The Nine Cauldrons

Book 2 Chapter 38 The Depths of the Frost Jade Pool

The morning of the second day, the heavens and the earth was still dusky.

“Rumble” The rumbling sound of thunder reverberated throughout the air as raindrops randomly fell from the sky.

“Qingshan, judging by the weather, there is soon going to be heavy rainfall. You probably shouldn’t train in the mountain today.” Yuan Lan wore a large, cotton-padded jacket as she exited the room.

“Don’t worry Mother,, this sort of rain means nothing to me. Alright then, I’m heading to the mountain now.” Teng Qingshan grabbed his Damascus Steel Spear as he walked out.

“Return early for breakfast,” Yuan Lan yelled.

“Alright,” respooled Teng Qingshan. After exiting the courtyard, he quickly left the Teng Jia Village and entered the Great Yan Mountain.

……

“Hu!” “Hu!”

Teng Qingshan’s entire body became a blur as he rushed through the forest. When Teng Qingshan left the Teng Jia Village, rain only fell sporadically; however, when he entered the Great Yan Mountain, the rain and thunder suddenly turned into a constant occurrence. The space between the sky and the earth seemed to turn into a torrential current.

In an instant, Teng Qingshan was drenched and thoroughly soaked from head to toe.

“I really do have bad luck.” Teng Qingshan’s eyebrows creased.

Having his clothes drenched was a trifling matter. Besides, he hadn’t put anything in his pockets when he left in the morning, so Teng Qingshan wasn’t afraid of the rain. However… This sort of rain would make his plans on entering the Frost Jade Pool slightly inconvenient.

“Since I have already planned to enter the Frost Jade pool today, then no matter what, today it shall be.”

With his rapid speed, Teng Qingshan reached the Twin Peak Mountain in only a short amount of time. The mountain face was quite flat in his opinion, and the long spear, which disassembled into two parts, was placed on his back as he used both his hands and feet to scale the mountain face. After reaching the peak, he subsequently jumped off, using both of his hands to smack the rocks on the side, effectively slowing his speed of descent.

“This sort of freezing really is of an insane speed.” Teng Qingshan descended halfway down the mountain, landing in a vacant area two Zhang (6m) away from the Frost Jade Pool. He bitterly laughed as he looked at the Frost Jade Pool.

All he could see was that the surface of the Frost Jade Pool had already been covered with a thick layer of ice.

“This layer of ice is at least 30 centimeters thick. Only a short time was required for it to reach such a state?” Teng Qingshan was extremely helpless. The Frost Jade Pool’s water was extremely special, and its density was much higher than normal water. Even if its temperature was extremely low, it still wouldn’t freeze. However, every time it rained, when the rain touched the Frost Jade Pool’s water, it would rapidly turn into ice!

The rain water would instantly freeze!

After raining for such a while, the ice was approximately one chi thick (0.3m).

Nonetheless, Teng Qingshan also knew that even if the rain poured non-stop, the maximum thickness the ice would reach was two chi (0.6m).

“My clothes are already drenched, so today when I enter the pool depths, I don’t have to remove my clothes.” Teng Qingshan flung the wrapped Damascus Iron Spear on his back aside. From one side of the pool, he lifted a large rock and jumped in the air, his entire body smoothly flying through the air and firmly landing on the ice. As he landed, Teng Qingshan could still feel the bursts of frigid air.

Suddenly—

Teng Qingshan abruptly stomped his foot.

“Hong!”

It seemed as if heaven and earth had crumbled, as the one chi (0.3m) thick ice shattered under the pressure of his feet. A web of cracks spread outwards,, and numerous ice chunks smashed against nearby mountain wall before exploding into fine powder.

“I refuse to believe that I won’t be able to enter the depths today!” Teng Qingshan tightly held the large 100 jin stone as he sank into the depths of the Frost Jade Pool.

Although most people would have already been frozen to death in these low temperature, Teng Qingshan,wearing only a simple shirt, had easily resisted the cold.

“Hua Hua”

The constant pounding caused the pool water to start swirling.

“Logically, although it is currently daytime, it is storming outside so the sky is quite dark.I won’t be able to see very much in the depths of this pool; however, my current eyesight is much better than it was a month ago. Even when underwater, I should be able to see even farther than before.” As long as there existed a tiny sliver of light, Teng Qingshan could use it to clearly see his surrounding.

Descent!

Incessant descent!

20 Zhang (60 meters)!

40 Zhang (120 meters)!

60 Zhang (180 meters)!

……

Despite having felt this extreme cold many times, I still find it too cold and uncomfortable.” Teng Qingshan meticulously observed the surrounding sides of the Frost pool. The underwater walls of the Frost Jade Pool contained a few objects that could be used as references, which Teng Qingshan could completely rely on to approximate his depth underwater.

“This ought to transcend under the foot of the mountain and penetrate into the bottom of the mountain!” Teng Qingshan made a guess of its depth.

The last time he had reached this depth, Teng Qingshan was unable to bear it and had to use internal energy to protect his body. This time though, Teng Qingshan only needed to rely on his muscles and bones to resist the piercing chill.

Non-stop descent!

“This really is so deep that I am already under the sea-level! I have already descended over 300 meters.” Teng Qingshan felt the extreme cold in his body at the same time.

“KaKa”

Cracks suddenly started appearing on the hundred jin stone that he was carrying.

The water was so cold, that even stone was split open! What kind of temperature was this!?

