The Nine Cauldrons

Book 2 Chapter 24 Hong Si of the White Horse Gang

The first page of Earthly Ranking:

“In the nine states, there are numerous heroes.”

“In the bitter cold Youzhou and Yanzhou, the northeastern King ‘Hong Tian’ once conquered the greater part of the nine states with his 80,000 You Yan cavalry soldiers. The Qinlong Mountain Range that was 3000 miles away from Yongzhou gave rise to the Celestial Emperor Ying Zheng, who was peerless amongst his generation. Being able to halt the Yan Jiang River with only one punch, he became the second person in history to unify the entire land! The Yu Emperor from Yuzhou was the first person who divided the mountains and nine prefectures, unified the land, forged the nine cauldrons, and established a capital at the Yu prefecture. After he became first emperor in history, his prefecture, the Yu prefecture, became the royal capital and it drew many heroes…”

“However, these heroes became dust in history. They were forgotten by their descendants after hundreds of years. The patriarch of the Wan Xiang Sect sighed every time he thought about this and he came up with the idea to write the Heavenly Ranking and Earthly Ranking. So he travelled all over the world, recording heroic legends from across the land. The descendants of Wan Xiang Sect completed the rest of the modification work. At last, the four ranks of the nine states were made – Heavenly Ranking, Earthly Ranking, Hidden Dragon Ranking and Young Phoenix Ranking.”

“The four rankings of the nine prefectures is updated every six months! More heroes in the nine prefectures are recorded with every revision.”

“We of the Wan Xiang Sect are determined to record all the heroes in the nine states inside the four rankings. This way, the descendants will remember the heroes even after thousands of years.”

After seeing this page, Teng Qingshan couldn’t help but feel his blood boil.

Many of these heroes didn’t care about money or treasure. However, being immortalized for thousands of years was every hero’s dream.

Teng Qingshan turned to the second page.

“Among the four rankings of the nine prefectures, the Hidden Dragon Ranking lists the 108 most outstanding young heroes at the age of 30 or less. The Young Phoenix Ranking lists the 108 young heroines that are 30 years old or less.”

Teng Qingshan’s eyes were shining.

Only 108 men and women were recorded among the entire nine states. They must favored by the heavens.

“The Heavenly Ranking and the Earthly Ranking are the core of the four ranks, and they are divided into Innate Realm and Postliminary Realm! However, to reach the peak of the Innate Realm, only one among thousands of people might succeed. Therefore, most of the heroes were Postlimiary Realm warriors. The Earthly Ranking lists 72 warriors who reached the peak of the Postliminary Realm.”

Teng Qingshan’s eyes lit up while thinking to himself, “The Earthly Ranking has no age restriction, and only by being the top 72 warriors amongst the hundreds of millions of people throughout the nine prefectures could one be considered truly powerful. The Earthly Ranking is more valuable than both the Young Phoenix Ranking and the Hidden Dragon Ranking. No one on the Earthly Ranking should be underestimated. ”

Teng Qingshan continued reading.

“The Heavenly Ranking lists 36 people who have reached peak of the Innate Realm. The Heavenly Ranking had changed very little in the last one or two decades because Innate Realm warriors are rare. On the contrary, the Earthly Ranking holds quite a competition. Thousands of people reach the Postliminary Realm, but only 72 of them are recorded in the Earthly Ranking! Half year ago, the ranking list took down 11 heroes and replaced them with another 11 warriors.”

Teng Qingshan skimmed the introduction about the four ranking.

Apparently…

People valued the young heroes on the Hidden Dragon Ranking and the Young Phoenix Ranking, but they paid even greater attention to the Heavenly and Earthly Rankings. The Heavenly Ranking rarely changed since there were very few people who reached the Innate Realm, while the Earthly Ranking was very competitive.

Many heroes didn’t want to risk their lives and only leave their name on the Earthly Ranking.

“Some are tempted by money, some are obsessed with beauty. However, most of the heroes value their fame.” Teng Qingshan sighed in his heart. He continued reading the book to see who the 72 heroes that were listed on the Earth Ranking were.

“Qingshan.” A voice suddenly sounded behind him.