The Nine Cauldrons

Book 2 Chapter 16 - 30

Book 2 Chapter 16: New Leader

Teng Jia Village was surrounded by wooden fences and a gate guarded by villagers.

"The hunters are back!" shouted the gatekeeper.

Many villagers were talking and laughing on the training field, but their faces suddenly sank when they saw the bloodstained and bandaged hunters carrying several bodies.

Some villagers had died on the hunting trip!

"Qiangzi!" Shouts of sorrow could be heard.

"Go inform the chief!" Someone immediately cried with a sad voice.

......
A moment later, nearly two thousand people gathered on the training field. Except those who were working in the fields, everyone was gathered here with gloomy faces. In particular, the family members of the deceased were kneeling and crying on the ground. The Chief Teng Yunlong also had a hint of sadness on his face.

"This time, hunters encountered the Patrol of the Wolf King! Five hunters died... and four became disabled!" Teng Yunlong said with a low voice while faint cries could be heard among the crowd.

" Teng Yonglian, Teng Yongqiang, Teng Yongyi..." Teng Yunlong recited the five names of the deceased.

"They were the people who died for our Teng Jia Village. Their five families will be given a hundred taels of silver each in compensation for today, and our village with support them from this day onward," Teng Yunlong said calmly. It was an old rule inside the village to compensate a hundred taels of silver for those who were killed and fifty taels of silver for those who were disabled. Moreover, their family members would be supported by the entire village.

Teng Qingshan quietly watched this scene.

Over the years, he heard that other villages were wiped out by bandits, but he never saw it with his own eyes. He was never given such a shock when hearing about it since seeing it and hearing it were two different things. Teng Jia Village was a relative strong and big village, which was why bandits were generally reluctant to provoke them. Furthermore, the White Horse Gang received money from them and provided Teng Jia Village with some protection. Therefore, Teng Jia Village had been calm, and for a long time, no one was killed.

Going into the mountain and encountering the Patrol of the Wolf King was something that would happen only a few times per decade.

"Light the fire!" Teng Yunlong said suddenly, awakening Teng Qingshan from his daze.

Cremation.

It was a custom within the village to cremate the bodies of the deceased.

A huge flame soaring into the sky, and the corpses were placed on a wooden platform. Normally, the ones lying on the platform would be elders whom everyone was familiar with. Some crying sounds could be heard in the surrounding, but most people just watched in silence. They had already experienced a deeper and more unforgettable suffering.

They already knew that in order to survive on this piece of land, blood must be shed.

That was why the villagers would continuously practice hard from an early age and never even taking a single day off.

In the Teng Clan's ancestral hall.

The heavy iron gate was opened. The family members cried as they stepped into the ancestral hall with five urns held in their hands.

Teng Qingshan and his father Teng Yongfan were silently gazing at all of this . It was a wide hall and much larger than the weapons warehouse. There were tens of thousands of urns placed neatly within the hall.