“So abnormally cold.” Teng Qingshan had never encountered this sort of extreme cold in his previous life. It seemed as if his robust skin and flesh had no resistance properties. This extreme cold continued to irritate his bones and even managed to penetrate his organs. Cold. His entire body was ice-cold. “I must use internal strength!”

A violent surge of internal strength wildly spread to every last inch of his body, working hard to resist the cold.

“Much better now.” Teng Qingshan meticulously observed the pool water underneath. Despite Teng Qingshan’s astonishing eyesight, he could still only barely see 3-4 meters in front of him due to the sheer depth of the pool.

“Hmm?”

Teng Qingshan carefully looked downwards, “I’ve reached the bottom?” The area underneath him was blurry, and he could barely make out a purple halo. The weak light emitting from the halo instantly allowed Teng Qingshan to see up to a distance of 7-8 Zhang (21-24 meters). Furthermore, the closer Teng Qingshan got to the halo, the more the temperature started to unexpectedly rise.

That’s right, the extreme icy temperature actually began to rise!

However, it wasn’t until Teng Qingshan’s feet landed on something solid that he was finally certain that he was indeed at the bottom of the Frost Jade Pool.

“Hmm? The bottom of the Frost Jade Pool is unexpectedly emitting heat? Teng Qingshan was quite startled. He finally understood why the temperature started rising as soon he approached the bottom of the pool. It was because of a unique ore at the bottom.

He carefully checked his surroundings on the pool floor.

Since he was able to see a good 7-8 Zhang around him (25-28m), Teng Qingshan quickly made clear of the pool’s bottom.

“The bottom of the Frost Jade Pool has a width of approximately 10 Zhang (35m)… a length of about 20 Zhang (70m).” Teng Qingshan carefully looked at his left side because amidst the entire bottom of the Frost Jade Pool, only the left side contained a 2-3 Zhang (7-10m) wide passage, “It seems the water in the pool is flowing in from this passage.”

Teng Qingshan also felt that the closer he got to the passage, the colder the water became.

The bottom of the pool didn’t have any living animals or plants. Instead, there was only the special ore that emitted heat. The bottom of the pool contained many of these ores.

“Hmm?” Teng Qingshan picked up a piece of ore. Its body was surrounded by a faint purple halo that was especially distinguishable in the darkness of the bottom of the pool. If it were to be brought under the sun on the surface, the halo would most likely not be seen.

“It’s able to emit heat in this sort of cold. Moreover, the amount heat it’s producing is quite high. I should bring it back and let father examine it.” Teng Qingshan picked up two fist size pieces of ore and put them into his large chest pocket. The pocket was only able to fit two pieces of ore.

Subsequently, Teng Qingshan headed towards the left side and approached the Frost Jade Pool’s origin passage.

“Hmm, it really is cold. The interior is pitch black, so my vision is severely limited. Furthermore, I don’t know what else is in here.” Teng Qingshan meticulously observed the interior of the passage. The underwater passage didn’t harbor any special ores, so it was completely dark. Teng Qingshan was only barely able to see 2 Zhang (7 meters), so he did not know what this mysterious underwater passage contained.

However, in the depths of Teng Qingshan’s heart there was a feeling of an impending crisis…

“If something irregular occurs, then there must be a monster! This sort of low temperature and water pressure is forcing my endurance to reach its maximum. Today I have already reached the bottom of the pool, so I completed my goal. I should return first to let dad examine the ore. In the future, when I have a chance, I shall re-enter the underwater passage.” Teng Qingshan instantly decided to return to the surface.

In the interior of the underwater passage, Teng Qingshan’s vision was severely limited.

Hidden in the depths of the water were two fist sized golden eyeballs staring at Teng Qingshan. They were over 10 Zhang (35m) away from Teng Qingshan, but it was clear that even in these dark circumstances, this underwater monster was still able to clearly see Teng Qingshan.

Silently, the underwater monster started to swim towards the entrance of the underwater passage. It unexpectedly didn’t make even the slightest sound.

Teng Qingshan was standing at the bottom of the pool and had tossed the cracked stone that was previously in his hands. His entire body started to float towards the surface.

Suddenly, at this moment–

“Pu”

Seeing Teng Qingshan about to leave, the underwater monster’s speed abruptly increased. Like a lightning, it instantly charged out of the underwater passage.

“What is it!”, shockingly exclaimed Teng Qinshan

With such a violent movement, Teng Qingshan, who was floating up, obviously noticed it. He quickly turned his head and after one look, his heart shook in fear and his head felt like it was going to split.

Under the indistinct purple light at the bottom of the pool, with one glance, Teng Qingshan was able to clearly see a large python with a body that was as thick as a huge water bucket! This large python’s body was completely covered in dense scales that faintly emitted a purple-red aura. This Frost Pool Python’s body length was temporarily unknown, but as it passed through the underwater entrance, Teng Qingshan could see that it was at least 6 Zhang (21m) long.

In his previous life, he had killed many large pythons in rainforests.

However, he had never seen a python with a body so large, and a torso so rough.

Moreover…this large python had emerged from the ice-cold region, so it couldn’t be ordinary.

“Hou!”Like a hurricane attacking, it produced a low roar that made one’s heart palpitate.

Following the low roar, the Frost Pool Python instantly rushed towards Teng Qingshan and opened its gaping maw. The jaws of the python were at least a Zhang (3m) wide. It instantly rushed towards Teng Qingshan in an attempt to swallow him whole!