a martial artist. However, I do have a secret book. A secret guide about how to practice and become a top expert.”

Teng Qingshan couldn’t help showing a faint smile on his face: “Secret guide? Become a top expert? You must be infatuated with watching Wuxia TV dramas.”

Teng Qingshan had already stepped into the Grandmaster Realm, and was practicing the G.o.dly Tiger Form Technique. He could be called one of the strongest experts in the world. There was no way he could get attracted by some sort of secret book.

“No, it’s truly a secret book.” Li Mingshan hastily said, “When I was young, I was actually a disciple of a small sect called ‘Thief G.o.d Sect,’ which was indeed a sect of thieves. But now our sect is in very dire straits, there isn’t even a single person who is practicing inner strength in the entire sect.”

Teng Qingshan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Thief G.o.d Sect?

A sect without a single pract.i.tioner of inner strength?

“However, our Thief G.o.d Sect has a long-established history, and has even produced Grandmaster Cla.s.s experts before,” Li Mingshan hurriedly said. He was clear that only the secret book could save him from the hands of such a super expert, “It’s a secret book that contains the knowledge that has been pa.s.sed down for generation after generation over the course of more than two thousand years. A Grandmaster cla.s.s expert from the Republic of China period personally wrote it.”

Teng Qingshan raised his brows. He was starting to get a bit curious at the bottom of his heart.

“Where have you hidden that secret book?” Teng Qingshan enquired.

“It’s inside my study on the third floor.” Li Mingshan let out a sigh of relief from the bottom of his heart and hastily said, “Come with me.”

“I suggest you not to think about running away. The presence or absence of the bodyguards in your villa makes no difference to me.” Teng Qingshan said.

Li Mingshan thought back to the scene of Teng Qingshan warping the gun barrel with the power of his grasp and clearly realized his strength. The ex-military personnel in his villa were unfortunately no match for Teng Qingshan, “I would not dare to have any hidden intention. Please follow me.”

Teng Qingshan followed behind Li Mingshan and arrived inside the study on the third floor. Li Mingshan’s study was very big, there was a bookshelf big enough to occupy almost half of the wall. Li Mingshan went over to the bookshelf and pressed a b.u.t.ton concealed on its side. Suddenly the whole bookshelf opened towards the side, just like a door.

The opened bookshelf revealed a locked-up iron door of a vault.

“You’ve hidden it in quite a secret place.” Teng Qingshan lightly smiled.

Li Mingshan hurriedly said with a smile: “It’s the traditional treasure of my Thief G.o.d Sect after all.” While speaking, he pulled open the door of the vault and took out an ancient thread-sewn book from inside the iron vault.

“Take a look at it.” Li Mingshan quickly handed over the book to Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan shot a glance at it. This ancient thread-sewn book had two  characters written on it

Millennium Chronicle, and in it’s corner, there were two other characters written, Liu Yan